Mini-14 to the range

Just a quick little outing, between the rainstorms.

Today I took the Ruger Mini-14 out to help "recycle" some old reloads that I coveted the particular cases from for a new reloading project that requires brass with a particular headstamp. No real target obsessing today; I just tossed a couple of old laundry detergent bottles onto the berm and knocked them around until the ammo was gone. Fun. Just fun.

The Mini is an older one. It's a stainless "GB" government model with the flash suppressor and bayonet lug, originally built by Ruger for the Law Enforcement market and so marked on the receiver.

Ah, that whacky Bill Ruger.

But this one's mine now. I found it at a flea market a few years back, and I was so intent on buying it at the ridiculous stupid low price that the guy was asking for it that I forgot that I'd ridden my mountain bike to the show instead of having brought my car.

But this being West Virginia, I just found another vendor with a ratty sling for sale, tossed it on the Ruger, and rode home with it slung across my back. I got a few looks, but no one apparently had a real problem with it.

It shoots fine. People bad-mouth the Minis for not being "as accurate an as AR", but I suspect that most of those critics can't shoot to an AR's potential anyway. And to be fair, this isn't a match rifle, nor was it ever intended for the President's 100 match at Camp Perry. It was made to be a light, reliable, accurate carbine for hunting, plinking and self-defense and in that light it's a most excellent little rifle indeed. The laundry bottles today sure weren't complaining about being missed. It always feeds and fires, and come the day, if need be, I'll rely on it or hand it to someone that I care about without a second thought. That's the highest praise that I can give a firearm.

My only gripe? Relatively scarce and pricey Ruger magazines. But I have enough for it, and I got them before the recent panics set in.(Only buy factory mags for these. So many of those aftermarket mags are pure, unadulterated junk and the real source of most all Ruger reliability complaints.)

My Mini. A nice, light rifle for camping trips, home defense or just casual range trips. Yeah, I've got a safe full of ARs, but this little Ruger's a keeper despite being an oddball in the magazine department.