The $1200 Mini 14 new at my LGS

[Actnbill]

I just saw the latest batch of Mini 14's that arrived at my Local Gun Store......$1200 for the basic Mini with a wood stock.....The stainless with black plastic stock was about $20 more....

These prices are nuts !!!! Makes me want to buy another AR for about half....

 

[edm1]

I just looked at an old post from 2004 where I bought a used Mini 14 and 500 rounds of ammo for $350. I know that was an old model, but dang.

 

[WAYNO]

I suspect some dealers will create their own value, depending on perceived availability or scarcity.

Out here, the dealer(s) are advertising Mini's at the $950-1000 range. That's still a lot.

 

[gunzo]

I know, 2 different animals, but remember the late 70's when a new Colt AR was $500 & a Mini was ~$250. That sold a lot of minis.
Now, the Mini may have improved, but so has the Colt, & they are now about the same money.

Weird ain't it?

 

[WAYNO]

That's another discussion I agree with.

After the Army, I had zero interest in any AR/M-16. They were crap in the Army and crap in the civilian world.

This void was pleasantly filled with the Mini 14. It shot flawlessly and was relatively inexpensive. I was, and still am a proponent of the Mini, but the price is the downside.

I swallowed my words some years later and bought another AR, a brand new M-4. I wont share the brand as I don't want to start another argument, but this rifle would not function at all. I returned the rifle for repair, months later I got the gun back, and it's worked 100% flawlessly ever since. This has caused me to buy a bunch more M-4's, and they all work 100% perfectly, as well as being highly accurate.

Since the M-4 is kind've a throw away gun, they now get all the attention and use and my Mini 14 has become a safe queen, unfired in years. .

 

[Mauser9]

Prices never cease to amaze me but then again am not a spring chicken for sure. Still prices a bit outrageous. Prices seem to triple instead of double

 

[dobegrant.45]

Amazing prices indeed, looked at a new wood/stainless mini 30 yesterday at a local shop for$1199.00

 

[Mauser9]

Yep I paid $330 for a new TB 1100 Trap shotgun back in 80 and my Rem. 700 was under $350 in 84. Both with walnut and high gloss bluing. Also grabbed a Model Four in .270 Win. for $400. They almost seem custom compared to many offerings these days. Thank god I held onto Dad's 98k. Can't believe the price milsurps are going for now!

 

[Snake45]

I clearly remember the mid-70s, when the only .223 rifles on the market were the Colt AR-15 (and, theoretically, the Armalite AR-18), the Remington 700 BDL Varmint, and the Sako Varminter. These were all over $250 at a time when the 700 BDL could be commonly had (in common calibers) for $200 or less. The Mini-14 appeared on the market and was SUPPOSED to be a low-cost .223 dispenser. HOWEVER, they were in such demand for at least the first year or two that dealers who could get them routinely asked for and got higher prices than the Colt AR-15! I remember this very clearly because I was there. And I wanted a Mini-14 but never saw one at that time I could afford. As it turns out, I've never owned one to this day, although I'd still like to.

 

[tunnug]

Prices were lower but then again so were wages, when I got married in 1980 I was making $4 an hr working in a cabinet shop, $160 for a 40 hr week before taxes, average for our area, I remember many times I/we couldn't do anything but stay home because we didn't have anything left after bills/groceries.
I'd like to see a comparison of wages/guns from then and now.

 

[sharpblade7777]

I bought this one I believe early last year(I can't keep up with time). I do know I was surprised to see it on the rack at my local gun shop. It was exactly the one I had been looking for. I paid 1000 dollars total out the door.

 

[XP100]

Just sold an excellent condition fired 10 rounds since leaving factory. 1985 Stainless Factory folder 223 Ranch Rifle for 1700.

 

[JBP]

I suspect some dealers will create their own value, depending on perceived availability or scarcity.

Out here, the dealer(s) are advertising Mini's at the $950-1000 range. That's still a lot.

Paid $951 for mine (plastic stock) from GB back in April. Used ones weren't going for much less. Local Pawn/Gun shop selling it for $1059 for wood stock.

 

[Watertender]

About 5 years ago I bought a blue steel wooden stocked version from a Walmart that was discontinuing selling guns. I paid $300 plus tax. I think I got a good deal

 

[Lawrence of Suburbia]

Minis and ARs are not really an either/or for me. I'd take a nice, wood stocked stainless Mini 14 any day of the week over just about any AR15. Yes, I too bought several Minis years ago for much less. But everything has gone up in price with inflation, legislation, production costs and time. I really have no issues spending a grand on the rifle I want. I have no problem swapping out the barrel etc to make it more accurate. In the end I have something I like to shoot and look at. Something special in my mind. Thankfully, our State (CT) still allows us peasants to own Minis, owing, no doubt, to the not-too-scary looks. However, much to my disappointment, they draw the line at folding stock versions. Folders are "A-Team" level scary apparently.

 

[Randyzzz]

I picked up an early model at the LGS a couple months back for around $800 if I remember correctly. Locally, that's a deal.

 

[Hankus]

I got my mid-90s vintage stainless/wood Mini-30 for $550 back in 2012. I took it home and field stripped it and couldn't find any evidence that it had ever been fired. That's saying something from an old soldier that knows how to look in every cranny and crevice for carbon …

 

[GasGuzzler]

All of the local privately for sale Mini14's have been $900+ and usually over $1200 used. I had a friend that bought a new blued Ranch Rifle with plain "hardwood" stock about 15 years ago and it was $650-ish.

 

[Walter Rego]

The current MSRP for a Ruger Mini-14, SKU # 5801 which is the blued, wood stocked Ranch Rifle and is shipped with two 5 round magazines is $1259. Most "big box" retailers here in California sell them for $1100 or so unless they are running a sale and then it's ~ $1049. Add anywhere from 7.75% to 8.25% tax depending upon where you live and another $37 in DROS fees and you are looking at $1200 easily.

I had always admired the Mini-14 and I too remember when you could buy one for around $300. And you could also buy a 20 round box of surplus ammo for $5. But the reports of mediocre accuracy always put me off. A few months ago I started looking around local shops at used Mini-14's and on the local trader boards. Some retail shops were asking close to $1000 for used guns and a lot of the private party sale guns had been monkeyed with or had countless rounds through them from back when cheap blasting ammo was available. I decided that a post-2007 gun was the best choice and just bit the bullet (no pun intended) and bought a new one.

Yep, inflation is ridiculous. But unless you get lucky, the "new normal" on a new Mini-14 is going to be well north of $1000.

 

[Pál_K]

The Mini-14, along with the Garand and the (sporting) BAR, is one of the very few centerfire semiauto rifles that can be legally bought now in the Demokratik People's Republik of Worsington state.

So, for new shooters and for those who don't already have a semiauto, the Mini-14 is the likely choice and they either pay the asking price or do without.