Norinco m14... worth it or not?
- Thread starter Mandown!
- Start date
Rocket Surgery
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Usually big fires are only built when you're doing the smudge and sweat lodge thing with friends, at least that's what I find.
I try to build fires up when I'm alone at night in the middle of the woods, and I always leap 5km every 3 days if I'm just out wandering around. Animals like bears and wolves will come closer to your campsite every night, until about the 4th night when they just don't care how big your fire is. If you move 5km, there's a good chance you've left a certain animals' territory and the next batch will still steer clear of your fire for a few nights.
Sorry about the derail, back to M14. My personal opinion is that you purchase the rifle really just for the receiver.
Here's what I recommend be checked if you purchase a new M305:
Check for:
1)OP Rod alignment and angle tilt resistance
2)Flash hider alignment (mine's off a lot)
3)Gas system play and piston resistance
4)Gas piston hole center and rear battle sight center
5)Headspacing if possible, some stores may not let you take the op rod out
6)Bolt lug gap and tension distribution. I use a spark plug gap tool
7)Trigger creep, I find all m305's have varying creepiness.
8)Stock fit, sometimes they just don't fit properly.
9)Crooked chamber, if possible, ask for a piece of fired brass. This is more for buying used ones.
10)Chinese metric side hole threading for scopes. Mine was not metric or imperial, in fact, I had to get mine redone simply because no scope mount would work. I tried the mount screws from Chinese aluminum all the way up to sadlak's etc. It got to the point where the gunsmith just rebored it to 1/4 inch and fashioned me a screw.
I'm sure I missed a bunch, but here's also a list of things I'd do to the rifle:
1)Tighten the gas system
2)align the op rod guide if needed
3)Bed action or get USGI stock
4)Take off the clip charger guide and install a scope
Everything else is pretty difficult to do at home. I'm talking about barrel indexing, trigger jobs, welding your gas system, making your own stock, etc.
- Location
- Barrie Area, Ontario
Hello,
If you were to be able to hand pick one, what would be the things to look for?
If you were to be able to hand pick one, what would be the things to look for?
Rocket Surgery
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Check if the OP rod guide is aligned and piston hole bored true. Check the front sight to see if it's crooked. Dry fire the trigger a few times and see how much connection the hammers have on the assembly. Check if the flash hider is welded on.
It's going to be pretty hard to do unless you've owned one before, so bring a homie.
If I knew what I know now 3+ years ago, I would purchase a rifle and bring it directly to a clinic before firing.
My rifle was pretty bad when I bought it, unsafe actually. The barrel was barely clinging on to the receiver, the front sight was on a 10degree+ angle tilting to the right, the gas system was loose, the stock was chu wood, the op rod guide wasn't centered, and the scope mount side screw wasn't metric or imperial so it needed to be redone. This is just what I can remember, I've put a lot of work into this thing.
My build still isn't complete 3+ years later, but I'm almost there. I just need a need a new scope and a chop job on my USGI fiberglass stock to call it complete. From there I may go all out on the usgi bolt, NM op rod, etc etc etc but if it shoots 1.5inches @ 100y I won't bother.
Check the front sight to ensure that it is not leaning.
Cycle the bolt open, feel to ensure there is no significant binding.
With the action closed, use your thumb to move the bolt up and down, see how much wiggle room the bolt has. Wiggle is not good. If it wiggles more than 1 or 2 mm, put the rifle down.
Check to see if the store has any kind of a policy if defects are found after cleaning it and closer inspection at home.
If possible, buy a better op rod guide (about $45). Some stores carry if they sell the rifle.
If you buy one, get your butt into one of the Clinics offered in your area so you can learn from experienced people how to properly maintain and accurize your new rifle.
Cycle the bolt open, feel to ensure there is no significant binding.
With the action closed, use your thumb to move the bolt up and down, see how much wiggle room the bolt has. Wiggle is not good. If it wiggles more than 1 or 2 mm, put the rifle down.
Check to see if the store has any kind of a policy if defects are found after cleaning it and closer inspection at home.
If possible, buy a better op rod guide (about $45). Some stores carry if they sell the rifle.
If you buy one, get your butt into one of the Clinics offered in your area so you can learn from experienced people how to properly maintain and accurize your new rifle.
- Location
- Quebeckistan
If I understood your post correctly when you manually cycle the action it gets to a tougher spot midway, but if you cycle it again it's all smooth?
If so, that's perfectly normal, that's the bolt hitting the hammer and pulling it back into "ready" position, which has a fairly though spring, so all good
If I understood your post correctly when you manually cycle the action it gets to a tougher spot midway, but if you cycle it again it's all smooth?
If so, that's perfectly normal, that's the bolt hitting the hammer and pulling it back into "ready" position, which has a fairly though spring, so all good
I agree, the first pull needs a bit of muscle. Also, give the trigger group a good lube, I think there is a sticky on that somewhere in here. I found that taking the trigger group out and working the hammer and safety several 100 times with lube will make it easier. Wear some gloves as your skin will peel off first.
Just make sure it's not the bolt or oprod binding somewhere. If that's the case
get it checked out ASAP.
Ahh okay. I was just wondering if I screwed something up. But it feels normal after the initial. I loosened up the safety quite a bit already, kept working at it while watching tv. I don't think the oprod is binding somewhere. I'll need to pick up a new spring though, it's not exactly straight, but from looking at pictures it's normal with norinco m14's.
- Location
- Quebeckistan
Again, perfectly normal
You can change the spring, however what you'll want to do is drop an national match op rod spring guide, which will straighten things up. A wavy spring is absolutely normal on any M1a/M14/M305 that has the stock op rod spring guide. These are commonly available and not overly expensive.
Bottom line....there a really fun rifle. Only down side is the QC at Norinco is poor. You may have a good one first try or have to go through three rifles like I did. One was single shot, the other had a poorly indexed barrel among other major issues. Third had a bolt issue....third one took awhile to figure out. Know I have a really fun rifle and it is one of my favorites. Works great...also highly modified though. In retrospect after owning other firearms such as AR's I would not buy another Norinco M14 but would recommend....its a fun experince.
RememberTheSomme
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
I have three; two have been cut down to 18.5"
I wouldn't buy another unless I could see it before I bought it. Cuts down on surprises like this when you open the box (pardon the out of focus blurry picture)
What exactly are you showing there ipsc???????
Ya, a great design?, who the heck designed this Chinese want to be? NOT what I was looking for. Was looking to get something economical,reliable and compatible to the M14 platform with interchangeable parts. Guess what, mine is a piece of S..t. and good luck finding parts that fit. Some guys seem to have more luck with theirs, but I am not impressed.
Without spending more than twice the $$$ on this thing for all the bells and whistles to make it work and look right, you may want to consider your purchase options. After market parts, forget about it, alot dont fit! Unitizing, glassing, new USGI bolts&parts, custom stocks, barrels, scope mount etc,etc,etc.... Unless you have a budget of $2000+ , this is probably NOT the gun for you. You can do better with that kind of $$$$
Just shoot the thing out of the box, if it's not up to your expectations, sell the puppy, dont waste any more $ and get a good rifle because, you are into a long and expensive process to get something that shoots right. You can save alot of $ and agrevation with a good rifle out of the box. Many are out there. So mine is somewhat OK? has alot of hickups many QC problems and I would not get another one. Buy one if you want but, I would not get 2, sorry Hungry :-( BTY,never had to go to a clinic to get a rifle to work properly before? but, this seems to be required with this rifle. Bottom line, Not impressed! Good luck too all that spent many $$$$$ on their rifles, hope you all enjoy the bells and whistles, they look good.
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Without spending more than twice the $$$ on this thing for all the bells and whistles to make it work and look right, you may want to consider your purchase options. After market parts, forget about it, alot dont fit! Unitizing, glassing, new USGI bolts&parts, custom stocks, barrels, scope mount etc,etc,etc.... Unless you have a budget of $2000+ , this is probably NOT the gun for you. You can do better with that kind of $$$$
Just shoot the thing out of the box, if it's not up to your expectations, sell the puppy, dont waste any more $ and get a good rifle because, you are into a long and expensive process to get something that shoots right. You can save alot of $ and agrevation with a good rifle out of the box. Many are out there. So mine is somewhat OK? has alot of hickups many QC problems and I would not get another one. Buy one if you want but, I would not get 2, sorry Hungry :-( BTY,never had to go to a clinic to get a rifle to work properly before? but, this seems to be required with this rifle. Bottom line, Not impressed! Good luck too all that spent many $$$$$ on their rifles, hope you all enjoy the bells and whistles, they look good.
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ipscgraz
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Look down the centerline of the flash hider, then see where the front sight is.
And by the way it seems that a highly touted "Warranty" is only words. My point is that I wouldn't by a Norc unseen.
Found better pics (below) and will edit previous post.
I thought I would post again in this thread, I was following it originally as I had always wanted an M14, and had been on the fence for quite some time. Since then I ended up purchasing one a few weeks ago (2009 poly), after receiving positive feedback in this thread. I have to say, for the price, there's nothing else that really compares. I bought the M14, aware that there may be some tweaking involved, HOWEVER mine functions completely fine out of the box, and I was shooting about 2" groups my first time out with the rifle (with the cheapest ammo they had on the shelf). The little tweaks I would consider to be more voluntary than necessity, and I want to perform them simply because I like to tinker. As a stock rifle, I don't find any real issues. I've already begun gathering parts for it. You don't have to spend a whole lot of money on this rifle, to have something you can enjoy or be proud of. With the wealth of knowledge on this site, some very helpful members, and a little ambition, I think this is a great platform. My 2 cents.
RememberTheSomme
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
Look down the centerline of the flash hider, then see where the front sight is.
And by the way it seems that a highly touted "Warranty" is only words. My point is that I wouldn't by a Norc unseen.
Found better pics (below) and will edit previous post.
Thanks, I could see different apparent defects, but the lower pic's are much better than your original post. Wasn't sure which ones in particular you meant. Looked like a welded flash hider as well?
Didn't mean to offend,....... no need to get snarly
.Just needed clarification of the defects and now with better pic's and description I have it, Thank You.
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