The mini 14 was a great lil ranch rifle and I own a couple of them.
But it is not a .308 and if you were ever in a fire fight there is a big difference between the two calibers when you start laying down the heat.
I agree they (Mini-14)are a great rifle for dependability. I killed many many coyotes with one. I never had a FTF or FTE with my Mini even while neglecting to clean one that rode in the truck for its whole life. The action is far superior to an AR in my opinion but there accuracy is terrible past 50 yards.
The M1A is my favorite rifle. I would never try to replace a .308 with a .223 but I wish the Mini was available off the shelf with some decent accuracy.
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