So tonight I headed up to Collingwood with my M14 and a bottle of J'Lohr Cabernet for a one-on-one Norinco turd-polishing clinic with Barney. From reading on here I thought I had come across a decent rifle, but I had nothing in the way of experience to compare it to, and after all it's a Norc I was completely expecting it to need some refining. First thing we do is compare mine to the Springfield and of course now I want to start stashing cash away for a build on an American receiver. Anyway under Barney's watchful eye and pointing finger my rifle starts coming apart, every little step explained as we go. And this is when I realized I have to lay off caffeine, mixed with excitement I do a damn good Michael J Fox impression. Doesn't lend well to working on one of these things. We get it torn apart and find it really didn't need anything except a little lovetap to get the op-rod aligned just a little better. Even the gas lock timed perfectly as is. Barney had a Fulton bolt on hand and we tried it out. Turns out with just a little lapping it would have been a perfect fit. Nice bit of info to have. So we put it back together, little bit of hammer work on the splines of the barrel for the gas cylinder and flash hider for a nice tight fit, and then the NM sight on my Chinese flash hider. Let's just say it's press fit. This rifle had a little of that infamous ping before, now I can't pick it up without it ringing out. Then Barney gives me a crash course on the trigger group, where to grease it, and how to do his Hockey Night in Canada trigger touch up. No Dremel's or files allowed. And of course hands me a USGI group for comparison, and there's no comparison.
After mine was done part two was pulling a barrel off of a SA receiver, seeing all the tools all the M14 guys have came up with over the years to make it a lot easier than I expected it to be. And I left with a homework assignment to turn a little whoops moment barrel into more tools to keep making this M14 habit that much easier.
There's a ton I'm forgetting to mention, but if you get a chance to do a clinic with Barney, just do it. I learned more than I hoped to and had a blast doing it.
After mine was done part two was pulling a barrel off of a SA receiver, seeing all the tools all the M14 guys have came up with over the years to make it a lot easier than I expected it to be. And I left with a homework assignment to turn a little whoops moment barrel into more tools to keep making this M14 habit that much easier.
There's a ton I'm forgetting to mention, but if you get a chance to do a clinic with Barney, just do it. I learned more than I hoped to and had a blast doing it.
