Any Ruger Mini 30 guys out there ? What should I be looking for ?

[yardboss1]

Hello ODT. I recently bought a Ruger Ranch Hand in 7.62 x 39 to hog hunt with. The round has impressed me for what it is along with the favorable ammo costs and availability.

I am thinking about looking into a Ruger Mini 30 to buy. I know nothing about them. Every one I ever handled in a gun store seemed to be heavy and clunky but I liked the peep sights.

• Can they be easily scoped ?
• Are they ammo sensitive ?
• Are the the newer ones less heavy and clunky ?
• Should I be looking at AK's instead ?

 

[AK74U]

In. As there is a Ruger Mini-30 at my LGS if you're interested in securing one.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

A good friend had a RUGER MINI- 30, scoped it, and said it was good for plinking or hog hunting within reasonable ranges.

He said that the accuracy was sufficient for him. Of course he wasn't shooting it across sandbags trying to get 3 rounds to cloverleaf.

********

I bought a Ruger Mini-30 RANCH a few years ago, shot it only one range session.

It was reliable. The way mags go in and out was familiar to me, as the owner of M14 and AK-47 pattern rifles, but to people used to straight-up magazine insertion, it would take some getting used to.

I was disappointed in accuracy. Seemed only equal to AKs and SKS's, no better, I had hoped it would be better.
The iron sights felt good and I "thought" that I had a nice sight picture, shooting from a table-top rest, my elbows on the table and the gun in my hands. Shooting only 50 yards.

But, I only tried two kinds of ammo-- TulAmmo and Wolf. I should try other brands and styles of bullet before I pass sentence on it.

Even if it's only "minute of Progresso soup can" at 50 yards, that's good enough for most applications.

 

[RiverBend]

Make sure it is 556 rated also, before shooting a buttload of wolf/tula in it.
Mine wasn't a accurate as my AK at 100 yards.
Got rid of it.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

QUOTE: "Hello ODT. I recently bought a Ruger Ranch Hand in 7.62 x 39 to hog hunt with."

QUESTION: "Ranch Hand" isn't the name for this rifle, is it?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Riverbend, how to you "make sure" a 7.62 x 39 mm rifle "is rated for 556" ???

 

[yardboss1]

QUESTION: "Ranch Hand" isn't the name for this rifle, is it?

You are correct. " Hand" is not in the name. Not sure how or why I came up with that .

 

[yardboss1]

I bought a Ruger Mini-30 RANCH a few years ago, shot it only one range session.

Do you consider it to be heavy for what it is ?

 

[rOmiLaYu]

Hello ODT. I recently bought a Ruger Ranch Hand in 7.62 x 39 to hog hunt with. The round has impressed me for what it is along with the favorable ammo costs and availability.

I am thinking about looking into a Ruger Mini 30 to buy. I know nothing about them. Every one I ever handled in a gun store seemed to be heavy and clunky but I liked the peep sights.

• Can they be easily scoped ?
• Are they ammo sensitive ?
• Are the the newer ones less heavy and clunky ?
• Should I be looking at AK's instead ?

They can be easily scoped, yes, but then you are obstructing the action, either with the tube of the optic or the 1913 rail. Mounts are proprietary to Ruger. But if you're going to scope it, the peep sights become irrelevant, no? Also, no, they are not ammo sensitive in my experience. And no, the newer ones handle just like the old ones. Should you be looking at AK's instead? Probably.

Full disclosure, I do not like the Ruger Ranch rifles. The first tick in the "That's gonna be a no from me, dawg" box are the proprietary mags. They are expensive and only work in Ruger Ranch rifles. The second tick is accuracy. I have never had one that was any better than 3MOA. The weapon system severely suffers from barrel whip. I've read that chopping them helps, but to me, it's a fundamentally flawed construction. The last nail in the coffin is, well, I just don't understand them. Why? My guess is that back then, Ruger thought that they were "less scary" than AR's? I mean, it's a semiautomatic rifle in common AR pattern calibers, what does it do better than the AR? I haven't figured it out.

Hard pass if it were me.

 

[Cadcom]

They can be easily scoped, yes, but then you are obstructing the action, either with the tube of the optic or the 1913 rail. Mounts are proprietary to Ruger. But if you're going to scope it, the peep sights become irrelevant, no? Also, no, they are not ammo sensitive in my experience. And no, the newer ones handle just like the old ones. Should you be looking at AK's instead? Probably.

Full disclosure, I do not like the Ruger Ranch rifles. The first tick in the "That's gonna be a no from me, dawg" box are the proprietary mags. They are expensive and only work in Ruger Ranch rifles. The second tick is accuracy. I have never had one that was any better than 3MOA. The weapon system severely suffers from barrel whip. I've read that chopping them helps, but to me, it's a fundamentally flawed construction. The last nail in the coffin is, well, I just don't understand them. Why? My guess is that back then, Ruger thought that they were "less scary" than AR's? I mean, it's a semiautomatic rifle in common AR pattern calibers, what does it do better than the AR? I haven't figured it out.

Hard pass if it were me.

Good points. Can you imagine how many more Mini rifles Ruger may have sold if they took standard AR and AK mags?
The rifles used to be fun to plink with, bug Mag costs are Stoopid so I ditched mine years ago.