Ruger Revives Original Mini-14 Folding Stock Using Factory Tooling

Ruger is bringing back the Mini-14's folding stock, and instead of farming out a modern reproduction, the company is using its original tooling to build it in-house and bolting it to a current Mini-14 Tactical rifle.

Key points

• Authentic build: the stock pairs a walnut body with a stainless-steel side-folding mechanism and an injection-moulded pistol grip, matched to a matte stainless receiver and barrel.
• Standard Mini-14 Tactical guts: the rifle keeps the Garand-style action, fixed-piston gas system and self-cleaning gas cylinder, with an 18.5-inch cold hammer-forged barrel threaded 1/2"-28 and a 1:9" twist.
• Full specs: model 15800 is chambered in 5.56 NATO, runs 20-round nickel-plated magazines, weighs 7.5 lbs, and carries an MSRP of $1,909.00.
• Hollywood pedigree: TheFirearmBlog notes the folding-stock Mini-14 showed up in Death Wish 4, Ghost Dog, The American, Commando, and The A-Team, cementing its 1980s action-movie look.

Quick take

This one's selling nostalgia as much as function. The underlying Mini-14 Tactical is the same reliable, unglamorous rifle Ruger's built for decades, but the folding stock is the draw here, and reviving it from the original jigs is a nice touch for anyone who wants the exact silhouette from those old action flicks rather than a modern reinterpretation of it. At just under two grand, you're paying for the history as much as the hardware.

Read the full story: thefirearmblog.com