mini-30 purchase
A friend is selling his mini-30 ruger and what I would like to know is are all ruger mini 30s made with 308 barrels or 310s like the aks he used only wolf ammo maybe 200rds though the barrel
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My understanding is that the first few years of production these had .311 chambers with a forcing cone that tapered down to a .308 barrel. Now they supposedly have .311 bores, but if you really want to know for sure, I'd suggest calling Ruger Customer service.
In practice, not sure how much difference this makes
Most people who shoot these want to fire the Russian steel case ammo, which simply isn't all that accurate out of ANY platform. 4-6" 100 yard groups is probably about all you can expect, and that's good enough for the intended purpose of plinking or shooting medium sized targets at that distance.
In recent years, Ruger supposedly has tightened up these guns with better attention to barrel vibration and such, so that accuracy is significantly improved over the older guns. With good American made brass case ammo, its possible to get sub 2" 100 yard groups with these now, which, all things considered, is excellent performance.
Also, Ruger now offers factory 20 round mags that actually work (unlike most of the earlier aftermarket ones that were hit and miss).
My personal take on these is that despite the recent improvements, I'm not sure there is enough performance advantage over an SKS or a a Saiga rifle in the same caliber to justify the significantly increased price.0 -
If it is selling for a decent price, you'll be just fine buying one. I shoot whatever foreign steel case ammo I can find cheaply through mine with no ill effects, but I haven't slugged the barrel to determine diameter.
I did add a Wolff high-power hammer spring to keep the rock-hard steel-case ammo primers from needing additional strikes. Stick with Ruger factory magazines, as the other off-brands are hit-and-miss (mostly miss) when it comes to reliablity.
As for the SKS/mini-30 debate; you'll get those who love SKS, those who love the Mini-30, etc. Back when SKS rifles were 90 bucks, I bought one. I found it to be a "mehh" gun, so I sold it off because it didn't do anything for me. I kept the Mini-30 because (reliable) detachable mags and easier scope mounting were a plus that the SKS didn't really offer. Either one will do the job of the other when it comes right down to it, but if the cost of the rifle is the primary issue you face then the usually much less expensive SKS offers "more bang for the buck".0 -
Thank you so much for all the information.Just one more question can you reload for the 7.62x39 using 308 heads? Will they work or should I stick with 310 heads??? 0 -
Another thing to watch out for, if you intend to shoot the foreign made ammo? Is that a lot of the older military surplus stuff has corrosive primers.
We had a young guy at work, who didn't know the difference. He shot a bunch of the older Chinese stuff, without cleaning afterwards.
The results were as expected! Managed to free up the bolt, so it would function. But the barrel was a sewer.0 -
The only true way to figure the bore of the Mini-30 is to slug the bore using a soft lead ball, then measure it out with a micrometer. If it measures .308, then load .308 bullets and use a .308 expander plug in the dies. Same if runs .311; use that set up and diameter bullets.
(Some sets of dies in this caliber come with expanding plugs in both sizes.)
Good luck!0 -
Thank you again rufe will watch what ammo i use.riomouse I will need to find someone too slug the barrel where i am we have no legit gunsmiths thank you.!!!!!!!!!! 0 -
Neat little carbine, i have shot quite a few deer with it in heavy timber. I did have a trigger job done and tried several brands of domestic soft point factory loads. My rifle likes remington corlokts and does just under two inches a 100 yards. The import ammo is for rock and roll range time.....they will be grouping all over the place. 0 -
Years ago Ruger tried to make the Mini 14 in .308. The project was scrapped, the receiver would not take the beating I guess.
I wish they would give it another try! [:)] They could give Springfield Armory some competition.0 -
quote:Originally posted by M1A762
Years ago Ruger tried to make the Mini 14 in .308. The project was scrapped, the receiver would not take the beating I guess.
I wish they would give it another try! [:)] They could give Springfield Armory some competition.
I think you are thinking of the XGI
Back to on-topic, from what I read when the mini-30 was first introduced they got around the 311 vs 308 by using a tapered bore.0 -
quote:Originally posted by M1A762
Years ago Ruger tried to make the Mini 14 in .308. The project was scrapped, the receiver would not take the beating I guess.
I wish they would give it another try! [:)] They could give Springfield Armory some competition.
According to the factory rep I spoke with, they could not get it to feed reliably. For some reason they could not get one round out of the magazine to feed. I can't remember if it was the first or last, it was quite a while ago.0
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