I've been around a few mini 14's as they were purchased by a lot of Police Officers in Illinios in the late 70's to early 80's. Mini 14's were around $400 at the time and a Colt SP1 was $800+. I traded for a stainless Mini 14 183 series with 1:10 twist barrel.
There was a Trooper involved shooting on I 57 near Paxton Illinois where a Trooper stopped a couple of cars speeding on Sunday night. The vehicles were stolen and there were at least three stolen vehicles traveling together from Chicago. It was an auto theft ring moving stolen cars from Chicago area south. A gun battle ensued where there was a perpetrator was armed with Mini 14. The Trooper was killed along with a person riding with the Trooper. One Paxton City Officer was killed and another wounded. A couple of the suspects were killed and a couple wounded.
After that incident many Troopers and rural LE started buying Mini 14's and a few who could afford them, AR-15's. Department policy didn't allow rifles at that time but the feeling was you'd rather be in violation of policy but alive. For 50-100 yards the Mini 14's were effective. The only real issue I ever saw with Mini 14's were poor quality non Ruger magazines. I also observed a few Mini 14's have a tendency for the trigger guard to come unlatched. The hinged trigger guard was used for disassembly and was a weak point in the design. If the Mini 14 was used extensively the trigger guards would start randomly coming unlatched.
It's strange how the market works, AR-15's have become so prolific they are now cheap compared to the Mini 14 which are now pretty expensive. At least Ruger has released factory 20 and 30 round magazines so the public can have reliable mags for the Mini 14.
There was a Trooper involved shooting on I 57 near Paxton Illinois where a Trooper stopped a couple of cars speeding on Sunday night. The vehicles were stolen and there were at least three stolen vehicles traveling together from Chicago. It was an auto theft ring moving stolen cars from Chicago area south. A gun battle ensued where there was a perpetrator was armed with Mini 14. The Trooper was killed along with a person riding with the Trooper. One Paxton City Officer was killed and another wounded. A couple of the suspects were killed and a couple wounded.
After that incident many Troopers and rural LE started buying Mini 14's and a few who could afford them, AR-15's. Department policy didn't allow rifles at that time but the feeling was you'd rather be in violation of policy but alive. For 50-100 yards the Mini 14's were effective. The only real issue I ever saw with Mini 14's were poor quality non Ruger magazines. I also observed a few Mini 14's have a tendency for the trigger guard to come unlatched. The hinged trigger guard was used for disassembly and was a weak point in the design. If the Mini 14 was used extensively the trigger guards would start randomly coming unlatched.
It's strange how the market works, AR-15's have become so prolific they are now cheap compared to the Mini 14 which are now pretty expensive. At least Ruger has released factory 20 and 30 round magazines so the public can have reliable mags for the Mini 14.