Unfortunate M1A failure.

also ive seen 45acp and others talk about bolt lug / receiver contact in SAI m14's more than once and then this happens with one of their receivers.
Thats probably why people are assuming it was something related to that recurring issue.

I think that's bolt roller receiver contact and mine don't have it. It can be remedied with a dremmel tool in two minutes and is in the book " The complete M14 assembly guide" If you look at an LRB receiver this mod has been done. In the book they clearance the receiver for the roller on a Norinco receiver for a USGI bolt.
 
Norc receivers don't break in half
Never met a norc that has bolt roller/receiver contact

The extremely rare occurences that have been reported regarding bolts breaking or barrels flying off are the same stories getting exaggerated into more than one or two reports.

As a man who has personally handled 100's of norincos I don't see the obvious issues that plague the venerable and pricey springfield.

Yer money and body parts at risk , too each his own ;)

Like everything in the market, you get what you pay for.
Buy a norinco and you get a norinco quality. It has been proven over and over again.
 
From what ive gathered whoever installed that barrel for him did it wrong, not torqued properly and created stress point on the receiver walls.

This has not been proven what so ever, SEI despite its sometimes unsavory customer service and other such issues with forums and members which I will Not get into detail now, has government contracts to build and maintain M14 and have been in business for decades, I would suspect they know a thing or 2 about how to install a barrel.

That being said, I am in NO way defending SEIs work or company seeing as how the owner Ron has offered to look at the receiver as well, I would NOT jump to any conclusions right now until experts at springfield have had a chance to look it over. Now as far as I understand the owner of the rifle will not be getting the receiver back so chances are SEI will never get to examine the receiver any ways. I would not jump to conclusions at this time until all the facts are known, I would not try to point a finger at anyone especially if they have offered to help.

The only reason I posted this up was not to bash any one company, I love my Norc, and I love springfields, thats me that my choice. I posted this up simply because I have never seen a break like this before, posted here or on m14forums this is a good chance for all to see what happen and learn from it, either by learning to inspect your rifle more carefully learning what to look for ect.

Points of view and speculations are very important to us all, and to each their own, freedom of speech is very important. That being said I choose not to say anyone is wrong or right with out knowing the ALL the facts.

There are many good theories out there from bad bolt, bad ammo, bad receiver, improper torque of stock, scope mounts, barrels, lets wait till all the evidence is in before we start attacking. And no offence is meant towards deagle2008.
 
Last edited:
You guys missed my point entirely.
I didn't speculate on the cause.... Nor am I going to.
That kind of thing just shouldn't happen in a properly machined, heat treated and inspected receiver.
Disagree all you want.
And yes, it's just my educated opinion, feel free to disagree, just don't flame me for mine and assume I'm being unprofessional.
I am no longer in the firearms business circles. Instead I am in charge of engineering, blueprint proofing and supervising steel fabrication for a steel fab/steam fitting/process piping project for two multi bilion dollar firms in the lowermainland.
Here, in the forums, I can be as unprofessional as I want LOL
I can see that my decision to say farewell to the online M14 community may in fact be my best choice. The hard truth hurts and many of you just want to argue and stick your heads in the sand.
Cheers guys, enjoy the discussion
 
Ceejay , doesn't matter how long orhow much experience the company has.we are all humans we all make mistakes. Well if you look at the breaking points, it looks like it broke off at the weakest point of the receiver. That means there was tension on those areas and it stressed out the metal up to the breaking point. So the golden question is what cause the tension?
Im just looking at it from the mechanical perspective. I work on vehicles and if a nut is over torqued it will break when tension is applied.
Im not a M305 or m1A pro but w.e I guess we will just wait and see
 
Or we could just sweep it under the rug like all the other repeated problems with springfield ??

Ooops now there I go being unprofessional again :dancingbanana:
 
You guys missed my point entirely.
I didn't speculate on the cause.... Nor am I going to.
That kind of thing just shouldn't happen in a properly machined, heat treated and inspected receiver.
Disagree all you want.
And yes, it's just my educated opinion, feel free to disagree, just don't flame me for mine and assume I'm being unprofessional.
I am no longer in the firearms business circles. Instead I am in charge of engineering, blueprint proofing and supervising steel fabrication for a steel fab/steam fitting/process piping project for two multi bilion dollar firms in the lowermainland.
Here, in the forums, I can be as unprofessional as I want LOL
I can see that my decision to say farewell to the online M14 community may in fact be my best choice. The hard truth hurts and many of you just want to argue and stick your heads in the sand.
Cheers guys, enjoy the discussion

You have been a great asset and wealth of knowldge for Many many of us!!
For that I say thanks!!
Don't let the troll like guys get to you!!
 
Im not saying your being unprofessional, Im just saying dont be too quick to judge until all the facts are in, and yes as humans we all do make mistakes, so if it proves to be a faulty receiver failed from heat treatment etc or an over torqued barrel that is still human error is it not. I am not saying springfield and sei are the gods of all m14ery either. lets just wait and do the attacking AFTER the facts are in.
 
I have to admit to being a user level M-14 fan so no expert at all. I own two and have sold a few others. All Norcs. I do love the feeling of owning a high quality brand name gun and sometimes spend way more money than I can afford, but there's nothing like the feel of a high end gun. Moving on. I was at one of 45ACP's clinics feeling kind of like a newb and these two guys pull out their SAI M-14's all beaming and proud. I am sure they were there just to show them off with no intention of unitizing or bashing a flash hider off.

The first thing the Doc did was check the head spacing. Woah. They were so far out of spec, that the unanimous advice by the true experts was to never fire them and send them back for repair. I never found out what happened, but I felt terrified about what my cheap Norc might spec out at. To my surprise, it checked out fine and is now an honest tack driver. I got lucky for sure, but still did the rest of the usual mods to the gun and never looked back. Those SAI's were new, fresh out of the box. Don't know what to make of it really.
 
SAI come with a card that gives headspace. Mine was 1.632 perfect for 7.62 ammo and using the RCBS gauge it checks out. Some Norinco's headspace above NATO field so you live in a glass house on this one.

I was at a Tactical Professor clinic and added one shim. Didn't have to beat the suppressor off with a hammer. Didn't have to index the barrel or fix the safety. My op rod is straight and it's guide didn't need peening. My sights work out of the box. Checked for bolt roller contact and it was fine and did not attempt to make anyone drool over it. I worked on the trigger later. So I suppose I brought a kid with a cough to a cancer clinic. I don't remember the emails stating that only very sick rifles were welcome.

Thomas retired from the M14 building business so he can now be an unprofessional jerk like the rest of us. He always attempted to stay pretty neutral in the past but now he's on the site as a member giving his real opinion. I accept he has a lot of experience with the platform and he's not an SAI fan. Some of you need to accept that many of us are not Norinco fans.
 
I hesitate to comment, this discussion tends to polarize both sides. I think both sides have been argued out so I will only comment on my experience with the Norc M14 platform. The term "user level" applies to me as well.

My first rifle bought from Marstar worked fine out of the box. My first online purchase and chinese gun to boot; a positive first experience on both counts. Different story when I got a second one. I looked at three shorties (I won't say from whom) before I found a good one. The first two did not pass my initial inspection and I am no expert.

Both rifles had the basic accurizing done at a clinic. The flash suppressors knocked off clean enough and the headspace and barrel indexing was good on both. Played the gas lock swap lottery and won. Got them both TIG'd up, swapped out the spring guides, peened (one?) and aligned the op rod guides. The last thing I want to do before I call it done is swap out the rear sights. Everything else is good, or at least good enough for me. I could go further down the rabbit hole but don't see the point, I am only shooting surplus, if I was handloading and trying to get maximum accuracy it would be a different story.

There is another thread up a member posted about his new SAI NM. Very nice from looking at the pics, definately better fit and finish than a Norc. I am pretty sure if the owner and I both showed up at the range at the same time we could still have a good time shooting together, regardless of who made our guns. I have to say the CGN'ers I have met face to face have all been decent people. Easy to misread stuff or misinterpret a comment online, in person I think we would be more alike than not.
 
If a company does its investment casting in-house with high quality control, using the best methods like Ruger for example (great products), then I will take a gamble on a cast receiver...

Otherwise I avoid cast steel, old/foreign alloy receivers, and especially guns like these that have been modfied in any way. Small parts I am fine with.. like all those MIM internal parts that most 1911's are running (among others). I did own an older Winchester model 120 Ranger (like a 1200) that had a nice light alloy receiver, but I 'babied' it.
 
I own a SA. I have friends that run norcs and we head out to the range all the time and have a blast. We make jokes sometimes but we will never say to each other that a specific firearm is Sh!t and I would never buy that . When I look at other m14 forums you don't read comments like some of the comments on this forum. It's pretty sad but I guess it's reality . It's great to have members like Thomas here to share his expierence with the m14 and I hope he continues . So who cares who is running what , remember we all love to shoot our rifles and let's try to keep it civil. Cheers
 
If a company does its investment casting in-house with high quality control, using the best methods like Ruger for example (great products), then I will take a gamble on a cast receiver...

Otherwise I avoid cast steel, old/foreign alloy receivers, and especially guns like these that have been modfied in any way. Small parts I am fine with.. like all those MIM internal parts that most 1911's are running (among others). I did own an older Winchester model 120 Ranger (like a 1200) that had a nice light alloy receiver, but I 'babied' it.

Unless there has been a change, SAI receivers are cast in Montreal.
 
Yes and Quebec has a high tech aerospace industry. I feel pretty confident about their ability to produce quality castings.

We are all in this together. As I've stated I located and inspected a Norinco for a buddy and seemed pretty well assembled. Fired a few rounds through it myself without a face shield. (not the first few mags) I'm glad he has a battle rifle so we can go out and play service rifle together. Sold him a big red and it looks really nice in it.
 
Back
Top Bottom