Ruger Mini-14 (Ranch)

Sub Categories

Bases and Rails

Adapters

The History of Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., more commonly known as Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company headquartered in Southport, Connecticut. Founded in 1949 by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B. Ruger in a rented machine shop in Connecticut, the company has since become one of the largest firearm manufacturers in the world - shadowed only by Remington and perhaps Smith & Wesson.

Ruger is widely recognized for producing firearms that span a broad spectrum of uses such as bolt-action rifles and pistols, semi-automatic rifles, single-shot rifles, shotguns, and revolvers. As recognition of its quality products grew so did the public’s interest in investing in the company’s shares. Ruger went public in 1969 and grew exponentially since then, and it is on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:RGR) since 1990.

In 2020, Ruger made another big move with their acquisition of Marlin Firearms from Remington Outdoor Company.

For decades now both newbie and seasoned shooters have been consistently trusting Ruger’s guns for their excellent accuracy and superior long-term performance as evidenced by its continued success over all these years.

Today, Ruger’s most popular products include the Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle, the .22 rimfire semi-automatic pistol Ruger MK IV, the bolt-action Ruger American rifle, the tried and tested Ruger No.1, and, of course, the timeless Ruger Security-Six revolvers.

Ruger Mini-14 (non-Ranch) Rifle Review

Ruger Mini-14 from 181 series

Figure 1: Ruger Mini-14 rifle from 181 series (source: https://www.icollector.com/Ruger-Mini-14-223-Rem-SN-181-80226_i29584990)

Ruger introduced its now-famous Mini-14 rifle in 1973. It lived up to Ruger’s “quality for affordable price” mantra; perhaps even too much. The very first models came with a simple wooden stock with a not-so-comfortable buttplate, an exposed-bolt hold-open device, a rear aperture sight with large protective wings, and were completely devoid of any scope mounting possibilities.

These first models were marked with a serial number prefix 180, but things started to change in a more modern direction with models marked with the 181 SN prefix. They started getting rolled out in 1978 and lasted until 2004, and their SN prefixes were 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 196, and 197. They featured a special steel plate at the left side of the rifle’s action which could be replaced with a purpose-built scope mounting plate. This allowed the scope mount to be mounted from the side, and a lot of manufacturers jumped on the wagon and started supplying scope mounts for these then-new Mini-14 models.

By 2004, however, these models were outdated and were completely replaced by the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, which was actually a variant of the base model that offered a better, integrated scope mounting system in a form of two scallops machined directly into the receiver. All Ruger Mini-14 models made from 2005 onward are built on the Ranch Rifle, so side-mounted scope mounts for this rifle are getting increasingly hard to find.

Unfortunately, we do not have non-Ranch Mini-14 scope mounts in our offer.

If you wish to learn more about the rifle and its history, you can read our review of the Ruger Mini-14.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu

Compatibility Above

Filters

Sort

In stock

EGW Ruger M-77 Long Action Picatinny Rail

Ask for price

View Product

Ruger Mini-14 (Ranch)

Sub Categories

The History of Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Ruger Mini-14 (non-Ranch) Rifle Review

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

Your wishlist