All ive heard on the mini 14 has been negative. But i have no personal experience with one. The ruger 10/22 i love for a semi-auto .22. I have one and my brother HAD one, great accurate guns and a blast to plink and hunt with. For the calibers u mentioned (and some u didnt) they will all work well. If u ever plan on hunting anything larger than deer id opt for the 30-06 lots of loads available for it and ammo is cheap and the recoil isnt bad (not that it is in the above mentioned calibers). When u go for the deer gun or the .223 id look a http://www.savagearms.com www.remington.com or http://www.winchester-guns.com i think these links are correct.