Ruger Brings Back the Mini-14 Retro Folding Stock

Eric B
by Eric B
The Ruger Retro Folding Stock is back, and the interesting part is how Ruger is making it: in-house, using the original tooling. This is not a reproduction built from new drawings. It is the same stock, from the same jigs, bolted to a current Mini-14 Tactical. It’s like a true restomod, but for firearms!

The construction is authentic to the original. Walnut makes up the body, the side-folding mechanism is stainless steel, and the pistol grip is injection-moulded. Against the matte stainless receiver and barrel, it gives the rifle the exact silhouette that a generation of shooters recognises instantly, which is a strange thing to say about a stock, but anyone who grew up watching action films in the 1980s will know precisely what is meant.

Underneath, this is a standard Mini-14 Tactical, which is to say a rifle with a mechanical layout older than most of its competitors and a reputation for working anyway. The action is the simple, rugged Garand-style design, with a breech bolt locking system, a fixed-piston gas system and a self-cleaning moving gas cylinder, a combination that gives the Mini-14 its reliability in rough conditions. The barrel is cold hammer-forged and threaded in 1/2"-28, with a factory-installed flash suppressor and a 1:9" twist.

The Mini-14 has had one of the strangest screen careers in firearms history, and the folder is the version Hollywood kept reaching for. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome gave Ironbar an underfolder. Charles Bronson carried a folding-stock Mini-14 with a scope and suppressor in Death Wish 4, which is roughly the most 1987 sentence it is possible to write. Forest Whitaker ran the same formula in Ghost Dog, and George Clooney hand-built a suppressor for a factory folding stock Mini-14 in The American. Gang members in Death Wish 3 had them. Arius' men in Commando had them, in both stainless and blued, and lost anyway. The A-Team is probably the most well-known. All this without mentioning the B-movie register, where the Mini-14 truly lives. (Source)

Ruger Mini-14 Tactical model 15800 specifications:

  • Model number: 15800
  • Caliber: 5.56 NATO
  • Stock: walnut with Ruger Retro Folding Stock, stainless side-folding mechanism, injection-moulded pistol grip
  • Material and finish: stainless steel, matte stainless
  • Capacity: 20, two nickel-plated steel magazines included
  • Barrel length: 18.50 in (46.9 cm), cold hammer-forged
  • Thread pattern: 1/2"-28, factory-installed flash suppressor
  • Twist: 1:9" RH, 6 grooves
  • Overall length: 39.25 in (99.6 cm)
  • Length of pull: 13.50 in (34.2 cm)
  • Weight: 7.5 lb (3.40 kg)
  • Front sight: protected blade with bayonet lug
  • Rear sight: adjustable ghost ring aperture
  • Integral scope mounts with included rings, drilled and tapped for included Picatinny rail
  • Suggested MSRP: $1,909.00

I had a different version, but the Mini-14 was the first rifle I ever bought.

What is your favourite Mini-14 screen appearance?



If this post has you ready to hit the range, head over to gunranges.com - a free directory to help you find shooting ranges near you, wherever you are in the United States.

Eric B
Eric B

Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.

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  • Ben85087738 Ben85087738 2 hours ago

    Why don't bring the solid stock version, the Ruger GB-14 Infantry model, that they try to sell it as an assault rifle? France adopted it and made it under license, for their Gendarme and Security forces, and still in use. Also, it's the perfect retro design for those who want that kind of firearms that influenced so much in the 1970's and 1980's movies and tv series, like the A-Team.

  • Night Vision Viking Night Vision Viking 1 minute ago

    Controllers at Ruger: Let's stop making about everything we're famous for, and bring out the original tooling for the Mini 14 stock instead.

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