[COSteve]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

The Universal M1 Carbine design is not the improvement Universal thought it was.

My Plainfield would shoot circles around it though. My Plainfield will shoot circles around any Mini-14 too.

I agree with your statement on the Universal design, however, it's clear by your second statement that you don't know the accuracy capability difference between the 30 Carbine caliber vs a .223/5.56 caliber because what you are claiming is that your Plainfield will shoot sub MOA at 100yds! And we both know that the 30 Carbine rd is not capable of anywhere near 1 MOA accuracy while the .223/5.56 is capable of sub ½ MOA accuracy in the right platform. Even in a single shot TC Contender, the 30 Carbine isn't an accurate caliber.

I've owned a real GI, 1943 NPM carbine since 1977 when I got an arsenal rebuild in pristine condition that shoots 'minute of coffee cup' or about 4" at 100yds with my handloads. That's excellent accuracy for a GI carbine. I don't shoot it much at all as it's worth a lot in it's pristine condition so I also picked up a NIB Auto Ordnance M1 Carbine in 2012 that is more reliable and will shoot groups about ½ the size of my NPM, just over 2", at 100yds with the same 110grn handloads. That's considered phenomenal accuracy for an M1 Carbine.

My 1943 GI NPM on top and my 2012 AO on bottom



I also picked up a NIB 583 Series Mini-14 in 2015 that I handload for and it shoots just under 1¼" groups at 100yds reliably and sometimes it's right at 1" or 1 MOA if I'm really on. I use my Mini to shoot bowling pins at 200yds. While they are about 15" high, only about 2" of that is a 2 MOA width at 200yds (4") and the rest is significantly narrower so they make interesting challenges to hit reliably. I've been shooting them for well over 4 years and it's not that hard to do with my Mini, even though I use irons. What's hard is shooting them at 300yds.

My Customized 2015 583 Series Mini-14 (yes, I've set it up to mimic my M1A as my 'Mini M14')



I've tried to make my AO M1 Carbine capable of reliably hitting a bowling pin at 200yds and I never could get the accuracy out of the caliber to make it possible at anywhere near that distance. In fact, hitting them occasionally at 200yds is more a matter of luck than precision because the 30 Carbine caliber simply isn't that accurate of a caliber, no matter what platform it's in. At 100yds it's difficult at best while at 300yds it's pointless and a waste of ammo to even try.

So, while some of the older, pencil barreled Mini-14s might not have the accuracy of your Plainfield, since 2004 when the 58X series Mini-14s with their thicker barrels and different ejectors were introduced, the fact is that the current Mini, shooting the much more accurate caliber, can in fact shoot circles around your Plainfield.

Out of the box, the new Minis are 2 MOA shooters with decent ammo. With a few, cheap tweaks such as adding $2 per set 1911 buffers to the op-rod spring and a $25 reduced gas bushing to reduce the excessive cycling force Ruger builds the Mini with because they feel they need to ensure that the Mini will cycle even when shooting the cheap, under powered, commie ammo from Wolf and Tula, you can have a near or at 1 MOA capable Mini.

If you doubt this, go to PerfectUnion.com's Mini 14 and Mini 30 forum and you'll find dozens of threads on how to make your Mini super accurate. Look, I get it. I love shooting my M1 Carbine as much as I love shooting my Mini-14 but I accept the fact that the M1 Carbine is a small, light weight, semi-accurate military weapon that's a ton of fun even if it's not as accurate as some more modern carbines with more accurate calibers.