Ruger Reinvents the Mini-14
With sales of nearly 1 million and the loyalty of a generation of
shooters, Ruger’s Mini-14 has secured a permanent place in firearm
history. Now, more than 30 years after its debut, the Mini has been
retooled and is available in several new configurations—including
one that can help protect your Second Amendment rights.
By Brian C. Sheetz, Senior Executive Editor
“I was at the N.R.A. show, standing by our booth
along with some other people. We were quite busy, as always, and
we had just then been getting well into the design of the Mini-14,
and had even made some prototypes. It was not on the market, at that
point. But the famous Ordnance Colonel Studler came along and shook
hands ... and so I said, ‘It occurs to me, we’re doing something you
might be interested to know about; a miniaturized M14 to take the
.223 cartridge.’ I tell you the reaction on the Colonel’s face was
electrifying. He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Just like the M1; but it’s
scaled way down in proportion to the M14 as the .223 is to the .308
or .30-’06.’ He said, ‘Oh what have you done with it?’ I said, ‘Well,
nothing at this point. We’re just finishing up the tooling’ and so
on. He said, ‘You haven’t shown it to the government?’
An illustration of the Mini-14 from a circa 1974 Ruger catalog (upper)
reveals an operating system that remains virtually unchanged even
on today’s NRA-ILA Mini-14 Ranch Rifle (lower).
“He seemed to be utterly stunned by this concept as though he wished
he had done it—because if he had done it the Army would never have
had to revolutionize their thinking. It was a great wrench for them
to give up that M1 Garand principle to go to the futuristic M16.
I have often said—and I know I am correct here—if we had brought
the Mini-14 out five years earlier it would have become the standard
Army rifle ... .”
—William B. Ruger, Sr., from Ruger & His
Guns