Ruger Mini-30: The perfect SHTF gun?

[TalonRob]

Ok guys, feel free to chime in here, but lets not make this a Mini 30 vs AK47 or AR15 thread. I don't even own a mini 30 yet, but I sold one recently and this thought process is based on that conversation. Although if you want to share thoughts on a mini 14 vs. a mini 30, that would be welcome.


First, when I speak of SHTF, I am not talking about TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) or zombies rising from the dead here. I am talking about an emergancy situation where a long gun may be required as a piece of survival gear.

The reasons I was thinking about a mini 30 for this roll are as follows:

#1. It is a relativly inexpensive to purchase and the quality is very good for the money.
#2 The 7.62x39 round is inexpensive, easy to stock up on and reliable for defense or hunting at short ranges
#3 It does not look like an assault rifle, so it would be less likely to attract unwanted attention from police or neighbors
#4 you can scope it for longer range shots, or use irons
#5 More accurate than other 7.62x39 semi-auto rifles
#6 Garand type action is very reliable

We all know an AR15 or AK47 would serve better in a straight up fighting roll, but may also bring unwanted attention if you were securing property after a storm. A bolt action or lever gun would also be good for hunting or basic defense, but can be expensive to feed depending on caliber and would not have the round capacity or speed of reloading a detachable mag would bring.

I can honestly say, I was never really interested in a Ruger rifle before, but after looking at all the positives this little guy brings to the table, I think I am going to have to adopt one soon.
I also find it pretty easy to recommend to someone who would only own one rifle for an emergancy situation.

Thoughts?

 

[codygjohnson]

Some time ago, duting the AWB, I was desperately trying to stock up on semiauto rifles...I accidently bought the Mini-30. In it's original form, it wasn't quite the best rifle. It was long, had supprisingly strong recoil for a semi and I couldn't get a scope to hold zero, let alone get the rilfe to shoot a decent group no matter what I fed it. For some reason, I decided to keep it and off and on, spend a lot of time and money figuring out how to make it do what I want.

This is what I ended up with:


1. I dropped it in a Butler Creek folding stock to give it a liitle bit of a cool compact feel, and it's easy to break out from the drivers seat if I pull up on some hogs.
2. I installed some off brand windage adjustable peep sight. Beat the hell out of the flimsy flip up sight that came with it.
3. I cut the barrel down to 13.5", threaded and crowned it and installed a Yankee Hill SC2 flash suppressor/comp. This brought the group size down considerably and lessended the recoil and muzzle blast.
4. Installed an Aimpoint CompM3 in a Ruger medium 30mm ring. I bedded the ring with a dab of epoxy and it holds zero perfectly. A quick spin of the thumb screw and a small bit of leverage on the scope will bring it right off if need be. It may not be the best for the Aimpoint to wrench it off like that, but I figure, if it stops working when I need it, I'm not exactly worried about damaging it getting to the irons.
4. I use only Ruger 20 round magazines. I've tried every brand under the sun, and the Rugers are the only ones that have worked flawless, everytime. I've heard from someone on the site that talked about a feel lip modification to make the cheaper mags feed properly, but I've yet to look into it.

The thing will now put 5 rounds in 2" at 100 yards with Wolf's 124 grain hp. I haven't run the whole selection down it to see what it would do with more expensive ammo. I'm happy with 2" from the cheap stuff! The Wolf is also a proven killer:


75 yards off hand with a crappy 13.5" carbine and a red dot...

 

[Davetex]

I would at least look at this one too.

Kel Tec

I've had one for a while, it has performed flawlessly.

 

[40Arpent]

IMO, the Ruger Mini's unfairly get a bad rap. I have owned three Mini-14's, and while they are not the most accurate rifles, they are built like brick $hithouses and function very reliably (at least in my experience). While I don't know how long the "cheap" supply of 7.62x39 ammo will last, I like your thought process.

 

[M. Sage]

IMO, the Ruger Mini's unfairly get a bad rap. I have owned three Mini-14's, and while they are not the most accurate rifles, they are built like brick $hithouses and function very reliably (at least in my experience). While I don't know how long the "cheap" supply of 7.62x39 ammo will last, I like your thought process.

I used to shoot in tactical carbine matches, and out of all the Ruger Mini series rifles that showed up, zero ever made it through the whole course of fire (usually around 100 rounds is all) without a failure of some sort. So I'm calling BS on #4. I'm also calling BS on #5. As far as it not "getting unwanted attention", any attention is going to be unwanted in that kind of situation. If the SHTF, the last thing I'm going to worry about is being PC. I'm going to use something that I'm willing to stake my life on.

I'm not willing to stake it on a Ruger Mini.

 

[ROGER4314]

I have owned about 8 Mini 14's and one Mini 30. I have One Mini 14 now. The Mini 30 was one of my favorites and I kick myself for selling it.

I like both of the little rifles and give them high marks for simplicity, durability, light, quick handling and an A+ "cool" factor. The problem I had was when I tried to customize or accurize them. If left as a light, quick, reasonably accurate little rifle, everything was fine. When I tried to turn it into something that it wasn't designed to be, I got disappointed. The Mini 30 had a slight edge on accuracy in my hands. But both are neat little rifles!

I'm continually amazed at the scenarios that rotate in the heads of some of our members. I'm not going to be in a mega round firefight with multiple attackers. Why would I worry about that application? For me, SHTF is hitting the bush with what you can carry because home is no longer a safe place to be.

If you want to carry one in a SHTF situation like I described, you'll get no guff from me. If you're going to declare war on a 3rd world nation, we'd need to chat about your choice of firearms.

Flash

 

[tussery]

You can almost get a Arsenal for the going price of new Mini 30's today. You could get a Saiga even cheaper and have something that looks like a standard rifle. Then you also have a rifle that has a proven track record of 63 years on the battlefield around the world. But this is coming from someone who is not a Mini14/30 fan.

 

[Burt Gummer]

I would get an Arsenal AK over the mini 30 any day.
An improvement of the Mini 30 would be to modify it to take AK magazines instead of the Ruger proprietary magazine.

 

[Adionik]

Meh, my Yugo M70 is accurate enough at the yards I think would matter in a SHTF situation...the 30rd magazine is really hard to beat as well

 

[40Arpent]

I used to shoot in tactical carbine matches, and out of all the Ruger Mini series rifles that showed up, zero ever made it through the whole course of fire (usually around 100 rounds is all) without a failure of some sort. So I'm calling BS on #4. I'm also calling BS on #5. As far as it not "getting unwanted attention", any attention is going to be unwanted in that kind of situation. If the SHTF, the last thing I'm going to worry about is being PC. I'm going to use something that I'm willing to stake my life on.

I'm not willing to stake it on a Ruger Mini.

I'll defer to your superior expertise, though I did qualify my statement by saying "in my experience." I do find it intriguiing that you were able to keep up with every last Mini at these matches, though...maybe they were pretty low in attendance.

 

[AusTex]

My two cents is that Mini's can come accurate and be strong runners.. or you can get them that wont hold 1" at all .. and have issues. The one I had ran like a top however I never grouped it so I cannot say as to accuracy. I sure shot some pigs with it at 100+ yards open sights.

I ran only Steel RUGER FACTORY MAGS... I know there have been issues with generic brand mags.

As far as in my Bug out bag... I would only put one in there if I had had it for years and it was tried and trued. This is where the arguments can erupt.. For a bug out gun do you want heavier rounds with more stopping power.. or do you wanna carry more bullets at the same weight that are smaller?

I can tell you I saw an email that went around and it had some big names on it.. and more than a few of them said their bug out gun would be the lr308 ... I couldn't disagree more but that is me. I think the end of the world gun is a 22lr.. Just my two cents.

 

[Roscoe]

If it works well for you, its your perfect SHTF gun - and that's all that really matters!!

 

[jtriron]

I a sure the Ruger Mini 30 would be a good choice as a SHTF gun, But I am taking my AK47 with 2 stacked 30 round mags. ( and my Mossy 500 )

 

[Texas42]

My... I couldn't disagree more but that is me. I think the end of the world gun is a 22lr.. Just my two cents.

Well thats not something you hear often. . . interesting.

 

[majormadmax]

I a sure the Ruger Mini 30 would be a good choice as a SHTF gun, But I am taking my AK47 with 2 stacked 30 round mags. (and my Mossy 500)

You and me both, brother!

 

[Spiff]

I'll defer to your superior expertise, though I did qualify my statement by saying "in my experience." I do find it intriguiing that you were able to keep up with every last Mini at these matches, though...maybe they were pretty low in attendance.

I'll second that. I've never seen any kind of Mini make it through a match. And the Mini-30 I saw was the worst of all.

 

[M. Sage]

I'll defer to your superior expertise, though I did qualify my statement by saying "in my experience." I do find it intriguiing that you were able to keep up with every last Mini at these matches, though...maybe they were pretty low in attendance.

Yeah, attendance was never huge. I think it would peak at about 30 people. But one thing I did notice a lot was when something decided to quit working. Partly that's because I was running a stage at most of them and a gun going down is an opportunity for something to go wrong, so my attention got really focused really fast. Plus this was geared more toward beginning shooters (though the match organizer, who was definitely a seasoned tactical shooter had the same issues when he brought a Mini 14), so many of them had trouble remembering how to get their gun back up again, so I'd have to talk them through how to do it without putting a hole in something that didn't need another hole in it (namely me).

I saw my share of AR failures, too, but they were mostly ammo or the vast majority which were improper maintenance. Then again, almost everybody maintains their AR almost completely wrong...

The Ruger PC series rifles that a couple of guys brought out a few times ran like tops, though. I was pretty impressed with those because of the low noise and recoil that they seemed to have. So it's not a Ruger thing - they can build guns. It's just the Minis...

I'd honestly be surprised if a Mini 30 could out-shoot a decent-quality AK series rifle. My AK is good for about 2-3 MOA if I do my part (which I have trouble doing, I'll admit though the 4MOA dot in my Aimpoint doesn't help with that), which isn't bad for a gun built in a garage using a vise, a big hammer and some modified bolt cutters. IMO there are 3 things that have given the AK a reputation for poor accuracy:

1: Crappy sights. They can be used accurately, but it's hard to do.
2: Crappy shooters. Most of the people on the planet who carry an AK aren't exactly trained in the arts of marksmanship. They're more likely to put the rifle on auto and ignore the sights that they don't know how to use properly anyway.
3: Crappy trigger. It's light, but there's no kind of a let-off point. It's like a Glock trigger - you just pull on it until it finally breaks, never knowing exactly where that's going to happen...

#2 is easy to do. More than a couple of AKs I've helped sight in off a bench at 50 yards, I've been able to shoot one-hole groups of three rounds each... if I really tried (because the sights and trigger suck). #3 is easier than you think if you tear the trigger apart and really do some thinking. And #1? Two words - "Mojo" and "Ultimak".

 

[ROGER4314]

Like I said before, I like the little Ruger rifles as long as they are in their original form. Trying to convert them into assault rifles or target rifles is a waste of time and money. If you want to do that....just get right after it and more power to you! That money won't change what they are.....light, simple, quick handling little rifles that do a great job until that skinny barrel heats up.

The bottom line is this: I shot 200 yard and 600 yard matches at two different clubs with a group of guys who were fully experienced match shooters. Most were ex military and most were Marine Corps with a few Army vets tossed in the mix. In about 8 years of match shooting several times per month and at two different organizations, I never saw a Mini 14 or Mini 30 on the firing line. Not once!

On the 200 yard firing line I've seen a Spanish Destroyer 9x19mm, SKS's (I won 1st and 2nd in class with one), Mosin/Nagant, .22LR in Remington 513T, Marlin 917V in .17HMR, Swiss Schmidt Rubins, 03A3's, Enfields, Swedes, Garands and a French MAS but never a Ruger Mini 14 or Mini 30.

While I'm at it, I tried repeatedly to get AK-47's to shoot reasonably well at 200 yards but gave it up. They just can't cut it for match purposes. You can shoot an AK or a Mini in a match but you won't be competitive. Take one out and have fun but don't expect a reasonable score.

Go with what works. Go with what wins.

Flash

 

[M. Sage]

I never have tried bullseye shooting out that far with my AK, but a torso-size target at 300 yards was all kinds of doable for me. Which is all I'll ever ask of that rifle.

 

[phatcatblues]

i wouldn't use a MINI 30 as your go to rifle, because most of the cheap 7.62 rounds use corrosive primer, that means you probably need to clean it everytime you fire the weapon. it does have better knock down power than the MINI 14. end of world rifle, i'd chose PCC , alot of knock down power, accurate at 100 yard.