The story of my new Shuff's Mini-G

[Ride]

I know it's Mother's Day and all, but I'm pretty stoked over my new Garand. Here's the backstory:

I'm a 3gun / Sporting Clays guy who always liked the Garand. I like the history behind it and the looks, but didn't see it as all that practical for what I like to do with the limited enbloc capacity and weight / length. Up until about 3 months ago, I was looking to get a SCAR 17 for my birthday and had been shopping around. Well, I had my son and his friend at the range around that time and a guy offered to let me shoot his Garand, I fired exactly 2 rounds, but thought it was pretty cool. . . that got me interested in looking up the history of the Garand.

Somehow, I stumbled across Tim's site and fell in love: the Garand profile at 7.7lbs and 36 inches, plus mag fed? There's no comparing it to the SCAR, they are two different generations, but the Mini-G was a tad lighter, had the same capacity and I could run around my local 3gun matches with a bit of history for giggles.

Anyway, I decided to get one of his complete Mini-G's on a '42 SA receiver. For those of you considering Shuff's, its the best customer service experience I've had in this industry / hobby. Tim happily endured my phone calls and emails on configuration / cost, and took what I calculate to be less than a week, to build it and ship it out.

I'll post a range / match report when I get a chance to take it out. Here are some pics (the wood color is more of a brown , my cam is really giving it a orange hue for some reason, it looks great in person)

(Thanks to buckshot85 for the pointer on the engraved cover)
396

397

Side view with the new Shuff's M14 bolt catch
398

399

[buckshot85]

GREAT LOOKING RIFLE. Tim does take care of his customers. I believe that is why he has a loyal following. Glad to see your rear sight cover worked out. Every guy i let shoot my G, wants it. have fun Ride!!!!

[timshufflin]

You take pretty darn good pictures sir.

[Delta-3]

I'm with you. Tim does a right smart job on the mag fed G's! I'm not only a fan, I'm also a customer.

[LAW483]

Very nice! Tim does a great job.

[Ride]

Thanks for the kudos guys, you are right, Tim's got a sweet design.

Quick range update. I'm hoping to get some pics in 3gun next weekend, until then went and sighted in my Mini-G at the range today. There was a muzzle loader match at the 100 and the 300 was occupied, so I was relegated to sighting in at the 50.

First of all, gotta say it again, this gun is a hoot to shoot. The recoil is minimal for such a big round (in my book). A buddy and I were out and he preferred it to the AR. As to accuracy:

I had installed a Kensight Fiber Optic front garand sight. I've got FO on all my 3 gun toys, shotgun, pistol, and AR. The sight was cool and very easy to rapidly pick-up. However, after sighting in at 25, I then pushed to 50 and the fat front post (.110 or something like that) was just too big for precision with my limited skills. Being that one of my stages is at 200, I figured it wasn't going to work. I took it off and went with the standard front sight. (if anyone is interested in the FO front site on their Garand, send me a PM, if you cover the shipping I'll send it to you).

Accuracy wise, I then got about 1' groups at 25 and 2' at 50. It's probably important to note that my shooting skills are mediocre, so I'm sure it probably is even more accurate with someone else behind the sights. Being that the smallest target I've got to hit is 8' at 200, I think I'm good though. As far as ammo, I was using new production M80 from PRVI in a USGI 20 round mag, a CMI 20 round mag, and a 25 round CMI mag.

That's it, I'll try to get pics up in the next couple of weeks if I can swing the match next Saturday. Oh, also went down to the plinking range and did some double-taps and rapid shooting / mag changes, this guns cycles pretty fast.

[timshufflin]

Ride, I wish I knew which G I made for you, I'm at a loss. Is this the first bolt stop rifle I did where I had to have it shipped back and mod the bolt stop some more? If so, my apologies and I hope all is going well.

[Ride]

Yup, that's me. I had the G with the first bolt stop, after the tweak on the bolt-stop, it has run without a single hiccup. I put about 100 or more rounds through it this Sunday across 3 mags and it cycled perfectly every time. Thanks again!

[timshufflin]

Yup, that's me. I had the G with the first bolt stop, after the tweak on the bolt-stop, it has run without a single hiccup. I put about 100 or more rounds through it this Sunday across 3 mags and it cycled perfectly every time. Thanks again!

The thanks is mine, as is the embarrassment, I hope you have a great time shooting sir. It is amazing what a few thousandths will do here and there to stop a bolt from sliding or a round from moving forward.

[Ride]

RANGE UPDATE:
I've been doing some light shooting with my Mini-G while trying out different sights. I gave the Kensight fiber optic sights a try, but the width was too limiting for long range and I recently swapped them out for a Kensight NM front sight post. As some have mentioned here, I think it's the perfect size for the Mini-G.

About a month ago I took her out to my multi-gun practice session and was impressed, it was all 50 yards and under, but it handled really well and my groups were pretty tight on double taps. Ran about a 100 rounds through it on a USGI 20 rd (that Tim supplied with the gun) and my CMI 20 and 25 rounders with no hiccups.

Fast forward to today. I decided to take my Mini-G and AR out to the 300 yrd range and now I'm really impressed. Being that at 200 and 300 yrds, my astigmatism makes an 8 inch target pretty hard to see without a scope, the rifle was very consistent. At 200, I kept all my shots in the 2nd ring with the Mini-G, so about 6 inches or so. I was ecstatic. . . I know, pretty lame, but between my vision and mediocre shooting skills, the best I was looking for was to be able to hit an 8 inch plate (smallest / furthest target at my local 3gun matches). I also had a 10 inch gong set at 300 for my AR, so for laughs, thought I'd give that a try. I even managed to hit the gong! (OK, not regularly, but hey, I can say I hit it . . .).

Anyway, that's it. I won't be competing in the Olympics anytime soon, but I do enjoy shooting my Mini-G and it's pretty accurate in my book.

Of note: my 25 yard zero was pretty much on the money for 200 yards.

[buckshot85]

great shooting.

[Orlando]

Sounds to me that you have much, much better than mediocre shooting skills!

[timshufflin]

There have been reports of folks nailing 8" gongs with the G as a regular occurrence from 300 yards. Like all Garands though, some are just better than others.

[buzzy]

Yeah,
Like I know someone who can bust bowling pins with a .35 Wheelen mini G at 300 yards.

[timshufflin]

Yeah,
Like I know someone who can bust bowling pins with a .35 Wheelen mini G at 300 yards.


Shhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ride]

Wow, I don't think I could even see a bowling pin at 300 . . . nice shooting!

[timshufflin]

Wow, I don't think I could even see a bowling pin at 300 . . . nice shooting!

I cheated, mine is scoped.