I'm not a huge "black rifle" guy. I would say that it depends on who the AR is made by as to exactly how much better than the Mini-14 it will be. The Mini 14 it seems is what I would describe as a "so-so" gun. About one in ten will be DEADLY and one in ten will be junk. Other 8 will just be "so-so". Please understand thats a generalization... but you don't hear about many of them shooting lights out. I'd go with an AR if you are after a semi-auto... they are fun to mess around with. Good luck!