Project 'kidmini14'

[JLA]

This is one of my more spur of the moment projects, but it turned out really well.

I bought a stainless mini14 about a year ago maybe. I accurized (trigger job, accu-stut, bedding) I shot it a little but mostly its been sittn in the cabinet.

About 2 weeks ago we secured a deer lease and I started tossing the idea of selling the mini and buying the wife a youth model .223 bolt action for deer hunting. Until she says I like the mini14, it reminds me of the M1 carbine, which she loved and could shoot it really well. And it hit me like a truckload of bricks. I could miniaturize the mini14 and make it better fit her.

I began with shortening the barrel. The standard minis come from the factory with 18.5" barrels and this one was no exception. Only thing is I absolutely hate the giant blade sight. Theres no way to make it look good and the BATFE minimum barrel length of 16" is 3 tenths behind the front sight so I used the rear of the sight as a guide and hacked it off.

Then I filed it clean and deburred it a little so my crowinging cutter would go in and gave it an 11* crown. Its stainless so a little polishing up and radiusing with some fine emerycloth brought a nice finish to it.

Then I hit the range to test it for accuracy with the shorter barrel. It strings less than before but still holds a tad over a minute at 100 yds. The real suprise came when I tested the 53 gr TSXs I loaded 2 years ago for another rifle (an AR). Those are holding 3/4" at 100 and it sux because they are damn expensive, or Id just shoot those..

Anyhow, satisfied with the accuracy tests I decided to hit the stock. I wasnt sure how short to cut it so I asked beck what shed change about the stock to make it easier for her to shoot that rifle. She did say it was a bit long and she was stretching to reach the trigger, she said if it fit more like the BB gun shed be happy. The 'BB' gun she was talking about it JRs corssman pump pellet rifle, which has a tiny little plastic stock on it with about a 10" LOP. But she picked it up and it does fit her perfectly.

So I removed the buttplate and masked off the stock and used a protractor set for 2" between the pin and the pencil and used it to relocate the contour of the buttplate 2" further up the stock. Than took my sawz-all and hacked it off a little long so I could whittle it the rest of the way down with my dremel and sanding blocks/sticks. While I was at it I dug out the buttstock a little to make for some bedding compound and I decided once I got the plate refit that I was going to permanently bond the plate to the stock with some epoxy bedding to make it stronger. The buttplate is smooth plastic so cutting and reshaping was a breeze.

Once done with all thet I got the wife to check it out and it was a perfect fit. she can now reach the trigger comfortably while maintaining a proper cheekweld on the stock for the scope. Only thing was she said the buttplate was a little too slippery, being smooth plastic I could see why. so I masked it back off and took some 60 grit and roughed the end 2" of the buttstock and Herculinered it. It turned out perfect. The buttstock is perfectly contoured for a small shoulder and now virtually indestructible being epoxy reinforced with a hard plastic buttplate which is now acting as a support and a permanently bonded layer of truck bed liner material.

Then I modified the sling attachments to accept her pink paracord sling I got from Jon here. Overall I think it turned out freakin awesome and without that pink sling it looks mean as hell. Fit is very close to a collapsible AR when all the way colapsed for me, and perfect for the wife, and the kids to shoot. So I am calling this one the 'Kidmini'

Pics to follow...

[JLA]

Here is a before pic from back when I first got the rifle, its unaltered aside form me accurizing it and putting a millett red-dot on it.

[JLA]

Here are 2 from accuracy testing just after cutting the barrel short and re-crowning.

[JLA]

And the final product. I forgot to mention I ditched the red-dot and put her a Redfield 2-7X33 mil on it with accu-range reticle.

[todd51]

Awesome Josh. You may just have a future in the gunsmith business if you keep trying.

[JLA]

I know right. I think im starting to get the hang of it anyway..

[gdmoody]

That really looks good. You did a great job on it!!

I had a mini 14 years ago and it did not look quite like that one. You mentioned that you accurized it, is that thing attached to the bottom of the barrel part of that accurazation? If not, what is it, it looks like it belongs on a Garand or M-14?

[JLA]

Yes george thats an Accu-strut LT. It is a vibration dampener/barrel stiffener that clamps solidly to the barrel and gasblock and all but eliminates the thin barrels tendency to whip and cause otherwise unexplaned flyers. It is designed to mimic the look of an M1A gas system.

That piece coupled with the trigger job and the action bedding has taken the accuracy from the std 3-4 MOA these rifle shoot normally to holding about 1.5 MOA with factory ammo and sub MOA with good handloads.

[JLA]

I was just sittn here lookin at it gettn ready to go shoot some more and I kinda think its a .223 version of the Springfield M1A socom. Really cool. JR is home 'sick' from school today so i will let him shoot it and see how well a 6 year old can adapt to the new dimensions.

[evan03]

Curious if you crowned barrel by hand and we could possibly get a pic of the crown

[gdmoody]

Thanks Josh, That is what I thought it was (mentioned in the first post) but I had never seen one before!

[gunguy25]

Looks great, good job!!

[Brisk44]

Great lookin job Josh.

[evan03]

Yes very nice

[JLA]

Originally Posted by evan03

Curious if you crowned barrel by hand and we could possibly get a pic of the crown

Yes I did, I used a brownells 79* muzzle facing cutter w/ brass pilot and 3 progressively finer grits of emery cloth to finish once the cut was made.

Pics comin right up.

[JLA]

Ite, hot off the digital..

[JLA]

And heres my tool..

[JLA]

Thanks for the compliments everyone. This is what i like to do..

The wife is happy with it, and JR rang the 200 yd gong with it today. I am so freakin proud of him, hes 6.

[Chinook]

Aw! Dude, that is a great rifle!
Fit, in my opinion is basically the end game in determining wether or not I really, really like a handgun, or rifle! I bet my lady would love my older Mini14 if we did a little modification like yours! Sweet deal man, and thanks for showin all of us!

Hi-5 to JR for the gong ringin @ 200yds. What a shooter you are raisin!

[1 Eyed Jack]

That is a super sweet job on that rifle!! I really like the fact that it isn't black Wood and steel just looks best,

[JLA]

And the herculiner over the smooth buttplate makes a huge difference too. It was pretty slippery before but now it stays put. I chose herculiner because its gritty and quaranteed not the peel or plake and its softer than the other bedliners. it has more latex in it.

[JLA]

Heres a pic of JR i took just now with my cell. I took the pink sling off at his request, hes no girly man he claims..

[evan03]

Jla
that looks awesome. I've been toying with the idea of a beater 18" 223. As a throw behind the seat rifle. You've Givn me motivation. Awesome work and awesome 6 year old

[JLA]

The mini14 would make a great beater. They are rugged and reliable and easy to feed. They just get poor ammo milage because its easy to hit the range and burn 100 rounds, especially if you have a couple hungry 20 rounders.

This one is 16.375" barrel length down fromt he factory 18.5" and I removed exactly 2" from the buttstock.

[old semperfi]

jla,i agree with everyone that this is a good looking modification,i dont agree that a 223 is a deer cartridge ,unless you can shoot expert with the rifle.i am not knocking your gun,just the caliber. old semper fi