
The guns look drastically different, and they operate quite differently with completely different ergonomics.īoth of these guns are fairly versatile and can suit various roles, although the AR-15 is much more versatile due to its modularity and variety of options. The Mini-14 is normally in a wood stock and has that old-world look, while the AR-15 looks somewhat futuristic. Right off the bat, looking at these two firearms, you’re not likely to get them confused. The Ruger Mini-14 found a lot of use in police service and some limited use with foreign militaries.Īt the same time, the AR-15 became one of the most popular military firearms in the entire world, eclipsed only by the AK-47. The AR-15 has been around since the late ’50s and the Mini-14 platform since the early ’70s.īoth the Ruger Mini 14 and the AR-15 have had decades for their designs to be refined. While these guns both have similar beginnings and they share a designer, they are about as different as they can get. These guns share a common lineage in that James Sullivan was also a designer on the Mini-14 under Bill Ruger. While the Ruger Mini-14 is a scaled-down version of the M-14, which gets its roots from the M1 Garand. The AR-15 is a scaled-down variant of the AR-10 designed by Eugene Stoner and James Sullivan. Both of these firearms are based on other larger platforms that originally started in. Since their inception, many people have compared the Ruger Mini 14 vs AR-15 to determine the better gun for their needs.
