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Why doesn't the Mini14 come in .30 Carbine?
- Thread starter Ex313
- Start date
I’m just going to say it….
Why don’t they just make a mini 14 in .308?!?
The whole design of the Mini-14 and Mini-30 guns is centered around them teen-weeny intermediate cartridges. You'd have to enbiggen them a lot to handle proper grown-up brass.
I know I’m just being a smart ass. Just riding the “chamber it in 30 carbine” wave.
"cos I'm somewhat of an autist, I actually got my Mini-14 out to see if there would be any chance of recalibering the receiver for 30-30.
I think it might be possible (but obviously, there's a lot more to it than that), but of course, no way could you do it for 308.
I’m just going to say it….
Why don’t they just make a mini 14 in .308?!?
I have always read that Ruger's project that turned into the Mini-14 was started with the intent of doing an M14 semi-auto clone in .308 with an investment cast receiver. They were unable to do it in .308, so they scaled it down and chambered it in 5.56 instead.
Someone got information in that regard, I'd love to compare it to what's rattling around in my battered skull.
Sounds like you're thinking about the Ruger XGI
As I understood it, the Mini-14 was designed from the get-go to be a really inexpensive close clone of the extremely expensive-to-make M14, which is why things like the bolt roller that you find on an M14 is pared back to being a rounded nub of cast metal. In that form factor, you'd be talking an awful small receiver for such a powerful cartridge as the 308.
I did a rifle & handgun class with CMshoot a few years ago, and my rifle was a folding-stocked Mini-14.
The "rock it in, Toe then Heel" method to lock a magazine in place was really awkward compared to the AR platform guns everybody else had. Slow to drop old magazines, and slow to get a new one in place.
