My first Mini was in '78, the year the stainless ones came out & the upgrade from 1st gen was done.. Saw it, had to have it. Paid full retail for it, but even at that it was still half the money of a Colt AR. In my neck of the woods in the late 70's-early 80's the ones that owned AR's were well heeled or very dedicated to that type of weapon.
I never shot it well, even off the bench. Just figured I didn't get along with peeps or the rear peep wasn't compatible with a ramp front, & still sorta feel that way about the latter. I traded for a ranch when they came out so I could more easily scope one. Scoped, it didn't shoot much tighter than the iron sighted one. But I kept it around even after getting into AR's.
Then the first assault rifle ban list started coming out & the Mini wasn't on many of them. A very good reason to have one. Not just low profile in dimensions, but in the gun grabbers eyes as well. After fooling around with more AR's & the mini made it to most of the ban list I no longer see no reason to have one over an AR.
A complete flip flop, the Mini now double the price of a some decent AR's.
