How rare is this 222? Friend of mine picked one up and was wondering. Thanks!
Mini-14 .222
- Thread starter Heliman
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bigbillyboy
Hunter
Pretty rare , most were for export .
yes, they are pretty scarce, from what I recall, there was a foreign contract for semi auto rifles that had to NOT be any sort of NATO round, thus .222 instead of .223 (5.56) and Ruger tried ,but lost out to Colt for the contract, and the 'surplus' guns went to some LE like Oklahoma Highway Patrol??? even some prison systems?? my friend Les Dees from Gulf States Distributors gave us the low down back in the early Police Marksman days....... 
.222 is my favorite center fire round. Have 3 and for a long time had a T/C barrel. Is popular in Europe since many countries don't allow NATO ammo. Always wanted the Mini 14 version. Hard to find and very expensive. I would hazard a guess (w/o looking at the Ruger web site) that Ruger won't service them anymore.
black1970
Blackhawk
Had 2. Paid 300 for the first one years ago. Most people never heard of a 222. Ruger made a run in stainless not long ago. I think last year.
mpddoug162
Bearcat
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- Feb 1, 2022
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I’d love to have one! Got a 788 Remington, a contender barrel and a Remington 722 chambered in it and love them all!
When was it those were made? 1983? 1984?
I remember those, and .222 triangle handguard AR-15s, in Shotgun News around that time. Places were trying hard to get rid of them.
I knew then I should buy one to stick away, but that $400 for a Colt AR was a lot of money…then.
I remember those, and .222 triangle handguard AR-15s, in Shotgun News around that time. Places were trying hard to get rid of them.
I knew then I should buy one to stick away, but that $400 for a Colt AR was a lot of money…then.
DGW1949
Hawkeye
$400 in 1983 would have been equal to $1297+ today...so I dunno, made you could have actually made some money on it, maybe not.
DGW
DGW
mpddoug162
Bearcat
Using the S/N lookup, mine left Ruger in 1991. I think I got it around ‘95-96 in a special close out from Davidsons.
Wow. They made at least two runs then. I know they made some in the 83-85 span. Well, they were being sold then, so perhaps they were made earlier.
When the first semiauto panic hit that sent prices skyrocketing, I remember seeing ARs in .222 and electroless nickel being at the tip of that rocket.
chet15
Hawkeye
Every now and then Ruger is known to make a new batch. But again, the ones you see here are probably leftovers from an export run.
Chet15
