George Clooney stars in the new suspense thriller ‘The American’ as a deadly assassin. As a deadly assassin I’m sure Clooney’s character is well versed with various weapons. So it was pretty shocking to see his character using a Ruger Mini-14 as a sniper rifle. To be fair, it could be one of the newer series of “accurized” Ruger Mini-14 rifles. Clooney’s Mini-14 also appears to have a collapsible stock, side-mounted scope and a really big silencer. There’s no doubt the Ruger Mini-14 is a cool looking, and very reliable, rifle. But the sniper rifle of choice for an assassin? That’s a stretch.
actually the “backfire” wasnt just dreamed up, cloony’s character made that happen when he constructed the rifle. he sabotaged the rifle to do that to her, he was on to the female assassin. rewatch the movie you’ll see its pretty evident.
If a mini 14 jams, it’s most likely from inadequate cleaning or, even more likely, a loose shoulder/stock seat. As for the film, I found more fault with him adjusting the sear AFTER the blonde shoots it and the fact that she adjusts the windage with the elevation knob. I don’t even want to talk about the”backfire” they dreamed up.
Oops, the blonde was earlier in the film . . . uh, the auburn(?) haired assasin.
@ marc:
Everything you said is factually incorrect. Machine guns are anything but small (I was a SAW gunner for 2nd Engineers 20010-2011), 5.56 rounds are short range intermediate cartridges, and while they may exist, the Mini-14 aftermarket magazines are primarily capped at 30, because any more than that and feed issues will occur.
@Jack
It’s not as though Marc made those things up. That is what was in the script and in the movie as far as what the needs of the client were. Take it up with the people who wrote the movie rather than those who were pointing out one of the reasons they went with the Mini 14 as noted in the actual movie.
Huh, well that is just strange. I’ve had my mini-14 for around 4 years, fired something around 900 rounds down it. Had it jam 3 times. Twice due to cheap ammo and once more because I really should have cleaned it out before taking it down to the range that day. Strange that some of you have high-jam opinions about this rifle. I have nothing but praise for my own.
My Mini14 is a great rifle, but yes, it jams. Maybe Clooney and pals were hoping the mini-14 would look like a full-size M14 which many snipers love, and has a much longer range. an M14 would be heavy for George Clooney to lug around the forest, so the Hollywood softy needed an easy version maybe. just an idea.
If you were paying attention to the movie, you would see that he did not just need a sniper rifle. It had to be small like a machine gun with the accuracy of a rifle chambered in a 556 round. They also mentioned high capacity magazines. Mini 14’s have 40 round mags. I haven’t even mentioned its amazing reliability. The mini 14 is a perfect fit for that job. It is truly a great American rifle.
Hay ruger1022 I have a mini-14 its a older one. It’s a 183 series. I’ve never had a jam. I shoot slow or fast. Doesn’t matter. I guess its all depends on how well you maintain your fire arm. And are you throwing junk ammo down it. Bill Ruger did a amazing job on the mini-14. Now yes i load my own ammo. And ive been very pleased with how well it shoots out and over 240 yards. I havent seen this movie yet. But hay Cloney with a mini yea i can believe it.
Hey, don’t forget he is supposed to be a specialist. specialists are experts in weapon adaptations; as this mission he was on also required. anyway it was a good movie, haven’t seen any better in the genre in ages. For some reason i keep thinking(seeing) a younger Paul Newman playing the part? What do you think?
It looks good on camera, that’s what counts in this case, unfortunately.
My wife is a student nurse and goes nuts when there’s a “medical” scene in a movie that’s wrong. “That’s not sterile procedure.” “She’s doing that wrong.” “You can’t jab a vein like that with an iv needle” etc. etc.
I always says what I always says, “Shut up and watch the movie, I don’t know medicine, I don’t care, it looks good on Camera.”
Mini14 reliable? Lol.
Fun yes. Jam every 3rd or 7th round, yes.