old norinco m14?

homunculus

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A friend has a Norinco M14 he's willing to sell me. I understand the old Norc M14's had some soft steel in them. How do you tell if the rifle is one of the newer batch with the properly hardened steel? Is there a serial number batch to avoid? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Both of my Norinco M14s are old with heel stamps. SEI check the receivers, but I don't think they had to heat treat either of them.
 
when they talk about soft steel, they are talking about u.s. pre ban rifles. rifles made in the mid/late 1900's. also there is speculation, that in most cases it is a urban myth. perpatrated by larger m1a manufacturers. not saying it hasn't happened. just saying it seems to always be a friend of a friend type story.
 
when they talk about soft steel, they are talking about u.s. pre ban rifles. rifles made in the mid/late 1900's. also there is speculation, that in most cases it is a urban myth. perpatrated by larger m1a manufacturers. not saying it hasn't happened. just saying it seems to always be a friend of a friend type story.

Aye, it's that or the guys that refuse to believe that a $600 rifle is as durable and reliable as a $2k + rifle :D
"Oh well, you know I spent thousands on it so, the SA stampings make it shoot the bullet more straight, the uh...steel is harder...and forged instead of molded...and the johnson rods are more....gooder"
:jerkit:
 
I think this goes back to the 80's and 90's Norinco m305's that were going around in the USA. The bolts were cast or something, and they sucked. I'm not sure if there's any truth to this at all, simply because I've never owned/held/fired/seen an older Norinco, I'm just regurgitating some #### I read on the net.
 
well, i've got a old norinco- and aside from someone taking a ginder to the scope mount and bayonet lug, it's served me well since 1990- got it just prior to the isreali container landing- and it's seen a few 180s , and a LOT of 165s- came in through lever arms out of vancouver and not a thing wrong with it- you can tell the really early ones as they're BLUED and they have the takedown notch in the centre of the rail- basically anything made after the year 2000 and not marked with the michigan stamps should be ok
and it was FULTON armories that did all of the trash talk, and they had their own agenda as they were selling their own version of the same rifle, just as springfield
 
Even if its marked michigan its good. The issue with the bolts as I see it was blown out of proportion due to domestic manufacturers trying to discourage buying a more milspec rifel for 1/3 the $. The bolts were the supposed issue then and that was rectified by the time we started importing them. Heck Ive handles fulton and springfields before and Id rather get a forged M305 over one of them.
 
Don't know how you tell the good from the supposed bad, but I can say that I have an old Norinco M14s (and it looks like the little s was stamped on afterwards) and it has held up great and is a keeper.
 
just for intrest's sake, i wonder who has the oldest "old" norinco in canada- mine has the norinco star, made in proc, and 0295- you can can see where the f/a bits were taken off - and it's got a deep royal blue- no model number at all-
 
Some of the first M14’s in Canada came from Century Arms, Montreal in the early nineties and had a lot of soft parts such as soft sloppy bolts, soft pistons, sights, stocks, trigger groups and had stenciled matching numbers on the side of the receiver, bolt, op rod, trigger group. The Receiver and barrels were ok though. There was no other visible markings or stampings.
 
just for intrest's sake, i wonder who has the oldest "old" norinco in canada- mine has the norinco star, made in proc, and 0295- you can can see where the f/a bits were taken off - and it's got a deep royal blue- no model number at all-

I have 000040, an allan lever sourced rifle , blued but now nicely parkerized, no markings anywhere except the serial number was added at import under the windage knob. No full auto features, no scope mount lug or hole.
 
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