Mini 14...I was wrong!
 

Hate to bash the mini, its a very reliable, and well made rifle but recently I posted in a mini 14 thread, that I thought minis get a bad rap in the accuracy dept. I said that I could get 2 MOA groups easily w/ a scope...boy was I wrong! At the range this weekend I mounted a cheap but reliable bushnell scope, that I have used on several other guns and know holds its zero. I used wolf(to sight in), ultra max and my own handloads to test my own claims. I could not get this rifle to shoot under a 4" group at 100 yds. Groups were more like patterns actually. I could have sworn this rifle had shot better in the past ,but mabye I was shooting at 50yds.
This gun is a great gun for close range shooting and home defense, but I think a 12ga is more appropriate for those tasks. For hunting yotes and woodchucks or reliably hitting any target, smaller than a milk carton, at 100yds or more, the mini just doesnt give me much confidence anymore.
Im considering replacing my mini 14 w/ either a:

RRA AR15 -kind of more $ than I want to spend on a rifle right now, and really dont like cleaning guns everytime I shoot them and prefer guns than require less maintience, but the accuracy and aftremarket options appeal to me.

remington 7615 (223 pump ,uses AR15 mags) Accuracy reports are good and the rifle cost less than half what an AR15 cost. Dont know if Ill like a pump rifle though, seems like it might be awkward to shoot in certain positions.

What do you guys use for varmints and plinking other than bolt guns?

Thanks in advance.

The Mini-14 has never been, and will never be an accurate rifle without some work being done to it. That's all the A-Team ever used and they never killed anyone with theirs! Think about that! LOL!

Same exact experience here. I just couldn't deal with that accuracy. I had one for 2 months. I either was going to send it off to a company who said they guaranteed 1MOA accuracy ($500 smackaroos) or sell. I sold.

Had a Mini-14 back in the 70s and it was about as accurate as a mediocre SKS. Looks like they have not changed.

i did see one shoot good ,seams to me he was using 62gr surplus stuff and a bi-pod on the barrel, i think the bi-pod clamped to the barrel had more to do with than any thing.

and a mini is very hard on scopes,i know that sounds funny but its true

:s2: Classic!!!!

FWIW-Ruger now has the SR-556 which falls into the same category as AR's,etc.I saw a show on TV that visited Ruger/looked over the new gun.Seems like they're taking this market much more seriously with this one.Info-
http://www.ruger-firearms.com/SR556/

Ive seen 7615s on gunbroker for 450$ but theyre usually about 550$ . RRA and bushmasters go about 850$-1000$. Ive looked into building one from parts, but when I add it all up it doesnt seem to save much ,if anything.

Ive seen DPMS rifles go for as low as 670$ new, but Ive read mixed reviews, although most people who say they own them, say theyre great ,and im wondering if it wouldnt be just fine for my needs ,which are just varmint hunting and plinking. Anyone own a dpms?

Ive seen 7615s on gunbroker for 450$ but theyre usually about 550$ . RRA and bushmasters go about 850$-1000$. Ive looked into building one from parts, but when I add it all up it doesnt seem to save much ,if anything.

Ive seen DPMS rifles go for as low as 670$ new, but Ive read mixed reviews, although most people who say they own them, say theyre great ,and im wondering if it wouldnt be just fine for my needs ,which are just varmint hunting and plinking. Anyone own a dpms?

BTW thanks for the link RR.

I cleaned my RRA about 3000 rounds ago. I guess that I will clean it again when the accuracy starts to fall off.