MINI-14 Rifle

MINI-14 Rifle

MiniI14 rifle is a lightweight carbine designed and manufactured by the American Ruger Company, widely used in civilian, military and police industries, because of its lightness, small size and other reasons widely received and loved by people.

Introduction of firearms

The Mini-14 is a 5.56×45mm caliber lightweight automatic rifle produced by Sturm Ruger in the U.S. It was developed in the early 1970s, and was officially put on the market for sale in 1974, and became the favorite of many gun owners who do not like to use a lot of engineered plastics, similar to the AR15. It was also favored by criminals for its non-aggressive appearance and tough firepower.

Subsequently, the U.S. police also adopted the MINI-14 police model MINI-14GB, while the military model for the AC566, the biggest difference between its and the previous two is that there is more shot selector behind the shutter, with the ability to shoot in full-automatic mode, and the shutter and collimator can be adjusted left and right.

The MINI-14, whose name is often taken to mean Mini M14, is roughly the same in shape and principle as the M14 rifle, with a very simple and reliable firing mechanism, and a manual safety that is the same as the M14's, located in front of the trigger guard, and pushed forward to the firing position and backward to the safety position. The gun has an empty chamber for hooking up, and the receiver release plate on the left side of the receiver can be used to reset the receiver after hooking up, or pull the trigger handle back slightly after unloading the empty magazine, and the receiver will also reenter forward after being released.

The mechanical sights on the Mini-14 are a pillar collimator and a spyhole illumination door, which is adjustable for height and direction. The original Mini-14 did not allow for easy mounting of a scope mount, so in 1982 Ruger introduced a modified version known as the "Ranch Rifle," which molded a scope mounting base into the receiver. The Ranch Rifle Mini-14 had a scope mounting base molded into the receiver, which allowed the scope to be mounted without interfering with the ejection of the cartridge case.

The Mini-14 is solid and compact, short in length, light in weight, simple in construction, low in parts, and easy to use and maintain. The .223 Remington rifle cartridge fired from the Mini-14 has a low trajectory and low muzzle impulse, making it a lightweight and easy-to-use rifle with easy control of the weapon during bursts of fire.

The Mini-14's air guide automatically blows out carbon buildup, and the exposed receiver takes away dirt, mud, water, ice, snow, and other foreign matter that falls on it as it undergoes auto-cycling, so it doesn't remain in the mechanism, and sludge doesn't tend to build up inside the mechanism, making the Mini-14 rifle more reliable, just a little less accurate.

The Mini-14 fires the 5.56×45mm M193/.223 Remington caliber, so the barrel has six right-handed rifling and a wrap distance of 178mm.For different users' needs, Ruger offers it in baked-blue high-carbon steel and matte stainless steel.

Fixed Stock Long Barrel ? Folding stock short barrel

Full length ?37.25" (946 mm) 851 /603 mm

Barrel length ?18.5" (470 mm) 330 mm

Effective range ?300 m ?200 m

Empty weight 2.9 kg 3.15 kg

Derivatives

The Mini-14 series was introduced at the time of Ruger's launch. Company introduced the Mini-14 series more than three decades ago, the gun is loved by many hunting enthusiasts, ranchers, law enforcement/security personnel, competition shooters and shooting enthusiasts, and there are many derivative models.

MINI-14GB Rifle

The Mini-14GB is the law enforcement version of the Mini-14, and GB actually stands for "Government Bayonet". So having a bayonet mount is its defining feature.

The Mini-14GB, like the AC-556, is available in 18-inch and 13.5-inch barrels, with a traditional monobloc fixed buttstock and a metal buttstock that folds to the right, and two different materials and finishes, making it available in eight different combinations.

The combination of a high carbon steel blued long barrel with a folding stock, or a stainless steel short barrel with a fixed stock, to name but a few. The stock material used to be wood, but in recent years plastic stocks have been added to the mix, and later new folding stock shapes were offered, resulting in even more combinations for the user to choose from.

Unlike the AC-556, the Mini-14GB is still only capable of semi-automatic fire, and a simple way to visually identify it from the civilian Mini-14 is to look at the barrel; the flame arrester doubles as a rifle grenade launcher, and in order to be able to insert a grenade, the Mini-14GB's sighting constellation is moved rearward to the barrel's center (18 inches) or tail. (18 inches) or on the end (13.5 inches), while the civilian model's collimator is fixed directly to the muzzle device.

There are some law enforcement agencies in the United States that use the Mini-14GB, such as the NYPD ESU and some rural police patrol rifles. In addition, the Bermuda Regiment chose the Mini-14GB in 1983 to replace its original British-made L1A1 SLR rifle, which is still in use today. The French police also purchased the MiniI-14GB rifle, renamed the MousquetonAMD rifle.

AC556 Rifle

The AC-556 is very similar to the Mini-14GB in appearance, but is significantly different in that the Mini-14GB is still only capable of semi-automatic fire, while the AC-556 adds a fast and slow trigger similar to that of the M14, and is positioned in the same location as the M14, at the top rear of the right side of the receiver. Unlike the M14, the AC-556's speeder has three firing modes: semi-automatic (vertically upward), three-shot point-blank (diagonally upward), and full-automatic (horizontal position).

The AC-556 is also known as the Select-fire Rifle due to the addition of the Selective mechanism, which is sometimes translated as "select-fire rifle" by some media in China. The theoretical rate of fire of the AC-556 is 750 rounds per minute, and most shooters are able to set the selective mechanism to the full-auto position after practice. Most shooters, with practice, can easily fire 2, 3 or 4 short bursts of point-blank fire from a full-auto setup, so very few AC-556 shooters take advantage of the AC-556's point-blank limiting feature.

Also, the AC-556, like the Mini-14GB, is available in a variety of models with different barrel lengths or stock types for different combat environments: barrels are available in 18-inch (~457mm) and 13.5-inch (~343mm) lengths, and stocks are available in the traditional monolithic fixed stock or a metal stock that folds to the right, plus two different materials and finishes. Together with two barrels of different materials and finishes, several different combinations of forms are thus available.

The combination of a high carbon steel blued long barrel with a folding stock, or a stainless steel short barrel with a fixed stock, and so on. Ruger has given these different combinations different designations, using the K prefix for the stainless steel type, the K suffix for the short-barreled type, and the F suffix for the folding stock.

AC-556 - Baked blue, 18-inch barrel, fixed stock.

AC-556K - Baked blue, 13.5-inch barrel, folding stock.

KAC-556 - Stainless steel, 18-inch barrel, fixed stock.

KAC-556K - stainless steel, 13.5-inch barrel, folding stock.

KAC-556F - Baked blue folding stock, 18-inch barrel folding stock.

KAC-556F - Stainless steel, 18-inch barrel folding stock.

Mini-30 Rifle

Ruger developed and introduced another 7.62×39mm caliber version of the semi-automatic Mini-14 in 1987, designated the Mini-30 model. Like the farm rifle Mini-14, the Mini-30 was designed to facilitate the addition of an optical sight.The Mini-30 is only available for the civilian market, and there is no law enforcement or full-automatic version.

MuzzleLite Stockless Conversion Stock

The MuzzleLite Stockless Conversion Stock from MWG, a company that specializes in firearms accessories, makes it easy to turn a standard-barreled Ruger Mini-14 or Mini-30 into a shorter rifle. A new stock is only 28 inches (711mm) long and weighs 7 lbs. 8.5 ounces.

The conversion process takes less than half an hour to complete and involves removing the original stock, placing the barrel/action system into a two-part, high-strength, plastic, buttstock-less enclosure, and of course replacing the extended trigger/linkage with a screwed-on, bolt-type stock. Then just screw it in place.

The new trigger is a bit flimsy after the conversion, but it's still safe to use. The plastic stock has an unusually large case throw that actually retains the full magazine and gives way to a movable position for the pull handle. It seems that even the AC-556's fast and slow trigger positions are reserved.

In short all models of the Mini-14/30 series fit in, except for the short-barreled models. There is a carry handle on the stockless stock, and the illuminating door is mounted inside the handle, which is non-adjustable, and has collimator posts on the front for windage and elevation adjustments. There are also stud holes in the handle to hold the scope mounts.