Mini 14/30 Running hot

The Ruger mini's were never an accurate gun. I believe it's the reason they never went forward with it in a 308 caliber.
It's still one of my favorites though.

Mini 14/30's are known for getting hot fast. How long have you owned it? Mine is from the 80's in 5.56/223 and has a thin barrel. Gets hot fast. 10 rounds in 10 seconds and the barrel is hot. Stringing the rounds on paper too. Mine is maybe 3" groups at 100 yards on a cold winter day firing 1 round every minute. Get that barrel hot and 6 or 7 inches easy. lol

I still love the rifle and would never part with it. I know Ruger changed the models and offered thicker barrels on some of them to improve accuracy. I did see a guy at my local range with one in 5.56 and it shot 1.5" at 100. Three shot group but that is the best I've seen from a factory one. barrel was thicker than mine. Might have been handloads too.

The Mini 14/30 is a rifle that will devour all ammo. Its over gassed and that piston slams back hard. But it will eject any case violently and slam the next round home. Collecting reloadable brass a challenge. It runs and isn't finicky about what you put through it except subsonic stuff. There is a company that specializes in Ruger Mini's, Ruger Mini Remington AR10 AR15 Accuracy Custom Accurate Rifles Barrel

Maybe give them a call and see if they could answer your question. They also do work for mini's to make them run better and be more accurate if you want to spend the money.

Any rifle barrel will heat up from rapid fire. It also erodes the throat of the barrel which eventually results in permanent loss of accuracy. Avoid rapid fire unless absolutely needed. I know it is considered fun by a lot of people, but you pay for it by wearing out your barrel.
For people who buy a rifle, play with it for while, put it away and buy another to play with, it never gets to that point. Those of us who use the same rifle regularly in competitive shooting and put milage on it are well aware of this effect and how to minimize it.
I change a barrel on my AR every season.
Barrel life depends on rounds count, accuracy you expect and distance you shoot at.