Possibilities with the Mini 14
One of my more accurate and flat shooting rounds I use is the military 62gr SCBT round, but I absolutely advise against ever using this for hunting. My favorite hunting round is a 60gr HP from Sierra that has allowed me to put 3 shot groups in 3 inches out to 300yds. I’m sure there are some readers saying BS on that one, but its true and I have pictures to prove it. The Mini 14s best advantage is that it is much lighter weight that most AR15 style weapons and that it feels more like a traditional rifle. The stainless steel Mini 14 also holds up very well in damp environments and I’ve seen better resistance against moisture than the standard blued Mini 14.
My all time favorite semi-auto for hauling around is an possible always will be the Ruger Mini 14. I started out with these long before i stepped into the world of tactical accessories and long range shooting. My favorite setup for the Mini 14 is a 3.9×40 rifle scope and in my humble opinion, this is probable the proper setup for what the gun was originally intended to be used for. If a user pays attention to the barrel twist and the bullet weight they are using, this lightweight carbine which fires a bullet as powerful as an M16 is capable of varmint hunting and medium size game. Many States do not allow the use of AR 15 style rifles for hunting, but you can still get the accuracy and power from the .223 round in a Carbine that doesn’t look as threatening while beating down the sticks.
While many in the tactical community have been learning that magnification does not increase your effectiveness is close quarters combat, it can actually hinder you, some are finding out that using a rifle scope to monitor movement, whether it’s for hunting, military or law enforcement purposes is not really a good idea. Field of view is very important for tracking movement because a 50mm objective on a rifle scope stands out like a sore thumb, weighs a lot and might actually be set at too high of a magnification that you will most likely miss any potential threat. It’s really almost like watching the stars at night with only one eye open and trying to spot shooting stars.
Today I took my newest LWRC rifle to the range to break it in. This is a combat rifle and I expect that it eventually get pretty beat up, but it’s always a good idea to run through some firing drills before you rely on it. Some of the biggest malfuntion problems I have seen on the firing line were with supposedely brand new out of the box rifles. Sometimes there are bugs or issues that are easy to fix, but you really need to put some lead down range with your rifle or pistol before you rely on it. I’ve mentioned before about a time when I saw a guy show up with a Beretta 92FS inox pistol and it jammed after every round. The shooter was very frustrated because this was it’s first range trip. Well, turns out that the pistol was bone dry and had absolutely zero lubrication on it and with one wipe down, the gun ran flawlessly. The same should go for any firearm. I strongly suggest cleaning guns every once in awhile, even if you haven’t shot them. Lubrication can run off of guns or drain off, and I also highly recommend using a small level of grease on even pistols, especially if they may sit in a gun safe for long periods of time.
Another issue you may run into when using hunting style optics on a military style rifle is this. What are you going to do if the optic fails or breaks? Are you going to need to u se a screw driver to remove it or can you detach it quickly? Quick detach optics and accessories can become very important if you have a failure of some sort. For instance, I’ve seen plenty of incidences where soldiers in Iraq took bullets in their optics but the rifles still worked. Always have backup irons on an M4 is a good idea. Not only can batteries on something like a Eotech gun sight go down, but sometimes that can actually get broken from being slammed around or from fragmentation. The Mini 14 ranch rifle is a very manueverable Carbine. Even though the Eotech optic is primarily for military purposes, I’ve found the Eotech to work very well on a Mini 14 Ranch rifle. The MOA dot works well with a gun that can shoot MOA as long as the rifle barrel has not heated up, which normally occurs after the 3rd shot, but from a hunting standpoint, I rarely know anyone that takes 3 shots on any hunting trip.
I’ve seen so many people on firing lines with spotting scopes complain about the optics they have and what they should have gotten or what they wish they knew before getting a scope. Sometimes people have this idea that having an optics magnify 45x will make things easier to see at great distances and any experienced observer know that isn’t true. Magnification can become void due to heat and mirage and even zero magnification can cause you to have trouble hitting an object at certain distances.