Mini 30 accurized
Hi folks,
I received some excellent opinions about the mini 30 here, so I thought I'd share the results of my accurizing attempt. I received a mini 30 from a relative a while back, and while I like the little carbine, accuracy wasn't anything special- although mine, at least, was nowhere near as bad as some people indicated theirs was. I purchased 2 variants of the AR while serving as a police officer some years ago, and while the AR isn't perfect, it is generally an accurate firearm. The consensus seemed to be that by the time you got a mini to shoot well, you might as well have laid out the dough for an AR.
I decided to test that opinion, and like they say on Mythbusters...Myth Busted. I have gotten my mini 30 in the .75 inch group range at 150 yds, with an expenditure of $140 and about 6 hours of my time. I wasn't expecting the results I got, to be honest, so I'd love to hear from someone with another mini who used the same methods.
I found that most people attributed the accuracy problems to barrel flex, so I decided to try to correct this. One problem is that the location of the gas pipe and port bushing make it difficult to sort this issue out- I'm sure some of the high-end rifle smiths have developed a way to properly address the flex issue, but my goal was to avoid paying big bucks, and also so develop a fix that an owner with only middlin' gunsmith skills could apply.
I began by purchasing the Choate synthetic folding stock- this is a well made, fairly rigid folder, with a rather wicked assault rifle styling. I paid $70 for it.
I drilled 1/8"holes down through the forestock, one on each side of the barrel bed. They ended up 11" long, and for this I had to purchase a long bit, plus 2 1/8" high carbon steel rods, about $12. I coated the rods in epoxy and inserted them in the holes, then covered the ends in black liquid plastic- you can't tell that anything has been done, yet it stiffened the forestock admirably. The entire procedure took less than an hour.
I then purchased a glass barrel bedding kit from Brownell, $39.95. I have done bedding before, many times, but if you read the excellent instructions, it's easy to do- just be slow and patient, you'll be well satisfied with the results.
I drilled about 2 dozen small (3/32") holes into the bed on the forestock, just 1/8" deep or so- may not be necessary, but I do it on synthetic stocks to be certain the bedding has something to hold onto. I then applied the bedding as per the directions.
The finished product looks no different- nothing external was modified, and the only modifications that aren't under the barrel were the two longitudinal holes, which are filled with liquid plastic that matches the synthetic stock material perfectly. I had to experiement a bit with bedding around the gas port, but it wasn't really any trouble.
I took the finished gun to the range yesterday. Formerly, at 150 yds, the best I could manage in the rest was about 1.75", on average. I had better groups and worse, always beginning the measurements with a warm barrel.
I set up 150 yds. I warmed the barrel with some plinking, then began 3 round groups. I ended up firing 200 total rounds, and the worst group was just a hair under 1".
My best group wasn't easily measurable- the 3 holes were all connected at about 1/2 their diameter. I never expected to see 3 rounds impact this close together with this little carbine- I would have been happy with 1.5" groups reliably, but I got much more! To demonstrate how unusual this is for the mini, I actually drew a crowd- the owner of the range even came over and fired a few groups. Everyone made me tell them what I had done, and how- I didn't mention that I was more suprised than they were, I played it like I was the world's finest Mini modifier, lol...just couldn't resist.
You can't compare a high dollar "weapon system" like the AR with an everyman's carbine like the mini, but if your budget is more attuned to the mini, hopefully this will help you squeeze out everything the rifle has to give you. Now excuse me, but my wife insists that I buy her one, and of course, make the same mods. What the heck did I get myself into...?

JJ