Ultimak Scout Rail for Mini 14

This is a mod post for my Ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle. The parent post can be found here.

The Ultimak Scout Rail replaces the hand guard on the mini 14, and allows for the forward mounting of many different optical systems. It is attached using 6 machine screws. Two hold an apron around the barrel, and the other four attach were the upper half of the gas block assembly is located. This piece is replaced as well by the Ultimak.



The rail is of very high quality. The cheap red dot I bought for it died, so it currently does not have an optics platform mounted.

Installation should be straight forward, but it sometimes is not. In my case the screws that held on the old gas block cover were staked in place by Ruger. Thanks Bill! The heads all stripped out before I could get them loose. This cost me about $50 at the gunsmith. He drilled out the heads, and installed the rail for me. My drill press would have made easy work of this, but my shop was not set up at the time.

I plan to mount a decent red dot on this rifle at some point. Even without a sight, the Ultimak was well worth the money I spent on it. It has transformed the gun. It shoots much better than it ever did before. Whether or not this is always the case I do not know. In my gun though it made a world of difference. The mini is still not a tack driver by any means, but I would not be worried about taking chest shots on humans at 100+ yards with it now. Before the rail was installed that might have been an iffy situation.

I would reccomend this item to anyone with a Mini 14. One thing to note. The rail is only designed to work with stock profile barrels.