If you get a mini-14, fire the heaviest round you can find. My mini-14 ranch rifle (fixed 6x scope for durability) will fire a 5 inch group at 100 yds from a concrete bench rest with lightweight ammo, and a 3-4 inch group at 100 yds with the heaviest stuff I could find. I found that personally disappointing as I can fire my 7mm with a 1 inch group at 200 yds from the same rest, but the mini-14 has never claimed much accuracy.
It's durable and reasonably lightweight, although I've had the bolt stick a few times even when clean, requiring a hefty whack with a piece of wood or rubber mallot to unstick.
If you put a scope on it, get a durable one because that big clanky bolt whacking around underneath it will break cheap adjustable scopes. Also, beware cheap 20-30 rd magazines as some won't feed properly. I had to buy 3 to get one that fed properly. Nothing a good gunsmith couldn't fix I suppose, but it was irritating at the time.
My brother's olympic arms AR-15 with the heavy barrel fires a 1 inch group at 100 yds so there is simply no comparison between the two when it comes to accuracy. The mini won't get a second look from the anti-gun stormtroopers however (unless you have a 30 rd mag sticking out), which may be a good thing in a few years.
"...cold dead fingers."
