I love both - AND the Mini-Thirty.........too bad they fell out of the canoe into the river years ago........
Remember a great article surveying combat veterans on their opinions on the AR-15 vs. the Mini-14.
For urban warfare, the winner was the Mini-14. For all the reasons stated here.
For warfare where targets were over 25 yards - the winner was the AR-15 for the obvious reason - accuracy.
I had a 4x scope on my mini, and could hit a jackrabbit up to about 300 yards...