Mini 14 - replacement irons and scope addition

[veamon]

I have a mini 14, 183 series, and I'm not too fond of the sights. The rear sight is too hard to see through (and I have nice Lasek eyes). So my questions are:

Is it hard to replace this rear one at home?

I'm also looking at a scope, and I could have sworn I saw one from my FFL that sort of tilts off at about a 45 degree angle for when you want to use irons (this was on his AR). Does that exist or am imagining It (and what's the technical term for that?)

Here are some pictures. I'm not sure where I see a way to mount a scope.

[blfuller]

Nice factory folder you have there. The best upgrade for the rear sight is theTech Sight. And yes you can replace it at home.

Regarding the scope, IMHO the best scope mount is the S&K for the Mini-14. The only drawback to this scope mount replaces the rear sight and you would have no iron sights.

I would recommend you get an Ultimak handguard and mount a long eye relief "scout" style scope or a red dot. This option will allow you to keep the rear sight incase of optical or red dot malfunctions.

Also, stick with factory magazines for best performance. I have heard that the 2nd generation Tapco mags seem pretty good.

[SVTCobra306]

B-Square makes a mount that replaces the bolt stop cover with a mount that comes up over the top, and secures with set screws. I've used a couple and they work pretty well. The problem you will run into with most standard mounts is that your rear sight is constructed differently from a later model Mini 14.

The mount you saw does exist, but the scope mount will be too high up to allow for it to be effectively used on your Mini.

[blfuller]

Here's a pic of the S&K mount I spoke of...


The thing you saw on an AR was probably a magnifier for an Aimpoint or EO-Tech. They typically don't have any reticle in them and only magnify the red dot in front of it.

[veamon]

So would you use a red dot in place of irons then? Sorry, I'm not big into scopes and up to date on what should be used.

[veamon]

bfuller, the magnifier sounds right. He is did mention he was a swat sniper when showing me things.

[Art Eatman]

A short-term improvement while you're deciding on a scope mount would be to drill out the rear peep so it's more of a "ghost ring". Many people like the ghost ring because of rapid target acquisition.

FWIW, I had no problems (way back when) with the original B-Square scope mount on my early model Minis. Three-shot 1.5 MOA with a Weaver K-4.

[blfuller]

So would you use a red dot in place of irons then? Sorry, I'm not big into scopes and up to date on what should be used.

When you say you are not big into scopes, do you mean you don't care for them or you don't know much about them? I am going to assume you don't know much about them.

With the S&K mount you would have to use an optic as you would not have an iron sight. This could be an issue if your optic breaks or your red dot batteries go dead. There are sights that use other power sources like tritium and the sun to illuminate the dot but they are expensive yet excellent. Not sure what your budget is.

Here's a pic of various optics on an Ultimak rail mounted to a Ruger Ranch Rifle....

With this option you can use a red dot that you can co-witness. This means you can look through the rear sight and see both your iron sights and the red dot. Then if your battery goes dead you can still see your iron sight and use them without having to remove the red dot sight. If you need magnification then I would use a detachable scope mount. With the Ultimak you will need to use a long eye relief type scope like a handgun scope or a specific scout scope.

[SVTCobra306]

Here's a pic of the S&K mount I spoke of...

If I am remembering correctly, that mount will not work on his early type rear sight, with his sight removed there won't be anything for the S&K to mount to on the rear. The little "ears" on either side are not there as they are with the later model non ranch rifle sight. If they were there, it would be a great choice, my Dad has something similar on his Mini and it works very well.

Don't wrap yourself up in terms like "Co-Witness". It isn't feasible to do so with the lower height of the sights on a Mini-14 so dont' worry about it. Get a good quality red dot (I highly recommend Aimpoint products, they're very hard to break), and be worry free

If you want a magnified optic, go to a store that has a lot of them in stock and look through them, there are so many varieties of reticles and options that it can make your mind spin. A good starting point for a Mini would be a Nikon P-223 scope.

If I had your mini, I would look hard at the B-square mount with a Nikon scope, I think you'd be happy with it. I would personally avoid any major changes to that particular rifle, the early mini's with that particular folding stock are fairly rare, and it looks like yours in in pretty good shape

[blfuller]

If I am remembering correctly, that mount will not work on his early type rear sight, with his sight removed there won't be anything for the S&K to mount to on the rear. The little "ears" on either side are not there as they are with the later model non ranch rifle sight. If they were there, it would be a great choice, my Dad has something similar on his Mini and it works very well.

The 183 series that he has is the early type that will work with the S&K mount shown in the picture. That specific S&K mount was designed for the Mini-14 that does not have the factory scope mount that is integral with the receiver. When you remove the sight base you will see the "ears" and the S&K will drop in between them.

[SVTCobra306]

I must be incorrect then, I haven't removed the sight on one this old before. Either mount would work fine, but yeah if the one you showed does work, it would probably be my choice.

[hodaka]

I put the B square on mine and with a 2 to 4x scope it works very well. Easy to remove although the Mini is rough on the scope body.

[veamon]

Originally Posted by SVTCobra306

If I am remembering correctly, that mount will not work on his early type rear sight, with his sight removed there won't be anything for the S&K to mount to on the rear. The little "ears" on either side are not there as they are with the later model non ranch rifle sight. If they were there, it would be a great choice, my Dad has something similar on his Mini and it works very well.



Don't wrap yourself up in terms like "Co-Witness". It isn't feasible to do so with the lower height of the sights on a Mini-14 so dont' worry about it. Get a good quality red dot (I highly recommend Aimpoint products, they're very hard to break), and be worry free



If you want a magnified optic, go to a store that has a lot of them in stock and look through them, there are so many varieties of reticles and options that it can make your mind spin. A good starting point for a Mini would be a Nikon P-223 scope.



If I had your mini, I would look hard at the B-square mount with a Nikon scope, I think you'd be happy with it. I would personally avoid any major changes to that particular rifle, the early mini's with that particular folding stock are fairly rare, and it looks like yours in in pretty good shape

Yea, my dad has had it in his safe for about 20 years, and hasn't been fired in at least 10. Now that I'm not renting an apartment or house and finally have somewhere I can put a safe, I've been slowly moving my toys. When you say "rare", how rare do you mean? I don't want to tinker too much, just make it a little more usable. I've read about adding an Accustrut too, since minis have/had the reputation for not being accurate, but I'll wait until I add a scope and take it out to the range a few times first.

I don't mind scopes, I just seem to be better with irons on my rifles, it seems to take a little too long to acquire through a scope, I always keep over correcting.

[SVTCobra306]

How rare? I can count the number of people I've talked to who have a Mini-14with that stock on a single hand. I'm not counting foreign Soldiers who used AC-556's. I've only ever seen one in person.

Somebody else will have to chime in on how many there may be out there, but IMO it is pretty rare.

If it was a 190 series like mine, I'd say hack away, they are the "undesireables" LOL.

Definitely shoot it before you decide on an accustrut. My "inaccurate" pencil barrel will ring 12" steel with zero trouble at a hundred yards, more than accurate enough for coyotes. Closer in on paper it's pretty accurate. I haven't shot 100 yard groups yet, but I'd bet on it being about a 2.5 to 3 MOA rifle. Nothing to brag about but it'll hit a target.

[veamon]

Hmm, well that's good to know. I've seen plenty of them online while researching, but they all seem to be the shiny stainless.

[blfuller]

I have one on a GB model. The factory folding stocks are difficult to come by, not sure why Ruger still doesn't make them considering how popular they would be.