+1The older mini's had what is known as the "pencil" barrel, long thin and relatively light. They are known for "stinging" hits usually vertically from left to right when they get hot. It’s due to several things most notably the thin barrel coupled with gas action to produce a vibration along the barrel. There are several things that help improve accuracy, namely a barrel strut or even just putting on a heavy flash suppressor that changes the harmonics of the barrel. Also over the life of the mini the rate of twist changed from 1 in 10 to 1 in 7 to what it is now, 1 in 9. This also contributes the mini’s bad reputation for accuracy depending on the weight of the bullet.
Newer mini’s have a heavier, tapered barrel past the gas block that reduces the amount of stringing and, a 1 in 9 twist. They are considered to be more accurate than the old mini’s. I have several of the older style mini’s and a friend has a newer style with the tapered barrel. From my experience the newer, tapered barrel is more accurate out of the box, how much so I can’t really say since my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.
How do you know when your mini-14 was made and also when was the cut off for the "pencil barreled" mini-14's because I have a stainless ranch rifle that I have owned for 10 years or so but I bought it used but in perfect shape so I assume it is around 12-15 years old. I was thinking of putting a scope on it but after reading this I'm gonna get a stevens or savage.