Is Anyone Going to Make Straight 20 Rd Mini 14 Mags Again?
Since their inception, many people have compared the Ruger Mini-14 vs AR-15 to make up one's mind the better gun for their needs. Both of these firearms are based on other larger platforms that originally started in .308 or seven.62 NATO.
The AR-15 is a scaled-down variant of the AR-10 designed past Eugene Stoner and James Sullivan. While the Ruger Mini-14 is a scaled-downwardly version of the M-14, which gets its roots from the M1 Garand.
These guns share a common lineage in that James Sullivan was likewise a designer on the Mini-14 nether Bill Ruger.
While these guns both take similar ancestry and they share a designer, they are about as different as they tin can become.
The AR-15 has been around since the tardily '50s and the Mini-14 platform since the early '70s.
Both the Ruger Mini fourteen and the AR-fifteen take had decades for their designs to be refined.
The Ruger Mini-14 institute a lot of employ in police force service and some limited utilize with foreign militaries.
At the aforementioned time, the AR-fifteen became i of the about popular military firearms in the unabridged world, eclipsed merely by the AK-47.
Correct off the bat, looking at these two firearms, you're non likely to get them confused.
The Mini-14 is normally in a wood stock and has that sometime-world await, while the AR-15 looks somewhat futuristic.
The guns look drastically unlike, and they operate quite differently with completely different ergonomics.
Roles
Both of these guns are fairly versatile and can suit various roles, although the AR-15 is much more versatile due to its modularity and multifariousness of options.
Ruger is the only manufacturer of the Ruger Mini-14, and they accept always been the only manufacturer.
AR-fifteen's and their components are manufactured by likely over 100 unlike companies in the U.Due south. lone.
That'south simply talking most companies that build complete rifles. There are a multifariousness of other companies that brand aftermarket parts.
Yous can build an AR-fifteen in almost any format that you would similar. Most AR-fifteen's have barrels that range from vii.5 to 20 inches, although you can get variants with barrels as short as five, and I've seen variants with barrels as long every bit 24.
The Ruger Mini-14's are currently produced with 16″ and 18.v″ barrels. Previously at that place were versions of the Mini with a twenty″ barrel.
When information technology comes to pretty much any office on the Ruger Mini-14, you're going to be stuck with Ruger parts, minus magazines and aftermarket stocks.
For the AR-15, yous tin get barrels, bolts, trigger groups, receivers, furniture, and every small part imaginable on the firearm.
If yous take a local gunsmith, information technology's a guarantee they will take all the tools required to disassemble and take down an AR-fifteen and each component completely.
If something goes wrong with your Ruger Mini-fourteen, they may be able to fix it, or you may have to send the gun off to Ruger.
With this vast amount of parts, support, and options for the AR-15, you have a much wider variety of roles.
Calibers
Not only can you become a diverseness of barrel lengths, but you can besides become a variety of calibers.
The Mini-xiv is bachelor in .223/5.56, 300 Coma, and 7.62×39.
If you're shooting an older Mini-xiv, be careful every bit a lot of those were chambered for .223 and exercise non take 5.56 Ammunition. The AR-15, on the other hand, has 22-caliber conversion kits.
Most of them ship in 5.56, only in that location is also a broad variety of other calibers, such as 300 Blackout, 6.v Grendel, seven.62 NATO, 6mm ARC, 450 Bushmaster, .50 Beowulf, and there are a lot more than calibers that haven't reached that level of commercial success.
So right off the bat, you're going to take to give a win to the AR-15 regarding versatility and but options.
The Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Burglarize, equally it's named, was designed as a tractor gun or a gun that a rancher or farmer would go along in their truck, their tractor, their bulldozer, whatever piece of equipment they were driving. They could then take hold of and shoot a varmint similar a coyote to go along them away from their cattle or livestock. Information technology's a versatile, handy rifle that you were meant to have with you at all times.
The AR-xv, on the other hand, was also originally designed for sporting purposes. Just it wasn't marketed quite in that manner. The original AR-15 had a 20-inch barrel. It made information technology a little bit long and unwieldy if you lot compare it to the 18.five-inch barrel on the Mini-14.
But today, we no longer have those limitations. Y'all can observe AR-15's with fourteen.5 pivot weld barrels, 16-inch barrels, or AR pistols with 12.v, 8-inch barrels, etc.
Almost whatsoever length barrel you can imagine, making the gun even handier and lighter than the Mini-xiv.
Every bit you can see above in the size nautical chart, there are various weights for the AR-15. At the finish of the mean solar day, you could apply the Mini-14 for hunting, abode defence force, a truck gun, or about anything the AR-15 will do. But the AR-15 tin can get a fiddling more than specialized than the Mini.
Ergonomics
Ergonomically, these guns are as different as can be. One is ready more like a traditional rifle while the other is lot more than modern.
Stocks
The stocks on these guns have a drastically different approach.
AR-15 Stocks
With an AR-15, most of your stocks volition be adaptable. This ways you can adjust the length of pull depending on what yous're doing.
If yous want a shorter length of pull for a smaller stature person, or if you're wearing a plate carrier, the AR-15 stock will commonly permit this to happen.
You can likewise get fixed stocks for your AR-fifteen besides. These fixed stocks are available in diverse sizes, so you can observe a length of pull that best suits your needs.
Mini-14 Stocks
The Mini-14, on the other hand, has a couple of aftermarket tactical options that allow for a folding stock and add together Picatinny to the gun. Most of the manufactory options are going to be a wooden or a laminate stock that is stock-still.
These stocks tend to have a very long length of pull, and unfortunately, there aren't many aftermarket options that permit for a shorter length of pull.
Between these two guns, the biggest downside of the Mini, in my stance, is the length of pull on the stock.
The mini is designed to shoot in a bladed opinion, while the AR-fifteen you tin shoot with a bladed stance or a more than squared-upwards stance, depending on the stock you lot apply.
Mini 14 vs AR-15 Pistol grip
AR-15 Pistol Grip
The AR-15 has a pistol grip that attaches via a screw at the lower part of the receiver.
This pistol grip is interchangeable and can be switched out to a multifariousness of different options. Almost every company you can imagine makes a different pistol grip for the AR-xv, so you tin actually tailor it to your hand and what you want.
Mini-14 Grip
The grip on the Mini-14 is integrated into the stock itself and it is not a pistol grip.
Some chassis have a pistol-style grip, just it really but depends on what you're looking for.
Personally, I similar the ergonomics of the grip on the Mini-14, and I also similar the ergonomics of the grip on the AR-xv.
They're both different, and it just really depends on what you lot're looking for. If you want something more traditional, go with the Mini, whereas if you want something more mod, go with the AR. Neither is improve or worse than the other.
Controls
Here's another area where the blueprint of this gun will be drastically different.
Safeties
AR-15 Prophylactic
The safety on an AR-xv is a small lever on the left-paw side of the firearm that you lot tin sweep off with your firing thumb by rotating it ninety degrees. That is in the standard mil-spec format.
In that location is a diverseness of aftermarket and ambidextrous options to become shorter levers, longer levers, fatter levers, thinner levers, depression-profile levers, etc.
You can get an AR-15 safety setup almost whatever style you want it. It's piece of cake to utilize for both right and left hand and shooters, and information technology's very intuitive.
The AR-fifteen condom is the safety by which all other firearm safeties are judged.
It is become the gilded standard of safeties on firearms. Well-nigh all modern rifles have been copying the AR-15-style safety.
Ruger Mini-14 Safety
The Mini-14 safety is drastically different from the AR-xv.
Information technology's a piece of sail metal on the left-hand side of the trigger guard that you must push button forwards to undo, and then you wrap your finger around the forepart of the trigger guard and pull back to place that aforementioned sheet metal back in the condom position.
Many people are a little bit sketchy about putting their finger within the trigger guard to disengage the condom, and I sympathize where they're coming from.
One thing I volition say is the prophylactic of the Mini-14 is intuitive, but I don't think anybody tin make an argument that it'south amend than the AR-15.
Both of these safeties seem secure and they are not likely to come off inadvertently.
That said, the AR-fifteen condom is definitely far superior to the Mini-14.
Trigger
The trigger on both these guns is fairly similar in their original formats.
The AR-fifteen has a bunch of aftermarket triggers. These triggers are very well done and are worlds above anything available for the Mini-fourteen.
That said, in their standard format, the AR-15 trigger tends to exist slightly lighter than the Mini-14, but their characteristics are near the aforementioned.
Y'all have a little bit of take-upward earlier the trigger breaks, and they tend to accept a rolling break. The reset is authoritative and easy to utilize.
That's really all you can say about the triggers on both of these guns.
They're plain mil spec-fashion triggers. If y'all want a Gucci trigger, you're definitely going to want to go with the AR-xv. But if you tin alive with a standard, regular trigger, both of these firearms will arrange you in their stock formats.
Bolt Release
AR-15
There'due south a ping-pong-style bolt release on the AR-15 situated on the left-mitt side of the firearm.
A lot of the new, more modern AR-15 at present has an ambidextrous bolt release, just your standard mil-spec gun merely has it on the left-hand side.
You can access that with your thumb when you're going to reload a fresh mag into the AR-15.
This release can also exist used every bit a bolt agree open if y'all need to lock the bolt back to the rear manually.
The magazine follower will press this upwards afterwards yous've shot your last round out of the gun, but if you need to do it manually, you'll merely want to press the bottom portion of the paddle.
Mini-fourteen
The Mini-fourteen does not have a bolt release, merely it does accept a commodities-hold-open feature. As with the AR-fifteen, when the last round is fired, the follower will button up a device to hold the bolt to the rear.
If you lot want to practice this manually, you lot volition need to press down on a fiddling plunger on the left-hand side of the receiver and then pull the bolt back to the rear so it can lock.
It's modest, and it seems like an reconsideration, only information technology does work. Information technology's not a feature I see near people using often.
The simply real reason to use it would be to clear a malfunction. To release the bolt on the Mini-fourteen, you're going to have to use the charging handle, which I'll cover next.
Charging Handle
The AR-15 has a T-style charging handle located at the rear of the receiver.
The upside of this is information technology stays out of the way of any accessories you might have mounted on the gun. It'southward ambidextrous, from the standpoint that y'all can easily printing it dorsum with both hands if yous use both your index finger and centre finger to pull the charging handle back.
The lever to pull information technology back is only located on the left-hand side, though it's set primarily for a correct-handed shooter.
There are tons of aftermarket charging handles out there that are truly ambidextrous, equally well equally ones that are simply enhanced.
Y'all can find anything that you're looking for when it comes to an AR-fifteen-style charging handle.
Ruger Mini-14 Charging Handle
The Mini has a charging handle similar to the M1 Garand and M14 from which it takes its design cues.
The charging handle is cast metal and it's located on the right-manus side of the receiver. It is reciprocating and information technology's fairly ergonomic.
1 consequence you might have is if you lot take an optic mounted on the gun, the charging handle might cause you lot to drag your finger against the optic when you're charging the weapon.
This is something you want to keep in heed.
This charging handle has a certain amount of charm most it. There'south something just cool about the way it looks and the way it sounds when you're charging the weapon.
The AR-fifteen is only a little more deadening in this category. That said, the AR-15 is likewise probably more functional.
It's similar to driving a brand new vehicle versus a 1970 pickup.
The 1970s pickup will have a lot more character, simply the brand new pickup will have features like Bluetooth that you tin can hook your smartphone into.
It's all in what y'all're looking for.
Magazine Release
The magazine release on these ii guns is as well very different.
AR-fifteen Magazine Release
The AR-xv uses a push-button-manner magazine release located on the right-hand side of the receiver.
You tin attain this with your trigger finger, and the magazine will usually drop free. Again, the downside of the AR-fifteen is there are then many manufacturers you can't guarantee that your magazines won't stick.
But, in full general, magazines tend to drop free from an AR-15 lower receiver.
The downsides of this design are, it can be easy to over insert a magazine into the AR-15, or the magazine might not actually exist locked in place.
It's common practice to pull down on an AR-15 mag later on inserting it to ensure that it is fully engaged, so you don't get a fake positive when loading the firearm.
Ruger Mini-14 Magazine Release
The Mini-14 has a magazine release more than like to an AK-47.
It's a little lever that sits behind the magazine. It's a paddle-way release. This release is completely ambidextrous and easy to use for most users.
That said, it'southward going to be a lot slower. You have to take your back up hand and employ your pollex to pull the mag out of the weapon. Just pressing the paddle release will driblet the magazine complimentary in most cases.
That said, ergonomically information technology merely makes sense to catch the mag and rip information technology out of the gun.
Quality
Quality is a hard subject to discuss.
The chief reason is Ruger is the only manufacturer of the Mini-14, while the AR-xv is manufactured by many.
Ruger'south quality of the Mini-14 is good, merely it'south not great. Information technology lacks the fit and finish that many AR-15's accept, but it seems durable and reliable.
The parts seem well-made, with a few chintzy things like the canvas metal magazine release or the bolt agree open up plunger.
Some of the things on the gun simply seemed cheap. There's no getting around it.
The AR-15, on the other paw, will vary greatly depending on the AR-xv you buy.
Some of the guns seem like they are complete garbage, while other guns are works of fine art.
The AR-15 has a vast price range and a large multifariousness of manufacturers who employ unlike techniques.
Some are built to exist the lowest toll possible, while others focus on being the near cute rifle made.
Other rifles are made specifically to exist the lightest gun the manufacturer tin produce, and some are built to be the most authentic.
Depending on the AR-15 you lot purchase will depend on the quality you get, whereas the Ruger Mini-xiv, on boilerplate, will be well-nigh on par with near AR-15s.
If you lot're looking at a Mini-14 and comparing it to an AR-fifteen in a similar price point, generally, the AR-15 is going to seem a lilliputian college quality.
The stock on the Mini-fourteen doesn't seem bang-up. It definitely seems mass manufactured. And as I stated earlier, the fit and finish aren't great either.
Reliability
An age-quondam argument was the AR-fifteen is not a very reliable weapon, and in some cases that holds true.
The AR-xv definitely had teething problems but, the same tin be said for the Ruger Mini-fourteen.
All the same, f you wait at most current production guns made today, they are both very reliable.
If you option a Mini-14 that is newly manufactured, it'southward likely to exist very reliable, whereas, with an AR-15, it'due south going to be a crapshoot.
Once more, having a ton of companies manufacturing the AR-15 opens you up to potential quality-command problems, but if you have a rifle that is equal in quality to the Mini-14, and so you lot're likely going to accept a more than reliable firearm with the AR-15.
The reason for this is the system.
The Mini-14 has an open activeness. That open action could permit a lot of dirt and debris to get into the firearm, whereas the AR-fifteen is substantially a sealed action.
With the AR-15 the dust cover keeps a lot of stuff out, and even though some modernistic AR-15s exercise not take dust covers the system however remains relatively sealed.
Look at the charging handle design and everything about it. The merely place for dust and debris to exhale to go into the AR-fifteen is either really small holes around the charging handle, the trigger opening, or the muzzle itself.
The one big hole that things can make it is the ejection port. The AR-xv bolt sits up really tight against that ejection port and runs direct back, and then there isn't much room for dust and debris to get into the gun.
The Mini-fourteen, on the other hand, has a completely open up action and there'due south a hole in the rear of the receiver where y'all tin can run across the hammer.
If dust and debris get into that hole it could cause issues with the trigger mechanism, causing the gun to fail.
For this reason, I would trust the AR-15 more than in harsh environments than the Ruger Mini-fourteen.
When it comes to just general apply and shooting, both of these guns volition likely serve you well and be plenty reliable, but in extreme circumstances, the sealed design of the AR-15 is a large reward.
Aftermarket
In that location'due south no question the AR-15 beats the Mini-14 in aftermarket parts and accessories.
Every part on the AR-15 has an aftermarket part pick. It is the nigh popular gun in modern history, after all
Meanwhile, the Mini-14 has some aftermarket stocks and that's really about it. With but a few aftermarket magazines and some optics-mounting options, you lot will not find much else for Mini14.
Accessories Mounting
Mounting accessories on an AR-15 is going to depend on which variant you buy.
There are all different types of handguards and overall setups for the AR-15, some of which lend themselves to being more than accessorized than others.
Most baseline AR-15 are going to be easier to mount accessories to than almost any Mini-14.
The Mini-14 is not the gun yous want to add lights, lasers, and all kinds of tactical stuff to.
It's a bare-bones gun. It does accept good provisions for mounting an optic, simply when you lot want to mount lights and lasers information technology's but not that great.
The gun uses Ruger'due south eyes mounting system on both the front and rear of the receiver, so you could easily mount a red dot or a variable power optic.
You can also get a scout mount to mount eyes on the Mini-14. That aforementioned lookout mount could be used to mount light at the 12 o'clock rail with an beginning mount.
Only to recap, the AR-15 volition mount pretty much any accessory y'all want.
Aesthetics
I don't remember there is a articulate winner when it comes to aesthetics.
Since aesthetics is mostly personal preference, other than humans naturally liking symmetry, It all depends on the await you're going for.
If you lot want a modern tactical look then the AR-15 is definitely the way to go.
But if you similar the classic lines of a traditional burglarize, and so the Mini-14 is a no-brainer.
If you were to ask me which one I prefer the most, I'1000 non sure I could choose.
Both of these guns are completely dissimilar categories and take their own set of charms.
I really think the best answer on this ane is to become both.
Maintenance
Maintaining the AR-15 is going to exist easier than maintaining the Mini-xiv.
Everybody and their brother knows how to maintain an AR-15. Taking 1 apart is like putting a iv-piece puzzle together.
Meanwhile, the Mini-xiv is a piddling bit more than complicated and, and the parts aren't as well known.
Somebody will disagree with me on this because, for years, the AR-15 was called a "complicated platform," only the reality is that'south not true.
When you look at these guns side by side mechanically, they're both fairly simple, but I'd have to say the AR-xv is more simple to maintain than the Mini-14.
Shooting
Shooting these guns is going to be very hard to quantify considering the AR-15 has so many variants.
If you're shooting something like the Q Honey Badger, you're going to have a dissimilar experience than shooting an 18-inch AR-15 in 6mm ARC set for long-range work.
On the other manus, the Mini-14 will accept a 16.5″ – xviii.5″ butt, and they all have a stock with a similar length of pull.
I prefer to shoot the Mini-xiv when shooting atomic number 26 sights.
The gun has a fantastic balance, and it merely points naturally. You can see why this gun is awesome for doing work within 100 yards.
The AR-fifteen, on the other hand, is superior when you're using optics. If you're mounting a red dot or a variable power-optic to the gun, and so I would definitely probably become with the AR-15.
Complexity
Although I'd have to give a slight border to the AR-15 in this category.
You can tune an AR-15 to run exactly how you lot desire it, whereas a Mini-14 would crave an first-class gunsmith to complete that same task.
The AR-xv has so many options, and y'all can definitely build a better shooting AR-xv than you can a Mini-fourteen.
But with an off-the-shelf firearm, they frankly shoot very similarly in terms of recoil impulse.
The Mini-14 tends to have slightly more muzzle rise, while the AR-15 seems to have a little more concussion and recoil.
Concluding thoughts
At the finish of the twenty-four hour period, you have to decide which type of rifle yous're looking for. In that location isn't a clear aye or no answer on this in full general.
If yous're in a free state and you lot're trying to exist as practical as possible, then the AR-15 is going to be your obvious go-to. But if y'all want a retro-style rifle, so I'm going to accept to requite some points to the Mini-14.
If you're looking for a burglarize that you can travel within the majority of the U.S. without having legal issues, and so the Mini-fourteen is going to exist hard to beat.
Brand sure you've only got ten round magazines in your vehicle and you're good in well-nigh states.
Whereas, the AR-15 has a bunch of complicated, unconstitutional laws about its format in many states.
If you're staying in a hotel and concluded upwardly having to utilise your gun in cocky-defense, the final thing y'all want to exercise is terminate upwardly in prison because you don't have the correct bullet button on your AR-15.
The Mini-14 is priced at right around a thousand dollars, depending on the variant.
At that cost, it seems a little high to me personally.
I'd like to see the gun offered around the $750 mark. At $750, information technology would provide a little more value, and it would be more in line with the cost of a similar AR-15.
For $one,000, you can go a much more capable AR-15 than you can get a Mini-14. You're going to pay a premium for the old-earth charm and legal versatility of the Mini-14.
If you have a bunch of AR-15s, I won't discourage you from adding a Mini-14 to the collection, but if this is your first gun and you lot alive in a gratuitous state, the AR-15 volition probably be a more versatile option.
Source: https://lynxdefense.com/ruger-mini-14-vs-ar-15/
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