This is a tale about my first, only and last 180 series Mini-14, the one with a roller bolt that didn't throw brass into next week. The M-14 was my T.O. weapon while I was in, and I had done a T.A.D. at the 22 AMU helping with the inletting and bedding of the Corp's match M-14s. I never cared for the M-16, and never had a desire to have one....enough background...
When the Mini came out I decided to try one out, a friend of a friend had one he was selling fairly cheap.(that should have been the first warning sign). I told the guy I wanted to shoot it, but he hemed and hawed (second warning sign) on shooting it. Aww, what the hell, it's just like an M-14, I thought, I can fix whatever might be wrong with it, I thought. So I ponied up the cash and got it. Scrounged some ball from a friend and we went to the hills to shoot it. Put a pop can out about 50 yards or so, wracked one in and pressed the trigger! Did it hit the can?? I have no idea! On discharge, the trigger group fell out, (more on this in a minute), the magazine fell out, the barrel and receiver assembly tilted off the stock and fell in the dirt.
At this point Ken would have died!!!, but seeing as how I was on dry land I didn't expire......so, yes I had field stripped it and cleaned it. I had noticed that the trigger group was very easy to remove, but hadn't given it much thought as I knew 223 didn't recoil much and thought that's how Ruger made it. After gathering up all the parts, and cleaning them off, I knew right away why the guy sold it so cheap. He had obviously pried the trigger guard away from its detent with some kind of pry bar, and had bent the trigger guard out. I took the trigger assembly over the bumper of my truck, got out my rig hammer and bent the trigger guard back so it would latch in tightly. Now we were cooking with gas! Rattled off a while mag and I was happy, until the second mag.....that damn can was fairly safe! I tried every M-14 building trick I could think of, I tried every reloading trick I could try, and that damn thing never shot better that 7 M.O.A. About that time an amigo showed up with a homemade free float tubed AR. He claimed almost all ARs he had done that to shot about M.O.A. or better....I never looked back after selling that Mini-14.....fairly cheap!!!
In reflecting on the Ken situation this morning...(Hey you gotta do something with your morning coffee...uh I mean co**ee. I wonder if he would have had the same look on his face standing there holding just the stock of a Mini-14, surrounded by parts on the deck, as he did with a malfunctioning M-16. Well we will never know.
When the Mini came out I decided to try one out, a friend of a friend had one he was selling fairly cheap.(that should have been the first warning sign). I told the guy I wanted to shoot it, but he hemed and hawed (second warning sign) on shooting it. Aww, what the hell, it's just like an M-14, I thought, I can fix whatever might be wrong with it, I thought. So I ponied up the cash and got it. Scrounged some ball from a friend and we went to the hills to shoot it. Put a pop can out about 50 yards or so, wracked one in and pressed the trigger! Did it hit the can?? I have no idea! On discharge, the trigger group fell out, (more on this in a minute), the magazine fell out, the barrel and receiver assembly tilted off the stock and fell in the dirt.
At this point Ken would have died!!!, but seeing as how I was on dry land I didn't expire......so, yes I had field stripped it and cleaned it. I had noticed that the trigger group was very easy to remove, but hadn't given it much thought as I knew 223 didn't recoil much and thought that's how Ruger made it. After gathering up all the parts, and cleaning them off, I knew right away why the guy sold it so cheap. He had obviously pried the trigger guard away from its detent with some kind of pry bar, and had bent the trigger guard out. I took the trigger assembly over the bumper of my truck, got out my rig hammer and bent the trigger guard back so it would latch in tightly. Now we were cooking with gas! Rattled off a while mag and I was happy, until the second mag.....that damn can was fairly safe! I tried every M-14 building trick I could think of, I tried every reloading trick I could try, and that damn thing never shot better that 7 M.O.A. About that time an amigo showed up with a homemade free float tubed AR. He claimed almost all ARs he had done that to shot about M.O.A. or better....I never looked back after selling that Mini-14.....fairly cheap!!!
In reflecting on the Ken situation this morning...(Hey you gotta do something with your morning coffee...uh I mean co**ee. I wonder if he would have had the same look on his face standing there holding just the stock of a Mini-14, surrounded by parts on the deck, as he did with a malfunctioning M-16. Well we will never know.
