Re: mini-14 accuracy???
I have a Mini 14... it's a 99% 182xxx that's 28 years old. A detachable magazine semi-auto in Kalifornia (with no jail time) is a VERY GOOD reason to own a Mini 14. That's why I purchased mine.
When I found the gun the owner (in Ohio) told me it would shoot 1" and was in about 90% condition. I figured he was FOS, but the pics looked great so I had him send it out. The gun was in better condition than he described; it appeared to be completely unused. Not a scratch or ding on the wood stock, handguard, etc. Bluing 100%. VERY nice rifle. I haven't been able to shoot 1" with it yet... been within .25" of it though. It shoots extremely well and has never had a failure in the several hundred rounds I've put through it.
An observation on the Mini 14: Being from the PRK originally I've shot a bunch of these things. The older Mini's appear to be better built, more accurate, and far less picky about magazine selection. It appears to start at about 185 and go back. Over the years I've shot/owned/worked on ranch rifles, GB's, the new 580 blended versions, and the true Mini 14's. All three other than the older Mini's (about 185xxx and back) appear to like their own certain magazines, have more variance in specs, etc. I have had NONE of the magazine issues with the 182 series that I had with the 580, or the ranch... those things gave me problems even with factory Ruger mags. It's also more accurate than any of the newer ones including the GB's.
They're not bad rifles... some things just seemed to change after the 80's. Magwell specs seem to be just a little bit off, and most of the aftermarket mags don't seem to work well in them. I find that to be a huge coincidence considering it would probably take a couple years for production changes to take effect, and 1986 was the year that started Bill Ruger changing the company in favor of low-cap mags, LE instead of the rest of us, etc. I'm not suggesting that Bill Ruger would order minute design changes to rifles to tweak their ability to shoot well and take hicap mags... just find the timing very curious.