223 and 5.56 is theoretically great enough that it is not recommended shooters use 5.56 in an early model Mini-14. The military-grade 5.56 cartridge, meant above all else to be a man-stopping round, generates considerably higher chamber pressures than the. One side effect of moving to the smaller cartridge: concerns about potentially dangerous chamber pressures when using the 5.56 cartridge. Like the M-14, the Mini-14 had a notch in the magazine that required the user to insert the magazine at an angle and then rotate it upwards into the magazine well. Although the detachable metal magazines were similar to those used by the M16 they were incompatible. Going to a smaller cartridge also allowed the new weapon to carry up to 30 rounds in a single metal magazine.

Most semi-automatic rifles at the time were fed from an internal blind magazine. Aside from a small number of pre-Vietnam AR-15s sold commercially no other rifle did what it did, offering the firepower of a 20 or 30 round magazine. The Mini-14 was well received commercially. The Mini-14 had an effective range of 200 yards, a distance primarily dictated by the ballistic performance of its ammunition. Like the M16, the Mini-14 had a right-handed twist rate of 1 in 12 inches, better to stabilize the. It had a practical rate of fire of 40 rounds per minute and could take both 20 and 30 round magazines. The Mini-14 weighed 6.39 pounds unloaded, a wooden stock, and iron sights. The resulting rifle was smaller and lighter than its military cousin and was introduced for sale by Sturm Ruger Inc. 223/5.56 for the Vietnam War would give the cartridge staying power in the States long after the war ended. Ruger had evidently gambled production of. military with the AR15, then M16 and XM177E1 rifles. 223 cartridge was nearly identical to the 5.56 cartridge adopted by the U.S. 30-06 cartridge, the new weapon was scaled down again to handle the. Just as the M14 in 7.62-millimeter was the M1 Garand scaled down from the. The new weapon was externally similar to the M-14 and would use the same operating system but was rechambered for the. The M14 differed from the Garand primarily in being chambered for the NATO standard 7.62-millimeter cartridge and having a 20 round removable box magazine. The M14 was a short-stroke gas piston, rotating bolt rifle that traced its roots to the World War II M1 Garand rifle. The new weapon was based on the M14 battle rifle then being phased out of service with the U.S. Sullivan went to work on a new semi-automatic rifle design.

In the late 1960s, firearms designer Bill Ruger and James L.

Can mini 14 shoot 5.56