Mega Rad Gun Thread

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HumptiDouji said:
Would like something like a Mini-14 in .350 Legend, like some sort of roided out M1 Carbine, but Ruger won't make it (especially not with a bayonet lug), and they're charging out of the goddamn ass for Mini-14s these days. They used to be like, half of what they go for now, I'm not sure what changed there.
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I have a vintage Mini-14, pre-ban folding stock from the 80s, and the best I can tell you is that the modern Minis have drastically improved their Barrel Harmonics.

What that means in practical laymans terms is at longer distances and/or during high volume fire the accuracy of the modern mini will be retained better than that of the older Minis.

For those who have, or end up finding a good deal on, an older mini like me fret not for there is a simple aftermarket fix in the form of a barrel stabilizer. It takes the form of a small medal rod that secures under the barrel at the base of the fore-stock clamping on to both points. They are not terribly expensive and come in a variety of sizes and finishes from different manufacturers. I can't remember who made mine offhand but it fit perfectly behind the front sight/bayonet lug and matches the stainless finish of the gun to an acceptable degree.

While its debated whether a barrel stabilizer can make an older barrel truly on par with a modern barrel, I can say from my own personal experience that it gets the job done well enough for practical use, and the one I got is on the smaller end of stabilizers. A mini-14 is not a DMR afterall and should not be expected to perform like one.
 
WelperHelper99 said:
Will do man! The Security 380 interests me in that it's 15 rounds of 380 in a fairly big gun for the round. It's on the short list for my first semi auto pistol, right there with a SD40VE for my 40 cal fix, though with my new Milwaukee grinder I just bought for work and all it's accessories, and the fallout from Christmas, that won't be happening for a while lol.

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I shot a 380 a long time ago, it felt fine, and by energy alone it's basically 38 special, just light and fast with a tiny less power in exchange for rapid fire. Is this a fair assessment? Also what are good loads for it?
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Hornady 380 overpenetrates like a mofo, I'd skip those. Go with Speer Gold dot or something(think Federal HST is okay-ish, but haven't tested those myself).
 
Kormak said:
Hornady 380 overpenetrates like a mofo, I'd skip those. Go with Speer Gold dot or something(think Federal HST is okay-ish, but haven't tested those myself).
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WelperHelper99 said:
Will do man! The Security 380 interests me in that it's 15 rounds of 380 in a fairly big gun for the round. It's on the short list for my first semi auto pistol, right there with a SD40VE for my 40 cal fix, though with my new Milwaukee grinder I just bought for work and all it's accessories, and the fallout from Christmas, that won't be happening for a while lol.

View attachment 4169421

I shot a 380 a long time ago, it felt fine, and by energy alone it's basically 38 special, just light and fast with a tiny less power in exchange for rapid fire. Is this a fair assessment? Also what are good loads for it?
View attachment 4169457
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Winchester Silvertip and Defender are good too.

The issue with Hornady is the flex tip. With it filling the entire cavity it has a tendency to act as an FMJ especially at lower velocities. The concept is a good one, put something in the hollow point cavity to prevent it getting clogged with cloth and other debris to ensure it opens, the issue is the flex tip is reliant on velocity to compress enough to force the bullet to start opening up.

I’m not sure who else makes a tipped self defense round. I thought I heard something from Winchester a few years ago.
 
Smoke Manmuscle said:
Winchester Silvertip and Defender are good too.

The issue with Hornady is the flex tip. With it filling the entire cavity it has a tendency to act as an FMJ especially at lower velocities. The concept is a good one, put something in the hollow point cavity to prevent it getting clogged with cloth and other debris to ensure it opens, the issue is the flex tip is reliant on velocity to compress enough to force the bullet to start opening up.

I’m not sure who else makes a tipped self defense round. I thought I heard something from Winchester a few years ago.
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Very interesting. So basically stuff like 9mm Hornady should work, but lower velocity stuff like 380 is pushing it, is what you're saying? You know anything about their 38 special 110 grain offering, I've always heard it's good and seen the tests?
 
WelperHelper99 said:
Very interesting. So basically stuff like 9mm Hornady should work, but lower velocity stuff like 380 is pushing it, is what you're saying? You know anything about their 38 special 110 grain offering, I've always heard it's good and seen the tests?
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380 in general usually has some issues expanding, Hornady just on the worse side of the spectrum. I don't think I've had many issues with their FTX 9mms, but then again, I have only shot like 2 boxes and it's been years ago.
 
Kormak said:
380 in general usually has some issues expanding, Hornady just on the worse side of the spectrum. I don't think I've had many issues with their FTX 9mms, but then again, I have only shot like 2 boxes and it's been years ago.
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Alright that's good to know. Always heard that 380 was tricky, but thought that Hornady would have been better, considering how good some of their lines are, like Hornady Black in 7.62x39mm that I keep for deer hunting for my SKS. Side note got a SKS sling arriving today, so yay.
 
WelperHelper99 said:
Alright that's good to know. Always heard that 380 was tricky, but thought that Hornady would have been better, considering how good some of their lines are, like Hornady Black in 7.62x39mm that I keep for deer hunting for my SKS. Side note got a SKS sling arriving today, so yay.
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I've had good luck with the cheap Barnaul SP stuff when deer hunting with an SKS. From my experience the SKS isn't accurate enough to take advantage of those expensive Hornady Blacks, but they do feed better than the soft-point ammo. At least when using removable Promag 5-rounder mags, that is. The spring is too stiff on those mags and it keeps misfeeding SP and HP rounds occasionally.
 
Badungus Kabungus said:
I've had good luck with the cheap Barnaul SP stuff when deer hunting with an SKS. From my experience the SKS isn't accurate enough to take advantage of those expensive Hornady Blacks, but they do feed better than the soft-point ammo. At least when using removable Promag 5-rounder mags, that is. The spring is too stiff on those mags and it keeps misfeeding SP and HP rounds occasionally.
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Really I get Hornady Black because they sell it in my area, and it expands well. Finding soft tip 7.62x39 is like finding a snipe where I'm at.
 
WelperHelper99 said:
Really I get Hornady Black because they sell it in my area, and it expands well. Finding soft tip 7.62x39 is like finding a snipe where I'm at.
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Ah, right. I keep forgetting that availability of Russian ammo is kind of hit and miss around the world right now. The soft point stuff was hard to find even before the war, too.
 
Preacher ✝ said:
I have a vintage Mini-14, pre-ban folding stock from the 80s, and the best I can tell you is that the modern Minis have drastically improved their Barrel Harmonics.
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I'm well aware of the differences between the old and new rifles, but the 580 and higher series rifles didn't use to be anywhere near as expensive as they are now. 2020 probably had some effect, but I remember seeing them go for well under $1000 fairly often even then, so I'm not sure why they're much more expensive now.
It really wasn't all that long ago that you could find a new 580, 581, 583, etc rifle for under $800 if you looked around.

I've seen someone rebarrel an old model Mini-14 to .458 SOCOM, so I assume that if I wanted a .350 Legend variant badly enough, I could try having an old one converted, because they're usually much cheaper.
 
HumptiDouji said:
I'm well aware of the differences between the old and new rifles, but the 580 and higher series rifles didn't use to be anywhere near as expensive as they are now. 2020 probably had some effect, but I remember seeing them go for well under $1000 fairly often even then, so I'm not sure why they're much more expensive now.
It really wasn't all that long ago that you could find a new 580, 581, 583, etc rifle for under $800 if you looked around.

I've seen someone rebarrel an old model Mini-14 to .458 SOCOM, so I assume that if I wanted a .350 Legend variant badly enough, I could try having an old one converted, because they're usually much cheaper.
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A 350 Legend chambering would fit the Mini 14 like a glove in that whole ranch rifle niche. I'd buy it, even if it was just a conversion kit.
 
WelperHelper99 said:
A 350 Legend chambering would fit the Mini 14 like a glove in that whole ranch rifle niche. I'd buy it, even if it was just a conversion kit.
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There'd be some work to be done, so I'm thinking it just isn't going to be cheap anyway.
New barrel, probably an adjustable gasblock, and you'd need to modify the magazines because .350 apparently doesn't quite want to behave in stock .223 magazines. The stock bedding supposedly is occasionally horrible on old pre-2005 rifles so that's something you may have to fix regardless, and I wonder if the increased recoil would be a problem for the stock, and that it'd need you to add a recoil lug. Since you're replacing the barrel, you're gonna need a new front-sight base and new muzzle device, so I'm thinking about how to make it take a bayonet, which I'm sure will increase cost even further.

I could see why Ruger wouldn't be stoked to adapt the design like this themselves, but with how the MSRP has been hiked up to fucking $1400, they should at least TRY to make it worth that price.
 
HumptiDouji said:
There'd be some work to be done, so I'm thinking it just isn't going to be cheap anyway.
New barrel, probably an adjustable gasblock, and you'd need to modify the magazines because .350 apparently doesn't quite want to behave in stock .223 magazines. The stock bedding supposedly is occasionally horrible on old pre-2005 rifles so that's something you may have to fix regardless, and I wonder if the increased recoil would be a problem for the stock, and that it'd need you to add a recoil lug. Since you're replacing the barrel, you're gonna need a new front-sight base and new muzzle device, so I'm thinking about how to make it take a bayonet, which I'm sure will increase cost even further.

I could see why Ruger wouldn't be stoked to adapt the design like this themselves, but with how the MSRP has been hiked up to fucking $1400, they should at least TRY to make it worth that price.
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I could see them doing it, they've dumped a ton of cash into 350 already, but I also see how it'd be difficult. They made the Mini 30, so I don't think it's impossible, especially with what they charge.
 
All right gun people.
Whats the verdict?
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Oliveoil said:
All right gun people.
Whats the verdict?
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i'm unsure if the poor shouldering and hunching is from bellying up to the bench or just trying to treat a bolt action like an AR. that support hand placement is an "interesting" choice considering there's already a bipod and that doesn't look like an especially unwieldy rifle. eye relief looks like trash, but many scopes offer long eye relief so maybe it's alright. 5/10 probably will hit paper.
 
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HumptiDouji said:
Would like something like a Mini-14 in .350 Legend, like some sort of roided out M1 Carbine, but Ruger won't make it (especially not with a bayonet lug), and they're charging out of the goddamn ass for Mini-14s these days. They used to be like, half of what they go for now, I'm not sure what changed there.
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The mini-14 got a reputation for being inaccurate, so Ruger went in and revamped them to make them much better , spending a shit ton of money in the process about 4 or so years ago. They changed the tooling, they changed the forging process, went and changed up how they do the barrels, they use better metal, better machining. All this added to a more accurate weapon but higher production costs.
 
CarlosDanger said:
The mini-14 got a reputation for being inaccurate,
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Because it's basically true.
CarlosDanger said:
so Ruger went in and revamped them to make them much better , spending a shit ton of money in the process about 4 or so years ago. They changed the tooling, they changed the forging process, went and changed up how they do the barrels, they use better metal, better machining. All this added to a more accurate weapon but higher production costs.
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That was in 2005, the upgraded Mini-14s have been available for a very long time, and not anywhere near this expensive, it was not too hard to find a new Mini-14 for well under $1000 as late as 2020, even during the civil unrest and panic buying.
 
I wonder if gun laws might contribute to the price? Like in California I would imagine the Mini 14 is in high demand. I have a mini 14 chambered in 300 blk but I got a good deal on it because it was owned by a friend.
 
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