Rocko's Random Gun Talk Thread.

[fenrisx]

Bought 500rds of 9mm recently, and two Glock 17rd magazines, for my Glock 19.

My dad is giving me his Ruger Mini-14. Plan to do a scout'ish setup on it.... forward mounted scope.

[BattleWagonActual]

Mini-14's are rarely that accurate of a rifle, but man do I love shooting them. My 300 winmag on the other hand... Now there's an accurate rifle. Glass bedded action, floated barrel, Leupold scope, Harris bipods, it holds a 1/2MOA any day of the week.


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[fenrisx]

Mini-14's are rarely that accurate of a rifle, but man do I love shooting them.

No worries, I'm not very accurate either. I think it's one of the newer ones with the thicker barrel, so it shouldn't be too bad.

[BattleWagonActual]

The newer ones are definitely a step up from the one I have. With plinkers like the mini I don't care about accuracy. You just won't catch me shooting it on paper for groups. At least not when there's people around, I shot for the Marine Corps Rifle Team for a little bit, people now "expect things" of me.


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[CJM]

The latest production of minis they fixed the barrel harmonics, before this past retooling they did they got minute of paper plate. Barrels were to thin and weak was the issue. Alot of guys made harmonic dampeners using some AL rod and some clamps and clamped them to the underside of the barrel-it helped alot.

[4x4mike]

What era of minis had problems? Before AR based rifles became the rage I always saw LE with mini 14's. I'm sure they put tons of rounds through them and I wonder if they had a lot of problems? I've only shot one and it was an older model. I think the newer ones have a lot more plastic in them.

I've never been in the market for one but if one came my way I'd make room for it.

[BattleWagonActual]

What era of minis had problems? Before AR based rifles became the rage I always saw LE with mini 14's. I'm sure they put tons of rounds through them and I wonder if they had a lot of problems? I've only shot one and it was an older model. I think the newer ones have a lot more plastic in them.

I've never been in the market for one but if one came my way I'd make room for it.

I wouldn't say that they had a problem, they just weren't accurate. I've shot thousands of rounds through mine with no real problems. However, at 100yd the group is roughly 5-6" even from a Benchrest or bipods. In comparison my non-match grade AR shoots around 1.5"-2" and my match grade shoots roughly .5"- .75". Like CJM was saying the barrel harmonics weren't great on the old ones.


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[CJM]

Basically up until the last few years you had 5-6" groups and had fliers alot with them. I was seriously going to buy one till I noticed that trend coming up over and over and over on a message board I hung out on. I mean, can you imagine the accuracy is worse than a damn AK? Thats pretty sad.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Nearing 5 months with no gun talk. Depressing.

I still have made no major gun or ammo purchases. OH! Wait, that isnt true, I did pick up another 800+ rounds of 7.62x54R for the Mosins.
I am also on the hunt for a VEPR 7.62, I have a serious want for an AK pattern rifle chambered in my favorite Russian surplus round.

In the meantime, to tide myself over on my gun addictions, I ordered some Wilson Combat Parts for my 1911. A lot of people (most who haven't owned, or even shot one, from my experience) will still nay-say the RIA 1911's and will scoff at the thought of installing Wilson Combat parts in one. Polishing a turd, some might say.

I won't say, nor even go near the argument that there is no difference at all between say, an RIA 1911, and a Kimber, or a full custom Les Baer or Wilson Combat 1911. I will say that for MY purposes, in MY carry habits, and MY handgun proficiency levels, there is no appreciable difference, certainly not enough to justify the cost of the high end guns vs my RIA.

Here is my 1911 as received from the factory (shown with my Old Faithful IWB Holster)
1911 OEM.jpg

Please allow me to point out, again, that there is nothing wrong with my stock RIA Midsize 1911, I just wanted to change a few things up. I opted for a new Extended Beavertail Grip Safety, a new commander style hammer, and a new sear (it is usually a good idea to swap the sear along with the hammer)

Here is a completely disassembled 1911, (yes I know the Hammer Spur is still attached to the Hammer, forgive me) Note the lack of any small parts, or tiny springs to get lost. Not to shabby for a weapon designed over 100 years ago with very little change since.

1911 Dis (1).jpg

Lets take a closer look at parts I swapped: Next Post

[04 Rocko Taco]

As I mentioned, I chose to swap the Grip Safety, Hammer, and Sear.

1911 Grip.jpg
On the left is the factory RIA Grip Safety, and the right is the new extended beaver tail Wilson Combat part.
1911 Hammer.jpg
Again, the left hand is obviously the RIA part (with spur still pinned), and the new Wilson hammer on the right.
1911 Sear1.jpg
1911 Sear2.jpg
Notice the difference in the cuts on the left hand factory RIA part, and the smooth radius on the Wilson Sear on the right. Some people say the Wilson sear doesn't play nice with their 1911's without some filing of either the sear, or the thumb safety pin. It did drop into my 1911 with no reworking of either part.
The RIA part is presumably cut this way to fit snugly without any wiggle around both the disconnector and the safety pin.

If you can disassemble a 1911 (anyone should be able to do this - if you are unfamiliar there are a plethora of resources on the net) Then you can change these parts. If it wont go back together easily, then some hand fitting may be required, and this juncture I would recommend seeking a competent 1911 smith, unless you are very familiar with what you are doing.

I had a great time swapping parts, and I have a feeling there is a new Wilson Combat trigger, disconnecter, stainless mainspring, etc in my future.

I will say that the fit and finish on the RIA may leave a little to be desired when compared to higher end guns. The frame and slide could use a slight polish and smoothing in certain areas. I may undertake this project at a later date.

Anyway, here is how it looks now. With the factory parts removed also in the picture.
1911 swapped.jpg