Really don't waste the money on a mini, i have had four and always thought i could "fix" them and make them shoot right, WRONG! This includes their new supertune tight shooting model, just walk away.
As for ar's, they work very well, and even the "cheap ones" will shoot very tight groups if you take your time putting them together. Of the ones i have, my two favorites are cheapies. My hunting one is a 16" ultralite, i built that weighs 6lb, 12ozs scoped. (3-9x50) It will do nickel size groups at 100yds with my poor eye sight. The other favorite is a 16" ss fluted bull barrel with a 4-12x40 on it it does interlocking groups at 100yd, this is a bench rifle that comes in just under 10lbs.
Don't let anybody tell you you need more than a 16" barrel, you don't. Both of these rifles shoot dead on to 300yds, and will knock down coyotes at 500yds. blue
