305 receiver where can a guy get one
- Thread starter terez
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You'll likely be buying a complete rifle to get a receiver. I picked up a stripped receiver for $70 a couple years ago back when marstar kept dropping hints about Israeli parts kits. The cheapest way is to watch the EE like a hawk. In the last week there has been three complete rifles for $450 or less.
m14medic.ca
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Its pretty rare to find a stripped receiver on the EE.
When I'm looking for one, I look for a reasonably priced rife to buy and part-out....
John
When I'm looking for one, I look for a reasonably priced rife to buy and part-out....
John
m14medic.ca
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It's hard to make that call until the rifle is sitting on the bench.
If there is a problem with the rifle, and if you bought it from a retailer that offers some sort of warranty, then you shouldn't have a problem returning it to get one that is OK.
I generally like to buy rifles to strip for parts after I have a chance to look them over pre-sale.
John
Look for a used rifle with a receiver marked Dominion Arms SOCOM18 (regardless of barrel length as they came in standard 22" barrel form as well), or a complete 'deluxe' rifle with a beautiful Italian walnut stock if you want the best receiver quality from the recent imports. Both are at least on par with the highly regarded 2007 import batch from my experience.
m14medic.ca
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About 30% of the Italian stocked M305/M14 rifles I've seen were badly out of spec..... so I wouldn't reccomend getting one unless you are willing to do some work..... many bolts were trash and gas cylinders with major casting flaws....
John
Thanks for that information John. It's tough to collect enough data points unless you're in your line of work. Were the receivers from those 30% usable? I have two deluxe rifle receivers, and the finish quality on both is well above average. One of them has a badly over indexed barrel, though, and I would sure not shoot it stock. Incredible that they're still turning out rifles like this.
for myself..... anything imported after 2009..... i don't even look at when buying a m305/m14s for stripping down. The bottom of the barrel started coming in at higher prices and the italian stocks and other dressed up deals are just lip stick on a pig. I watched as the rifles coming across my bench from 2007 thru to 1012 and the steady and rapid decline in quality of individual components.... not to target any one dealer but the #### show started when the canam shorties first came out. So many of those rifles had wildy out of spec receiver heels and left side heel areas and never should have been sold to us. Thankfully canam is a reputable dealer and I think got on top of replacing the worst of those.
But I'd be amiss not to mention these facts as I have long been preaching to those that want to cover thier ears that while the prices keep going up..... the quality has rapidly and shamefully gone down hill...... and now we have the 7.62x39 abortion........ sorry that just ruins the legacy for me hahaha
I build on pre 2009 or nothing and even then I get out my gauges. 2007 and earlier tho.... gravy
But I'd be amiss not to mention these facts as I have long been preaching to those that want to cover thier ears that while the prices keep going up..... the quality has rapidly and shamefully gone down hill...... and now we have the 7.62x39 abortion........ sorry that just ruins the legacy for me hahaha
I build on pre 2009 or nothing and even then I get out my gauges. 2007 and earlier tho.... gravy
My understanding of the Italian Wood Deluxe models is that they were just standard rifles that had the stocks swapped out after import. Of the two I bought both have good receivers but one came with an over-indexed barrel and a loose op-rod-guide. Both also had "generous" headspace, 1.639 and 1.640 respectively. My take is that buying one is as much a crap-shoot as any other model. Those Italian stocks are sure ###y though
m14medic.ca
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If I'm not mistaken, most of those "Italian walnut" stocked rifles were 2013 marked M305's. At least that is true of the ones I've seen.....
All told, in my experience with Chinese M14's, I've only seen 5 or 6 recievers that were so out of spec that they were garbage. About 25% of the ones I see have "little issues" but are still safe for use. The rest all spec out very well, pretty darn good IMHO.
Despite all the finishing marks and shoddy machining the base forging is pretty darn good. Where the Chinese seem to really muck-up is when it comes time to finish a reciever before heat treating. They seem to use milling bits well past their due date. Their heattreating is also suspect, although I really can't justify that statement with hard data, I suspect that their heat treating processes are "on-par" with their machining QC. Not that Ive ever had a problem with a Chinese reciever being too hard or too soft....
This is where a receiver like a LRB really shines, it's made from a forging, you can trust that the milling was done properly, that the heat treating is done perfectly. The only down side is the price.
OTOH, if a fella was willing, the Chinese reciever can be annealed, cleaned up, healstamped, heatreated correctly and reparkerized for around $500 on top of the price of a base rifle.
In reality, there isn't a lot of price differance between a LRB M14SA and a "polished" Nork.... but that's a whole other topic!
John
... I build on pre 2009 or nothing and even then I get out my gauges. 2007 and earlier tho.... gravy
Glad I got mine before 2005...
OP - any receiver you get will be from a rifle that was broken for parts. Who knows why?
Makes sense if you were working on a pile of horrible rifles, you'd avoid anything from the period personally. Ironically enough the Canada Ammo Dominion Arms SOCOM18 marked receivers from 2013 are consistently the best I've seen of the newer batches. The only issue I've seen with them is a narrow operating rod channel - nothing that can't be easily sorted out though.
My understanding of the Italian Wood Deluxe models is that they were just standard rifles that had the stocks swapped out after import. Of the two I bought both have good receivers but one came with an over-indexed barrel and a loose op-rod-guide. Both also had "generous" headspace, 1.639 and 1.640 respectively. My take is that buying one is as much a crap-shoot as any other model. Those Italian stocks are sure ###y though
I've been through five of them myself, and three of them had above average receivers with respect to machining quality. I just pulled one apart with a badly overindexed barrel and a ruined short bolt to compensate; the rifle as delivered was a pile of crap, dangerous in my opinion, but the receiver looks really good.
Same here, and that was the same year of the Dominion Arms SOCOM18 receivers. Seems like a much better than typical year in my personal experience.
The stocks are Minelli S.P.A. produced fancy American walnut with high figuring. Every one I've seen has been stunning and dimensionally perfect. Nothing from Boyd's comes close, and Boyd's make a great stock.
I suspect a lot of their equipment has worn out bearings as well given the chatter and run out. I couldn't personally stand a keeper build on a receiver full of machining marks no matter how cheap the receiver was.
Especially true after you put a medium match parts kit on them - but it's hard to complain too loudly when the same rifle would cost double across the border.
That's apparently what the importers were told. They might be making new ones now, but it's tough for us consumers to get definitive answers for these questions. If they do start making new receivers I'd be even more suspicious of their quality given that the originals were forged using government level processes without much concern for cost, whereas the new receivers would be created for sale to the civilian market. Labour is still cheap in China, though, so they could very well dust off the equipment that was mothballed back in the 1990's...
m14medic.ca
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