well, In the case of my experience , I was a rifle smith building these rifles for a number of years and not one has blown up.
I will let you do your own research into the built in safety mechanisms in the M14 rifle.
If the parts and receiver safety bridge are in spec to the drawing, an out of battery detonation is near impossible unless debris gets in the firing pin channel and jams the firing pin forward.
If your rifle is piercing primers , which happens sometimes with chicom surplus, those primer bits can cause a stuck firing pin. I've seen it happen. Not the rifle's fault.
A defective or worn trigger group and even poor stock fitment can also cause hammer follow but these are not a fault of the rifle, they are a fault of the operator/assembler
Not all m14 receivers are created equal so whenever buying and you can lay your hands on the rifle, checking the safety bridge function is wise. In fact every owner of an M14 type rifle of any manufacture should familiarize themselves with the safety bridge and how to check that it is in fact machined correctly and functioning as it should.
If a rifle has excessive headspace this can also lead to problems
if primers on reloads are not seated correctly..... this will lead to instant problems
if the rifle is machined and built to correct dimension/tolerance and the operator is practicing proper maintenance and reassembly and is using ammunition appropriate for the rifle's design and chamber dimensions...… these blow ups just do not happen. Making the m14 platform "as reliable" as any other semi auto battle rifle out there.
I believe that doing "
research into the built in safety mechanisms in the M14 rifle" or any gun is pretty simple. You don't have to consult news groups, read specs, etc.
All you have to do is load a properly-resized case with a primer. If you have a choice stick with the standard ones not magnums. Get a full face shield or your snowmobile helmet with the face guard locked down. Put on some welding gloves or similar. Chamber the primed case and hold the bolt back say 3/16s from closed, if its a locked breach gun or more like 5/16 if it is an unlocked breach/ blowback gun. Point the muzzle in a safe direction. Pull the trigger. If the gun goes
bang you don't have out-of-battery protection.
If you don't reload then just get a factory round and remove the powder and bullet with an impact-type bullet puller.
If anybody does this, could your report your results here? It would be interesting. I'm betting some folks will be surprised.
For those who asked, if your gun doesn't have out-of-battery protection, keep your gun extra clean. Consider chamber-checking every round before firing.
If you reload, avoid brass fired from a Glock "
like the plague" because, as I noted before, the gen 1 and 2 guns had grossly oversized chambers; supposedly to enhance reliability.
Cases fired from these guns will have oversized heads even after full length resizing - because your normal FL sizer die doesn't resize all the way to the rim. Some people says you shouldn't reload Glock brass at all - except if you know for sure that the reloads will only ever be shot in a similar Glock. Note: If you, for example, fire a reloaded round in your P08 that was made-up using brass fired-previously G17 Gen 1 - you are risking an expensive and dangerous OOB event.
Consider running all range-found pistol brass through a Lee Bulge Buster. You will be surprised. Some can't be forced through. Throw those hulls away.
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