Hard to go wrong. Great if you can get a discount as they can be a bit pricy at full list, but the ones I’ve seen had nice wood and good overall fit and finish.
Please thank your son for me.
Yes, they are a tad pricey. Seeing abound $800 as a median price on the net. If the gun shop will give us a price break on two rifles, I may jump.
I’ve read some that gun prices have dropped a little recently, but I guess that depends on what your looking at.
Seems that AR models are all over the place price wise, as there are so many out there.
Current generation examples like what is pictured are an improvement over the older examples.
From a purely practical perspective, an AR built to TDP specs or better will be faster to operate, likely more durable and vastly more flexible to configure.
That being said, you can get fast accurate hits out to 300 yards with a modern Mini-14 if your eyes are good enough and you practice instead of just plinking like I see most Mini-14 owners do.
Don’t buy steel case ammo for it. The case isn’t the issue, it’s the steel projectiles. The “ejector wears out” is an ignorant straw-man objection to steel case ammo. The projectile is the main problem. The low and inconsistent velocity is the other problem.
Get Wolf GOLD (imported Taiwanese M193 ball) and a pile of 20 or 30 round RUGER magazines. Get factory mags. Do not rely on anecdotal “my after market mags worked fine” suggestions. Get factory mags. 44mag.com is my go-to place for a lot of mags. No shilling, just heard about it on ARFCOM ages ago.
If this is going to be your only defensive rifle, I don’t think it’s an optimal choice, however it would be better than nothing.
If this is going in the safe with a bunch of other stuff, get 3-4 good magazines and a pile of ammo and shoot the living bejeezus out of it and enjoy it. It will probably pleasantly surprise you.
The newer ranch rifles are great. The older ones with the pencil barrel are not very accurate. You can tell quickly by looking at the thickness of the barrel.
If you see anything about accuracy issues it’s always the older ones.
They are really fun to shoot. They have a different sound and feel to them and I found them easier to hold on target and empty a mag than AR’s.
Maybe you should get one of each and go out for some shooting competition. Can’t beat taking the kids out for a day of shooting. Those times are the ones you never forget.
Got one. Love it.
If you get one get it in 5.56. The old AR15’s .223/5.556mm feeding problem goes with the Mini14 too.