Comment Re:Sheriffs Dept preferred Mini-14 ... (Score 1) 651
What the range master at the Sheriffs training facility explained to me is that the Mini-14 offers the exact same performance as the semi-auto M16/M-4/AR-15 type rifles at a fraction of the price.
That may have once been true (about the price), but not really anymore. The Mini-14 starts at around $750. You can get AR-15's for under $600 now.
A big reason for that is simply market competition - the AR-15 patents have long expired and it's popularity has led to be it being one of the most heavily cloned rifles in the world, so all sorts of companies are making them (its to rifles what the 1911 is to handguns).
It also presents a problem for the anti-gun folks trying to present the gun as some niche purchase for whackos - its by far the most popularly sold model of rifle in the country.