Not exactly Santa and not exactly Christmas... My mom has had my daughter for the last week. We live about a 7 hour drive apart. So, I drove to where they live and have stayed a couple of days (headed back tomorrow). Went to a gun show with my dad today. As we walked around I eyed a couple of Mini 14s. Pointed out of few of them to my dad (found a real old one too). Then said something about how I like his Mini 14 and have wanted one since before he got his.
We went back to his house, looked at some guns of his, and chatted. Then he pulls out his Mini 14. I said something kind of asking about the difficulty in taking one apart. He'd mentioned before about having some difficulty getting the bolt to go in easily before. So he hands me the gun and the book and says I should try it out. So I took it apart, put it back together, and he says, "it's yours. You like it, I don't shoot it. The last time it was shot was when you shot it a couple of years ago."
IMAG0379, on Flickr
I can't stop looking at it.
Feels like Christmas (though my birthday is in just a couple of weeks too -- not that I really care about my birthday any more). He got it at a show but it was basically new. He still had the box, lock, 5 round magazine, 2 twenty round Ruger magazines, and 2 twenty round plastic mags that work as long as you only put about 15 rounds in them.
It is a Mini 14 Ranch Rifle. The scope is Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x.