another M14 critique

There are many vets on the M14 forum who carried M14's in battle and have good things to say about them and preferred it to the M16. I suppose it's detractors visit other forums.
 
A key point for us Canadians is that he is talking about USA MADE M14 not the Chines high school assembled M305 that most of us have.

Exactly. So the maintaining accuracy under heavy field use problem might be even MORE relevant !
 
The Chinese make a better m14 now than the US does, at least that's what I've heard. The US sold the Chinese all the original tool and dies and equipment.
 
A key point for us Canadians is that he is talking about USA MADE M14 not the Chines high school assembled M305 that most of us have.

And we got into this racket hopefully knowing full well what we were in for lol. When it comes down to it, my bolt guns are specifically for accurate hole punching and my semis are for fun. Yes I've spent some $ on my M305, and yes I try to wring every bit of precision possible out of the semis I've owned , but never at the expense of that fun factor.

The writer of this article also puts a lot of emphasis on ammo selection. Well that's not really the rifle's fault so...
 
The Chinese make a better m14 now than the US does, at least that's what I've heard. The US sold the Chinese all the original tool and dies and equipment.

That nonsense story rears it's head every few months. Look into it, plenty of threads on the topic. The tooling went to Taiwan, not the PRC. Our Chinese m14 type rifles are reverse engineered like most things Chinese...
 
Looks like he spent a night downing Iron Brigade Armory Kool-Aid with the good Lt. Colonel...

There's some serious stupid here, typical of a reviewer of consumer products trying to compare another Apple to an Orange. A DM is not a Sniper, similar role, IMO, but not the same, and a bolt gun just won't cut it in that role. Also the DI platform designed by E. Stoner is far superior for accuracy out of the box, again IMO, but I think that would be shared by many.

The only real problem I see is the scope mount (really a result of the action design). It may be that much more sensitive to impact, but any precision rifle will need to be handled a wee bit more carefully than a rifle meant to be used within 300 meters.

It's a pig no doubt, but I think humping a support weapon for a bit changes your perspective. How about a Carl G and your C1...wow, that M-14 doesn't seem so heavy now does it?
 
Exactly. So the maintaining accuracy under heavy field use problem might be even MORE relevant !

No its irrelevant, some boys in basic were lucky to hit the backstop with their C7. I have always said that people who own guns should have some level of mechanical aptitude. Even more so for this platform. The gun is what it is, if the operator has little understanding of its mechanical function and no skill at proper maintenance, you really can't blame the gun. Very much like the early years of the M16. Large number of people hated it because of malfunctions which were due to improper maintenance or neglect.
 
Yes, of course...because the "heavy field use" our guns see is far more strenuous than anything that a mere combat weapon is subjected to.
that's not the point at all. The article is about what THEY do, not what WE do. If we can learn for that, maybe make an improvement or two from that knowledge and experience than all the better.
 
No its irrelevant, some boys in basic were lucky to hit the backstop with their C7. I have always said that people who own guns should have some level of mechanical aptitude. Even more so for this platform. The gun is what it is, if the operator has little understanding of its mechanical function and no skill at proper maintenance, you really can't blame the gun. Very much like the early years of the M16. Large number of people hated it because of malfunctions which were due to improper maintenance or neglect.

Fair enough.... but lets talk about WHY they loose accuracy in the field (the crux of the article) and simple basic ways to preserve it.

Like all rifles (esp. semi's) they need cleaning in the field. The M14 gas system needs some specific cleaning (drill for carbon in gas plug). Seems to me any real build up inside the gas plug changes the "volume" inside the gas system which changes the system too much.

Also, when you remove the gas plug for cleaning I think one of the main things guys miss for consistency is setting it to proper inch pounds vs just screwing it back on. In the field witness marks and noted number of rotations would be the way to go.

What else do you guys feel would degrade accuracy under tough field use (besides dropping it and knocking the scope mount out a bit) ?
 
best post in this thread...... which I'm going to refrain from making any further comment on..... other than to say, there sure is a lot of hawgwash on the internet these days LOL


Why not add any suggestions to maintain accuracy under heavy field use ? I'm sure you have some suggestions we would appreciate.
 
Why not add any suggestions to maintain accuracy under heavy field use ? I'm sure you have some suggestions we would appreciate.

here's the thing..... while I have shown a great many people that I have a deep and intimate understanding of how to build, repair, accurize and shoot this platform, I do not have the real life, military experience in the field with the M14 platform...... killing people or disabling vehicles with it, that is, in my opinion,'required' to debate or advise folks on the subject of this topic..... so I won't.

I assume that the folks here are civillians, owning a sporting rifle based on the military M14. That sporting rifle should not be expected to be compared to a rifle that is purpose built to provide military level performance. Like all things that are built to perform at a certain level , they need to be maintained to operate at peak performance, this is true of all firearms used under heavy field use.
All the info a civilian m14 type rifle owner needs to know on how to tune and maintain their m305, M14s, M1A or what have you, has been posted and reposted and posted again.
I don't own and operate my m14 type rifles under "heavy field use" and hopefully will never need to ;)
 
Never say never ...

Fair enough. So the authors comments (and many other others) about the M14 being too difficult to deal with under serious conditions is probably correct.

Not sure why guys get upset about this point then. Agree that myths take on a life of their own but on this single point I've always suspected it is not a myth.
 
Never say never ...

Fair enough. So the authors comments (and many other others) about the M14 being too difficult to deal with under serious conditions is probably correct.

Not sure why guys get upset about this point then. Agree that myths take on a life of their own but on this single point I've always suspected it is not a myth.


I should say, without trying to add to the debate, that if I should find myself needing to defend my family in a war like scenario, my go to firearms most certainly include a couple very accurate and extremely reliable M14 type rifles. I'll also add, there are no AR pattern rifles in my shtf collection, but what do I know, I've never been to war ;)
 
I've never been to war, but I have been married - twice.

My M14s were purpose built to provide military level performance, and they are my go-to defensive rifles.
My personal tool collection does include one AR, but it's a piston driven Daewoo - not your typical AR.

Cleaning rifles is a PITA, cleaning them in harsh conditions where people are shooting at you must really suck no matter what rifle you have.

Most, if not all of the issues the blogger rants about with the M14 have been addressed & solved
by the EBR program... I don't know why, but the blogger chose to ignore these enhancements.
 
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