BILL RUGER is reported to have once said that if the Mini-14 had been developed a year earlier, the US military would have adopted it instead of the M16. How likely that outcome would have been is a matter of conjecture.

Where law enforcement was concerned, there were no constraints limiting the ammunition used to full metal jacketed (FMJ) bullets, the major weakness of the 5.56x45mm. Not only are such bullets relatively ineffective against assailants, but they also tend to over-penetrate, posing a threat to others. Law enforcement may select from the many expanding bullets on the commercial market, just as they do with issue sidearms.

In spite of the Mini-14’s general military-like design, it came with sporting sights and a stock, which while comfortable enough, was equipped with a curved plastic butt plate patterned after those used on 19th-century carbines. Although Ruger had offered a more military-like version of the Mini-14, it soon stopped making it available to the public along with high-capacity magazines, offering the rifle with only a 5-round magazine.