Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Took the new rifle to the range today and fired a mix of Silver Bear (zinc-plated) steel and Remington brass. I bought the Mini 14 5817 All-Weather Stainless model; I had wanted the Tactical model initially but the price and longer barrel sold me.

First things first - at 75', iron sights, free standing, never sighted the gun in - the accuracy is just fine. The groups were much tighter than I expected after all the talk in the Interwebs about even the 58x series carrying on the tradition of Mini 14 inaccuracy. It ate all the ammo just fine.

The rifle is a blast to shoot. I wanted a Garand-type action and this rifle is just a riot.

Also fired my XD 9pm subcompact. Always impressed with the ease of shooting and accuracy.

WHen are we gonna get our act together and schedule a meetup at SEG?

KaosDad wrote:WHen are we gonna get our act together and schedule a meetup at SEG?

Yep!

CowboyT - I know Ruger does not recommend it, and people will say, "OMG THE STEEL WILL RIP UP YOUR RIFLE!!!!!111111oneeleven" but the Silver Bear shot just fine.

I read that, too. I think it has more to do with people modifying their striker pin springs than anything else. Vahunter shoots the steel-cased Russian ammo, too, and his doesn't seem to have any problems whatsoever, either. Given the price of the cheap Russian ammo from CheaperThanDirt and other similar places, I may have to start shooting steel cased for a while and save my brass ammo.

Right now Russian Steel is all I am shooting. With AIM's prices down to .13/shot for 9mm, why not????

I don't know about Silver Bear, but I've given up on Wolf. I don't particularly care for stuck cases in my Mini-14, and I've seen and heard of this happening with AR-15s so it isn't just a Mini-14 thing. Life's too short to be ramming cleaning rods down your bore to free a stuck case. All my Wolf ammo is sitting in an ammo can labeled "SHTF".

LFS wrote:I don't know about Silver Bear, but I've given up on Wolf. I don't particularly care for stuck cases in my Mini-14, and I've seen and heard of this happening with AR-15s so it isn't just a Mini-14 thing. Life's too short to be ramming cleaning rods down your bore to free a stuck case. All my Wolf ammo is sitting in an ammo can labeled "SHTF".

So if Wolf gets stuck, what are you plans for it during a SHTF situation? Barter?

That's my plan, gunderwood. Then I can be sure they won't be shooting that same ammo back at me.

Mindflayer wrote:That's my plan, gunderwood. Then I can be sure they won't be shooting that same ammo back at me.

Ha! That's pretty good.

But yeah, barter is not a bad idea. People will be willing to trade for ammo. If I'm to the point where I have to put that crap through my rifle, things have gotten desperate.