Review and install: Ruger Mini-14 A-TM Stock

 Those old enough will remember the TV Show called the A-Team will be especially interested in this post.....

In the early 1980's The President of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, had an idea for a TV show that would combine elements of Hill Street Blues (a police drama), The Dirty Dozen (WWII movie), Mission Impossible (a Spy movie), Mad Max (dystopian drama) and The Magnificent Seven (a western) with Mr.T driving the car.

Stephen J. Cannel and Frank Lupo, a team that worked on many hit TV shows, created the story about former U.S. Army Special Forces team members who were wrongly convicted of a war crime they didn't commit. 

They escaped the military stockade and worked as soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground....."If you have a problem, if no one else can help and you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team" ...cue intro music....

Starting in the second season, the producers decided to standardize some of the weapons used by the A-Team, mostly due to cost containment. They chose the stainless Ruger Mini-14 with the factory folding stock and why not? The platform, derived from the M-14, would be familiar to Veterans who served during the 1960s and 70's and the cartridge it fired is the same as the NATO round.

 

One online forum member reminisced about the show recalling how inaccurate the fire from the rifles seemed to be, unless of course they were firing at the tires of moving vehicles or conveniently placed fuel barrels, the latter of which always exploded on impact.

It could also be that the A-Team had a plan, if they never killed anyone, and it was only bad guys that they antagonized, the police would not be as motivated to search for them.

Following the TV series and later release of the A-Team movie, the original folding stocks became unobtanium. When one did pop up for sale, they were not cheap.

Then in 2018 Samson Manufacturing began working with Ruger to bring back the stocks.

Some of you may remember that Bill Ruger didn't want to sell these stocks or the standard capacity magazines to the general public.....well Bill's not here anymore. 

Ruger and Samson moved forward with the project and the 1st stock available was the stainless version.

Built on the original tooling, or molds I should say, the only difference between the new ones and the old ones is the grip material and the stock material. The original grips were made of a shiny Bakelite, which were brittle (and got more so as they aged), and the stocks were made of birch.

The new stocks are made of satin finished walnut with a matte, fiber reenforced nylon grip, both of these are welcome changes.

Ruger also introduced a blued version for the Mini-14 as well as a "B-TM" stock in blued and stainless for the 10-22.

The A-TM moniker had to be used to avoid trademark infringements, the B-TM just felt appropriate, I guess.

I have owned a stainless Mini-14 for a long time and have coveted one of the A-TM stocks since they were announced a few years back.

My rifle does have a folding stock, but it is a Butler Creek version, and it was on the gun when I purchased it. 

The other day I was on ShopRuger.com looking for something else and decided I would check to see if the stocks were in stock....pardon the pun. 

Anyway, the stocks were available, so I ordered one up. The price had gone up $20 from when they were introduced (now $300), but so has everything else in clown world.

The outside of the box had some damage, but I wasn't too worried.

Ruger packed the box inside a box, so the inner box was 100% intact.

The fit and finish is superb. I know a bit about finishing walnut and the finish on this is perfect, filled grain, smooth as glass and everything fits like it should.

Ruger not only provided instructions, but also a return form in case you were unhappy with your purchase (has never happened to me with ANYTHING from Ruger).

For those of you not familiar with the stock, I'll show you some of the finer details:

This lever is pushed down (towards the bottom of the butt plate) to unlock the butt plate from the post on the stock

The lever also is used to open the butt plate to the vertical (open) position and horizontal (closed) position.

The inside of the butt plate is the Samson Mfg logo

This spring-loaded button locks the butt stock into the open position. It is tapered so you do not need to push it to open up the stock, only to fold it back up.

Close up of the grip

This notch is for a QD style sling swivel, it is left over from the original AC 556 stock as it had a corresponding side sling mount on the front gas block.

The AC556 front gas block and side sling swivel mount. 

Luckily Samson makes these sling mounts. They of course called it the BA sling mount for B.A. Baracus, played by Mr.T.

Four styles are available, pre and post 2007, and in 303 stainless or black oxide 4140 chrome moly steel.

If you have a genuine AC-556, they also have you covered.

See all the products here

The final question is: Would I recommend this stock? The answer is yes, the quality is superb, the cool factor is off the charts, the only downside is the price, at $300 + shipping & tax, it ain't cheap.