Springfield or Norinco?

I've never handled or fired a high-end M1A gun, but I have had 3 M-305s pass through my hands, and here is my perspective.

For a third or less of what you can spend on a Springfield or LRB, you can get a Norinco. Spend a couple of hundred bucks replacing a few parts [on mine I added good iron sights and an aftermarket recoil spring guide rod, and a surplus GI fiberglass stock]. Take it to a Tactical Teacher clinic and learn some basic tweaks, and you will have a rifle that performs very well, and a lot of good knowledge about the inner workings of your gun. Buy a Springfield and you'll have a better finish and maybe one or two MOA better accuracy.

All this assumes that your M-305 is basically all good...all three of mine were well put together and reliable shooters out of the box, but lemons do crop up. A careful inspection of your gun before purchase [if possible] should preclude this. Obviously I'm a Norinco fan, but Norinco has allowed me to get experience with types of guns I otherwise wouldn't have laid out big money for.
 
Tengoo said:
I've never handled or fired a high-end M1A gun, but I have had 3 M-305s pass through my hands, and here is my perspective.

For a third or less of what you can spend on a Springfield or LRB, you can get a Norinco. Spend a couple of hundred bucks replacing a few parts [on mine I added good iron sights and an aftermarket recoil spring guide rod, and a surplus GI fiberglass stock]. Take it to a Tactical Teacher clinic and learn some basic tweaks, and you will have a rifle that performs very well, and a lot of good knowledge about the inner workings of your gun. Buy a Springfield and you'll have a better finish and maybe one or two MOA better accuracy.

All this assumes that your M-305 is basically all good...all three of mine were well put together and reliable shooters out of the box, but lemons do crop up. A careful inspection of your gun before purchase [if possible] should preclude this. Obviously I'm a Norinco fan, but Norinco has allowed me to get experience with types of guns I otherwise wouldn't have laid out big money for.
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Couldn't agree more, it also gives you the opportunity to decide what you would like to spend more money on, I fell in love with the m14 pattern rifle because of a Norc, and spent some cash on a springer NM, and now I am spending more on an LRB receiver and IDF kit to put together, it's all worth it! :)
 
BattleRife said:
If you buy a Norinco you will get an excellent value gun that very well may require some adjustments or troubleshooting to run acceptably.

If you buy a Springfield you should get a mechanically perfect gun that very well may be able to outshoot you accuracy wise.

Which one is worth it depends on what you want and expect from the purchase.

I personally would not buy a Springfield because my $400 dollar Norinco has run perfectly for over 1000 rounds and provides 3 MOA accuracy. That is what I want from a rifle and the couple of hours of troubleshooting and tweaking (zero dollars spent) was well worth the $2000 saved. What you want from your money, your rifle and your time spent might be different.
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Aye.
The day my Norc M14 gives me a single reason, I'll start thinking about a Springfield.
After 7 years and thousands of rounds, it just keeps going. I've never even had a stoppage with it.
I actually shot it out to 300 meters at my club the other day with irons and I can still put 10 rounds in a 20" circle just shooting on the ground off my range bag.

You may have to tweak it, you may have to read and learn some stuff, you may have to put in half an ounce of elbow grease. But you will end up with one hell of a rifle and still be nowhere even close to what you will drop in money for a Springfield. 308 ain't cheap either. You can buy and tweak a Norc to excellent status and still have $1500 left over for ammo.
Think about that. 'Cause a gun without any bullets in it ain't much good now is it? ;)
 
FFKMC said:
Tried searching threads so forgive my stupidity of one is already going......newbie here and I haven't had enough coffee this am


Interested in purchasing either M1A or M14. I've done some research but can't make a decision. I know that cost wise the Chinese is far more affordable, however the amount of $$$ spent on aftermarket stock/rail/tune up compared to the original quality of the Springfield worth it? Should I just drop the extra on the M1A?

Any advice is really appreciated.

Cheers
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Always go with the original and pass on the carbon tax thieven Chinese copy.
 
I have a springfield m1a standard and love it, even though I had a extractor break on me. That being said I would never buy a brand new one- nor would I a norinco or any other brand to be honest...
 
Sold my springer an stayed with my Norcs with that said yes they have been major tweaked an yes have lots of $$$$ into them but still no where near what my springer cost an the rifles shoot just as good or even better with the parts I did put into them an ahead more with sellin off the Norc parts as well so which is better you are the only one to make that call in the end so in the immortal words of Barney which one the answer is Yes haha 😈
 
Sqr said:
Always go with the original and pass on the carbon tax thieven Chinese copy.
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While I agree with the sentiment behind this I think you would be hard pressed to substantiate the claim that the current incarnation of Springfield is "original."

And I agree, a true "original" Springfield such as the Garand is a thing of beauty. I would jump on a true original Springfield M14 if it were possible. No disagreement there!
 
Thanks for all the insight everyone.....awesome amount of knowledge here on this forum. My gut wants the Classic Springfield but my wallet wants the Chinese Norinco. Got a tough decision. Plan on purchasing this month once I make my mind up.
 
I bought a Norc M305 to see if I would like the platform. Got hooked so sold the Norc and bought a SA SOCOM16.
Its a fine shooting/looking rifle....buy the Springfield.

Norc M305
DSCN1294_zpsa276e61c.jpg


SA SOCOM16....look at that snout!
DSCN1624_zpsyqynze1j.jpg

DSCN1603_zpsd50bfeab.jpg

DSCN1604_zps9c61efde.jpg
 
Here's my $.02....

Buy a Nork, send it to somebody who knows what they're doing, take the left-over $$ and buy several crates of Hirtenberger surplus ammo. Shoot the rifle, learn it.

Here's why;

Springfield: I haven't seen a production rifle from SAI that didn't need the same work most Chinese rifles do. No joke. The "Loaded" models or (what I term) "non-production" models, generally shoot quite a bit better and need far less tuning. The initial cash out-lay reflects that difference in care and attention. SAI also offers a full warranty, which is going to cost you $700 in export/import if you need it....

LRB; A great product, pretty much the king of the heap IMHO. But it will SPEND! If our dollar was at par, it would be a much easier choice. But at the 35% exchange..... Only you can decide if it's worth the extra cost.

btw, I own all 3....
 
m14medic.ca said:
Here's my $.02....

Buy a Nork, send it to somebody who knows what they're doing, take the left-over $$ and buy several crates of Hirtenberger surplus ammo. Shoot the rifle, learn it.

Here's why;

Springfield: I haven't seen a production rifle from SAI that didn't need the same work most Chinese rifles do. No joke. The "Loaded" models or (what I term) "non-production" models, generally shoot quite a bit better and need far less tuning. The initial cash out-lay reflects that difference in care and attention. SAI also offers a full warranty, which is going to cost you $700 in export/import if you need it....

LRB; A great product, pretty much the king of the heap IMHO. But it will SPEND! If our dollar was at par, it would be a much easier choice. But at the 35% exchange..... Only you can decide if it's worth the extra cost.

btw, I own all 3....
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I was waiting for your insightful post. Maybe I'll be sending you my M1A next for a tune since your done with my IDF kit.
 
warrenlikesboats said:
This. This is why Im not buying one now. 700 bucks for warranty work is ridiculous.
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It's all about the export and import paperwork involved. It's not that SAI doesn't want to warranty the firearm, but ITAR really only allows firearms to move easily one way.

You will likely have a similar problem with a Bula forge, LRB or similar US made firearms with-out Canadian warranty centres. The differance being the likelihood of needing LRB or Bula warranty is almost non-existent.....

John
 
It shouldn't matter if the chance is "almost non-existent". If they come with a warranty and it costs an extra $700 on top of a rifle that costs $3000+optics and you can't take it to a local smith or mail it to someone like yourself who knows his stuff without voiding the warranty, you have a very expensive paperweight. And that's before you factor in how crappy our dollar is doing these days...

I mean hell I can buy 2-3 Norcs for the price of a Springfield never mind an LRB or a Bula and tune the Norcs to boot. Last figure I saw for SAI was $1700 US on Irunguns and you told me straight up in an email most of the SAI's need the same work as the Norc's. Seems like an easy decision to me...
 
I took a chance and bought a Norc. I took it to Tactical Teacher, 'cause I could, and he is awesome, and close by! We spent some time tweaking it and based on his experience with lots of these rifles and all makes, he says I got a good one. So yay for me!!

So this saved me a bunch of money, that I will end up spending on a scope, and a mount and rings for it, and some more mags (it only comes with one), and ammo of course.

That's the road I chose to take, and I'm happy with that, for a gun that will be used for fun at the range, out to 300 yards, should be sweet.
 
Barney (Tactical Teacher) went over my M305 before I got it. While it functioned great the infamous fit and finish of the Chinese build was not for me.
Your $$....your choice.
 
I bought a Norinco M305. I paid $649.95. The sum of money I have put into it (not including taxes, shipping as USD-CAD conversion) is now $1811.17 (including the original rifle). I'm not wanting to sound sour, I wanted to buy the cheapo Chinese rifle and put lots of time, work and money into it. To me the question really boils down to whether you want a great rifle out of the box (which isn't even guaranteed with a Springfield), or whether you want to put the time and money into a rifle to see it progress as you do.

I'm a tinkerer. I made the right choice for me. I can't really tell you if you'll have the same experience based on your wants and needs. In case you want to know, the work I have put into my rifle is listed below:

S&J Hardware M14 Op Rod Spring Guide & Spring
Boyds M1A Walnut Stock
Sadlak M14 Heavy duty Front Rail
Ellwood Epps Gunsmith: trigger job, barrel index
Sadlak M14 M1A Tactical Magazine Release Latch Metric
Springfield Armory MA5004 Match Sight Kit
M14.ca Scout Hand Guard
Bushnell Trophy Red Dot TRS 1x25mm
Tactical Ordnance Gunsmith: unitized gas system
M14.ca NORG
 
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