My dad had a Mini14 he purchased in 1983. With the factory 5 round mags, he had 0 reliability problems with it and Wolf Performance black box .223. He probably put ~900 rounds of the steel cased Wolf through it.
However, after letting him shoot my AKs a bunch, he decided that the AK was superior (or just about as good) in almost every way: cost, mag capacity, ammo cost, reliability, ease of maintenance, etc.. The accuracy differences were not that much, even with the Mini using a more inherently accurate round.
He sold the Mini to get a AR lower (for a future build) and have me help him build a nice AK. He has never looked back or missed the mini. He loves the AK.
:dance:
But hey, it is hard to beat a free gun :wink: