classicist
New member
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New here. I was a longtime member of CalGuns, but seldom contributed there. I thought I’d share one my most recent rifles.
I’m not a huge fan of the AR aesthetic. So, I’ve had a Mini 14 for a number of years now. Because it flung brass right into the scope turrets, I previously mounted a scout scope on an aluminum integrated rail/handguard. One unique modification I did was to drill into the bolt stop/ejector, and modify it into a left hand bolt release. It’s a 580-series, but at 3 MOA or so it was never a target rifle, and I’ve been looking for better accuracy for some time.
Well, finally, I pulled the trigger on swapping in a full-length heavy barrel, and building the Mini into something of a target rifle.
Parts consisted of a $70 Green Mountain .223 8 twist 1.05” unturned blank, and an ASI .750” adjustable gas block, which was around $200. For tooling, I bought a .750” round nose end mill (which proved unnecessary, as described later) and a .910” bushing for my barrel vise (which I had to make). Nobody makes action wrenches, at least as far as I could find, for a Mini; however, the owner of ASI recommended using a large crescent wrench on the forward lower part of the receiver, where the recoil spring sits. Obviously, a reamer and gauges were necessary.
Getting the stock barrel off turned out to be trivial. Soaking the threads in penetrating oil was probably unnecessary, as the old barrel popped right off with just a small application of hand force to the 15” crescent wrench. I measured the thread pitch and turned to the barrel blank.
Once I turned down the barrel blank to .910” at the breech end, stepped down to .750” through the gas block and to the muzzle, crowned the muzzle, and cut the tenon, I set up my lathe for 20 TPI and threaded the tenon to match the receiver. Cutting the recessed breech face was a bit of trial and error, but I got it close enough. I went with a standard .223/5.56 chamber. Finished length came in at 21”.

The final two machining steps were to drill the gas port and recess the top of the operating rod to match the .750” barrel profile. The latter I did with hand files and a lot of patience; however, I had purchased the ball nose end mill for this purpose. The gas port I drilled with a drill press and cleaned up with a small end mill chucked in my drill press. I was successful in avoiding the trip to the Bay Area, where I have access to a Bridgeport mill.
The rifle went right back together and test functioned smoothly. Because the Mini now had an adjustable gas block, I felt it was safe to mount an optic over the receiver, where it belongs. I already had the illuminated 1-6 Vortex Strike Eagle, and found some rings that worked. I glass bedded the stock, and mounted a permanent cheek riser.

The thing shoots pretty well. I’ve got some minor reliability issues to work out, common whenever you start custom gunsmithing. But, so far, with good quality factory ammo, I get around 1.5” 5-round groups at 100 yards. It takes quite a bit of sustained shooting for the groups to start opening. I’m going to work up a load for it at some point, but doing so is pretty far down my list. (6.5x55AI is my first priority, then 8x57 I for a Commission Rifle.) Once I do get around to loading some .223 for this rifle, I sincerely hope that I have a 1 MOA Mini.

Some time down the road, I’m going to take this thing back out of the stock and refinish it. I’m not too happy with the way the stock came out.
This was not a terribly difficult job, simpler than rebarreling a Garand or M1A in my opinion. It’s a shame you don’t see more accurized Minis. They really are well made, simple, and dead reliable. Anybody got questions?
I’m not a huge fan of the AR aesthetic. So, I’ve had a Mini 14 for a number of years now. Because it flung brass right into the scope turrets, I previously mounted a scout scope on an aluminum integrated rail/handguard. One unique modification I did was to drill into the bolt stop/ejector, and modify it into a left hand bolt release. It’s a 580-series, but at 3 MOA or so it was never a target rifle, and I’ve been looking for better accuracy for some time.
Well, finally, I pulled the trigger on swapping in a full-length heavy barrel, and building the Mini into something of a target rifle.
Parts consisted of a $70 Green Mountain .223 8 twist 1.05” unturned blank, and an ASI .750” adjustable gas block, which was around $200. For tooling, I bought a .750” round nose end mill (which proved unnecessary, as described later) and a .910” bushing for my barrel vise (which I had to make). Nobody makes action wrenches, at least as far as I could find, for a Mini; however, the owner of ASI recommended using a large crescent wrench on the forward lower part of the receiver, where the recoil spring sits. Obviously, a reamer and gauges were necessary.
Getting the stock barrel off turned out to be trivial. Soaking the threads in penetrating oil was probably unnecessary, as the old barrel popped right off with just a small application of hand force to the 15” crescent wrench. I measured the thread pitch and turned to the barrel blank.
Once I turned down the barrel blank to .910” at the breech end, stepped down to .750” through the gas block and to the muzzle, crowned the muzzle, and cut the tenon, I set up my lathe for 20 TPI and threaded the tenon to match the receiver. Cutting the recessed breech face was a bit of trial and error, but I got it close enough. I went with a standard .223/5.56 chamber. Finished length came in at 21”.

The final two machining steps were to drill the gas port and recess the top of the operating rod to match the .750” barrel profile. The latter I did with hand files and a lot of patience; however, I had purchased the ball nose end mill for this purpose. The gas port I drilled with a drill press and cleaned up with a small end mill chucked in my drill press. I was successful in avoiding the trip to the Bay Area, where I have access to a Bridgeport mill.
The rifle went right back together and test functioned smoothly. Because the Mini now had an adjustable gas block, I felt it was safe to mount an optic over the receiver, where it belongs. I already had the illuminated 1-6 Vortex Strike Eagle, and found some rings that worked. I glass bedded the stock, and mounted a permanent cheek riser.

The thing shoots pretty well. I’ve got some minor reliability issues to work out, common whenever you start custom gunsmithing. But, so far, with good quality factory ammo, I get around 1.5” 5-round groups at 100 yards. It takes quite a bit of sustained shooting for the groups to start opening. I’m going to work up a load for it at some point, but doing so is pretty far down my list. (6.5x55AI is my first priority, then 8x57 I for a Commission Rifle.) Once I do get around to loading some .223 for this rifle, I sincerely hope that I have a 1 MOA Mini.

Some time down the road, I’m going to take this thing back out of the stock and refinish it. I’m not too happy with the way the stock came out.
This was not a terribly difficult job, simpler than rebarreling a Garand or M1A in my opinion. It’s a shame you don’t see more accurized Minis. They really are well made, simple, and dead reliable. Anybody got questions?