20" vs 22" Norinco M305

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joe6167

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I see the Norinco M305 advertised as coming with a 20" and 22" barrel (and of course the 18.5" but I'm not interested in that) and was wondering what people's thoughts and experiences are with them.

Thanks to the confusion of the internet, I see some stores offering what they describe as the 20" version, but using a picture of what it likely the 22" version, though the 20" version seems more common.

Also, I notice the 22" seems to have quite a different stock than the 20" version (at least in the photos I saw). Is it a question of who got what batch of M305s?

I'm leaning towards the 22" barrel since that was the original length of the M14, and would ultimately like to get into a wood stock and make it representative of an M14 Battle Rifle.

Thanks!
 
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the US military measures a barrel by the rifling, not the chamber. so a 22" civilian is 20" military. now there are some 19.5" out there that are getting good reviews vs. the 18". now a 24" mid m14 barrel would be interesting.
 
p.Rundle said:
I thought the 20" were just misprints and there were only 18.5" and 22" commonly available. I may very well be wrong.
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Interesting. I was kind of having the feeling that the "20" and "22" labels may be dubious. I guess I'd just have to measure the overall length and see how it compares to a real M14 (which Wikipedia lists as 44.3 in (1,126 mm)). Can anyone take a measuring tape to their M305's and see if they get 44" or 42"?
 
As far as I know the only barrel lengths out there for M14 pattern rifles are either 22" (original USGI length), 19.5" (I think only one US manufacturer makes these, maybe Bula Forge?), 18.5" (Norc shorties, Criterion, Krieger barrels), 18" (SEI and Springfield Bush rifle) and 16.25" (Springfield Socom).
 
I agree...I think Norinco only has the 18.5" and 22".

I have the 18.5". I love it. I never intended to put a scope on it so I went with the short one. I doubt 4.5" would help me shoot it better through irons. ...or through a scope haha.

The only peave I have with the shorter version is that the bayonet lug on the flash supressor gets in the way of disassembling the gas assembly and taking out the piston. I have to unscrew cylinder plug then the gas lock "figure 8", slide the gas cylinder forward on the spline then rotate it when free to get the piston out.
 
RMStyler said:
I agree...I think Norinco only has the 18.5" and 22".

I have the 18.5". I love it. I never intended to put a scope on it so I went with the short one. I doubt 4.5" would help me shoot it better through irons. ...or through a scope haha.

The only peave I have with the shorter version is that the bayonet lug on the flash supressor gets in the way of disassembling the gas assembly and taking out the piston. I have to unscrew cylinder plug then the gas lock "figure 8", slide the gas cylinder forward on the spline then rotate it when free to get the piston out.
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Dremel off the bayonet lug? Doesn't really serve any purpose unless you're expecting to have to fix bayonets :p
 
As said, fairly certain the norcs only have 18.5 and 22 inch barrels. I have a 22 for 2 years now, I am in love with it. I put a M14.ca spring guide in it and had the gas system unitized, among some other minor fixes/tweaks. Consistently rings the 8" steel gong at 200m with iron sights. No bullsnot. I've only been feeding it chineze 7.62. Once in a blue moon I get a fail to eject.
 
Chinese rifles come in 2 lengths. 22" and 18.5" (within a 1/4" anyway).

SAI makes them 16", 18" and 22"

Bula forge/JRA does 19.25"

LRB and a bunch of others use criterion and kreiger barrels, 18.5" & 22" standard. The bbl makers will however make you a profiled bbl in any length nyou specify.

USGI barrels are 22".

John
 
I really liked my 18.5" version, more accurate then I expected, no internal work done to mine.. The only reason I sent in down the line is it was to heavy to hunt with and I dont need a gun that only kills paper. I do miss it but it would have to be 5lbs lighter to stick around.
 
RMStyler said:
I agree...I think Norinco only has the 18.5" and 22".

I have the 18.5". I love it. I never intended to put a scope on it so I went with the short one. I doubt 4.5" would help me shoot it better through irons. ...or through a scope haha.

The only peave I have with the shorter version is that the bayonet lug on the flash supressor gets in the way of disassembling the gas assembly and taking out the piston. I have to unscrew cylinder plug then the gas lock "figure 8", slide the gas cylinder forward on the spline then rotate it when free to get the piston out.
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It only takes seconds to do this. Where is the problem? I have the short norinco and this has never been an issue for a quick clean.
 
fiddler said:
It only takes seconds to do this. Where is the problem? I have the short norinco and this has never been an issue for a quick clean.
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If your gas system is shimmed, constantly removing the gas system will eventually bugger the shim.

Most shims are a 1 time use, wear item.

Once properly set up, you should never ever have to remove your gas system from the rifle. You can of course, but doing so is unnecessary....
 
m14medic.ca said:
If your gas system is shimmed, constantly removing the gas system will eventually bugger the shim.

Most shims are a 1 time use, wear item.

Once properly set up, you should never ever have to remove your gas system from the rifle. You can of course, but doing so is unnecessary....
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I don't have a shim installed, but every time I re-tighten the gas lock it just feels wrong with that metal sliding together so tightly. ...maybe I will need a shim one day. Because if this I end up just cleaning the piston less often. But it has been out of commission for the last few months anyways...I refinished the stock with tung oil and I'm just making sure it's cured. (My stock is wood btw, for those that think I put finish on black plastic)
 
Finally have some concrete answers:

A Norinco M305 with a "20"" Barrel (even the label on the box said 20") has an overall length of 44" (and a bit), which is the length listed on Wikipedia for the actual M14 rifle, which it in turns describes as having a 22" barrel.

So there is likely a semantic issue at play. The important thing here is that the M305 is the same length as the M14.
 
Dake21 said:
That's why I have a flash hider without the bayonet lug. It makes thing so much easier and simpler.
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A few minutes work with a hacksaw, touch it up with a file, some cold blue and you're good to go.

Not to mention it saves weight that's far forward. In a nose heavy gun, every ounce I can remove up front is better.
 
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