Mini 30: The all-around, goto Ruger carbine
Over a decade after Ruger brought out their classic Mini-14 rifle in .223, the company decided to update the design to a completely new hybrid chambered in a very Russian caliber. The rest, as they say…is history.
Why was it invented?
Taking a trip back to the mid-1980s, the Reagan-era had a lot of neat things about it. Besides allowing private ownership of new full-auto firearms, the feds also had very relaxed import regulations with Communist China as a counterbalance to the Cold War with the Soviet Russians. This open border trading policy with Beijing allowed thousands of Chinese made Norinco Type 53 carbines to flood the country from sea to shining sea.
These East Asian versions of the Soviet Semenov SKS-45 rifle were sold for as little as $79 brand new in the box.
It was estimated that during that decade nearly a million SKS’s and almost as many Polytech, Maddi, MAK, and Norinco AK-pattern semi-autos arrived on our shores. This propelled the humble 7.62x39mm round, made military standard behind the Iron Curtain before Winston Churchill even coined the term, to instant popularity in the U.S.
The cartridge, ballistically similar to the .30-.30 Winchester, was effective out to 200 meters or more and was insanely cheap with 1300 round cases of brass Chinese milsurp going for under a $100 bill. Soon domestic production by Remington and Winchester started, meaning that the loading was available in your local Wal-Mart and gun shop.
That’s when Ruger decided to answer the Chinese invasion with a carbine of their own.
