Mini 14 is Gone, hello S&W

[sargents1]

A while back I took my Mini in and had a "gunsmith" at local shop thread the barrel. When I got it back, the front sight was pinned on with a solid pin (not the factory roll pin) and the barrel was canted to one side (ie, not indexed correctly causing the front sight to be crooked). He eventually fixed the cant to the front sight, but it never really shot right after. Where I once had accuracy of ~2.5in at 100yds (from a rest) I was now seeing about 3in @ 50yds. No bueno.

So, I gave up and decided to cut my losses. I had the day off yesterday so I went to a Different gunshop and did some swapping.

Goodbye Mini14, it was fun.

better days (one of my first 3-gun events with the Mini)



Hello S&W M&P MOE (Note: Smith should stay away from names that overuse the Ampersand)

Pardon the crummy phone pics, my wife had the good camera.

 

[9x19]

Congrats!

I have a pair of the M&P 15 Sport rifles and no complaints with either. They run fine, are plenty accurate and the price was terrific. (I don't miss the forward assist or dust cover either).

I think Ruger is missing alot of sales by not offering a DI gun. I had a SR556, but didn't much care for the weight or balance... and now all I own are DI guns again.

 

[robertkirksey]

This is why I don't buy "customized" guns.

 

[9x19]

I don't buy home-built ARs either.

Parts are not all created equal, nor are the abilities of every "builder".

 

[DGW1949]

Something happened during a barrel-threading that caused your Mini's group sizes to go from 2.5-MOA to 6-MOA?....
Wow, that almost leasves me speechless.
I hope that you didn't have to pay the guy who did that to you. :shock: .

Concrats on the S&W. I hear-tell that they are good rifles.

DGW

 

[BearStopper]

I have a Sig Sauer M400 enhanced FDE that is a winner too. Ultimate in balance and weight of my entire arsenal of much more expensive rifles! I do believe that people are beginning to realize that while piston AR style guns are indeed nice, it messes up the balance that makes them so handy feeling in the first place. And DI guns are perfectly reliable anyways so unless you just don't clean your gun ever then it simply isn't the advantage that was originally portrayed! Got to admit though that the SR762 would be a dandy addition even though I no longer want the SR556.

 

[instructor]

Noting your posting of the S&W M&P 15 reminds me of a recent comment(s) by a politician(lady, but can't remember her name??) regarding an unfortunate shooting recently and as you would expect pushing for tighter gun controls and nothing new about that, but she went on to say "why or how could a private citizen be able to purchase a rifle marked M&P, that is only intended for Military or Police..." Some "staffer" has more than likely told her that the rifle was so marked and away she went implying that this was terrible that a civilian could buy such a rifle and use it in a crime. Just goes to show that there is so much misinformation out there about firearms with those in politics. Anyway, I also have the M400/Sig and it is a well built quality rifle for the money.
Also have the Ruger SR556 and have not had much time behind the gun(some 50 or so rounds) and time will tell but it is a solid gun and has a lot of features for the dollars spent. Zeroed the rifle at 100yds. and w/ quality hand loads gave pretty close to 1moa for 5 shot group from bench/bag using Leupold 2.5 UltraLite scope. Not bad but will have to do something about that trigger down the road. I did stone some of the rough spots on trigger/hammer, but still leaves a lot to be desired. As for SR762 I have not fired one, but have had fair amount of time behind the Armalite AR10's in 308 and they are very accurate, but to me anyway, in 308 that much recoil and the spring action is a bit much for me. I'll stick with the M14 for the 308.

 

[mohavesam]

Although your choice of "gunsmith" caused the damage (yes, damage) to your Mini, you cannot possibly blame Ruger for the problem. I'm betting the guy didn't even understand the barrel must be removed (or maybe he deemed it "too much work"?) to thread it properly. Also, I'm guessing the indexing of the gas port is affected... recover the cost of fixing the problems from the guy. You DID have a statement of work, right?

Any of the AR clones is fine as long as you're happy with the gun. S&W has done a fine job with their "lego guns".

 

[sargents1]

Although your choice of "gunsmith" caused the damage (yes, damage) to your Mini, you cannot possibly blame Ruger for the problem. I'm betting the guy didn't even understand the barrel must be removed (or maybe he deemed it "too much work"?) to thread it properly. Also, I'm guessing the indexing of the gas port is affected... recover the cost of fixing the problems from the guy. You DID have a statement of work, right?

Any of the AR clones is fine as long as you're happy with the gun. S&W has done a fine job with their "lego guns".

I definitely do NOT blame Ruger. In fact when the firing pin broke on my Mini, Ruger replaced it free of charge And gave me a spare simply for the asking. I have no complaints about Ruger. I just wish that Ruger built a DI AR setup like the M&P that sold for the same $$$, that way I would stay with the brand. But, c'est la vie.

As for the "gunsmith", I did pay him. I paid him when I picked up the rifle. I didnt realize that there was anything wrong with the rifle until later. When I noticed that the sight was canted he fixed that with no trouble. It was later when the rifle didnt group that I got to wondering. I suspect that due to removing and reattaching the barrel, he did not get the headspace right. I never did check, so this is just a theory. It could be that the gas block did not get reassembled correctly, some folks say this can affect accuracy - I do not have definitive proof one way or another, so I can only speculate.

In any case, I am done with Bubba Gunsmith. Its not worth driving almost an hour out of my way to go argue with that hack, especially when I cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that my accuracy issues are his doing (Mini14s are generally not known to be all that accurate).

In any case, someone else will have that rifle with a bunch of neat accessories and accuracy that is what a lot of folks expect from a Mini14 (though not what I came to expect from that rifle).

I have a sweet new S&W to go try out. I will probably post a range report once I get a chance to get out and take some photos.

 

[gramps]

Several new terms to me. Ampersand? and a DI set up? If someone could enlighten me. Thank you.
gramps

 

[Cholo]

Ampersand = & as in S&W. The Forum doesn't allow the *ampersand* as our keyboards know it.

 

[9x19]

DI - Direct impingement... in a standard AR (vs Ruger's SR556) the gas vented from the barrel does not bear against (impinge on) a piston (which moves a rod, which moves the bolt), but instead travels down a tube and bears directly against the bolt carrier.

 

[WAYNO]

This is why I don't buy "customized" guns.

What he said :mrgreen:

 

[WAYNO]

Congrats!

I think Ruger is missing alot of sales by not offering a DI gun. I had a SR556, but didn't much care for the weight or balance... and now all I own are DI guns again.

And everybody's got their own preferences. I own the SR556 only because it's a piston gun. And my DI guns don't get used any more, except for funeral duty.

WAYNO.

 

[gramps]

Thanks for the enlightenment
gramps

 

[9x19]

And everybody's got their own preferences....

... and choices to satisfy them... ain't it great? :mrgreen:

 

[rugerjunkie]

This is why I don't buy "customized" guns.

What he said :mrgreen:

X10. Gotta love a gun on the used marked thats butchered up and the next buyer wont have a clue until its taken to the range. But hey...the op was able to dump it and enjoy his new rifle and is obviously happy to pass a problem gun along to someone else...