Exceptional M14/M1A Precision?

Sounds like you're on the right track. I don't have a lot of knowledge on bedding the wood stocks. That's why I went with the aluminum chassis haha, no bedding!

I'm definitely more of a bolt guy myself as well, but there is a huge fun factor with the M14. Even if you can only hit the broad side of a barn, it's still fun to blast away with.
That being said, I will still attempt to squeeze every last 10th of an inch out of this sucker as I can!
 
Haven’t shot it just yet, any day now though.
This is an LRB M25 with a Krieger heavy barrel and JAE stock.
It has all the best hardware I could find.
I just need to get some range time when the weather breaks.

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358Rooster said:
Well I got a b*tch slap of reality today. Went out to the range despite 20km/hr half-value winds to sight in my new rear sight (thanks spcamno!) and sight in the scope mounted in QRW's on my newly-acquired ARMS 18 copy (thanks Pop!;)) Also wanted to see what all the crap I'd done to my Norc lately has netted me. To say the least, it sucked! I don't know what I've done but it's not good. First shots were fairly consistantly just above and to the right of POA, second shot always high/right, third near POA, fourth high/right, fifth always straight below POA. This sequence was repeated the same way four times. My worst spread today was likely about 4". I only took three shots with the iron sights: sighter, made adjustment, fired two more that landed about 2" apart from each other and thought, "good enough!"

Guessing (hoping) it's my optic setup. Not sure how much pressure to put on the front pad in that mount but I put a fair bit on. I'm also damn near out of windage adjustment as well. Looks like I have some more reading to do........

On a more positive note, my 22-250 and .280 shot like champs considering the conditions. Day wasn't completely ruined I guess.

Rooster
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Appreciate your honesty Blue. Lots of guys wouldnt have said the same. Pretty sure you'll get it ironed out.
Mine is shooting better than me with handloads...150 gr FMJBT with 42 gr H4895 CCI200.........it used to shoot like a shotgun with factory loads.
Wishing you the best and watching with interest.......Good luck.
 
358Rooster said:
Well I got a b*tch slap of reality today. Went out to the range despite 20km/hr half-value winds to sight in my new rear sight (thanks spcamno!) and sight in the scope mounted in QRW's on my newly-acquired ARMS 18 copy (thanks Pop!;)) Also wanted to see what all the crap I'd done to my Norc lately has netted me. To say the least, it sucked! I don't know what I've done but it's not good. First shots were fairly consistantly just above and to the right of POA, second shot always high/right, third near POA, fourth high/right, fifth always straight below POA. This sequence was repeated the same way four times. My worst spread today was likely about 4". I only took three shots with the iron sights: sighter, made adjustment, fired two more that landed about 2" apart from each other and thought, "good enough!"

Guessing (hoping) it's my optic setup. Not sure how much pressure to put on the front pad in that mount but I put a fair bit on. I'm also damn near out of windage adjustment as well. Looks like I have some more reading to do........

On a more positive note, my 22-250 and .280 shot like champs considering the conditions. Day wasn't completely ruined I guess.

Rooster
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I had a similar experience with a Poly M14 last year. My experience was slightly worse because I did not have enough travel in my scope to get on paper at 50 yards. Just the same I pressed on by aiming at the bottom left corner of the paper to get a hit. I had more accurate slug guns. Then I took the scope off and the groups were better and went about where I was aiming. I was getting about 12 inch groups with it at 300 yards. Certainly nothing stellar. Not to mention the headspace was .020" over max on a brand new gun.

That's when I ordered the LRB M25 because it has an OEM scope rail that connects with no tricks. Hopefully it shoots well. And for the money... really well.
 
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BadAsMo, that is a really nice rig. That is exactly what I wanted to build in the first place a few years ago but I ended up holding off because of the fact that those stocks were really hard to get at the time. When the Backfeather came out, I jumped on it. I support Canadian whenever I can.
With your Krieger, I have no doubt she should the lights out. If I cant get mine to shoot to my satisfaction, I'll be rebarreling with a medium weight(heaviest I can go with the blackfeather stock).

Cheers
 
blueoval56 said:
BadAsMo, that is a really nice rig. That is exactly what I wanted to build in the first place a few years ago but I ended up holding off because of the fact that those stocks were really hard to get at the time. When the Backfeather came out, I jumped on it. I support Canadian whenever I can.
With your Krieger, I have no doubt she should the lights out. If I cant get mine to shoot to my satisfaction, I'll be rebarreling with a medium weight(heaviest I can go with the blackfeather stock).

Cheers
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blueoval56, I actually regret going with the heavy barrel and if I did it again I would also go with the medium. The rational is that at the end of the day it's an auto and I doubt will ever hold 1/4 moa so if the heavy turns out to be a 1 minute barrel, then I doubt I'll see much difference with a medium. Also the army uses medium for the M21 so I figure theres a reason in practical terms when you balance portability and accuracy. The gas system will cause verticals anyway so that would degrade long range accuracy even if it did shoot tight groups at close range. This is all pure speculation at this point but the logic seems sound.
 
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So many variables with this rifle when it comes to accuracy you need to address them all if you want that tack driver. With your JAE/Kreiger heavy setup you've got a SOLID foundation. What Gen is the JAE? You gonna reload for that sucker?

And really the JAE ain't no lightweight so the heavy barrel is a perfect match. Its a prone shooting rifle and the heavier the better
 
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Oldsmobiler said:
So many variables with this rifle when it comes to accuracy you need to address them all if you want that tack driver. With your JAE/Kreiger heavy setup you've got a SOLID foundation. What Gen is the JAE? You gonna reload for that sucker?

And really the JAE ain't no lightweight so the heavy barrel is a perfect match. Its a prone shooting rifle and the heavier the better
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Oldsmobiler, It's a brand new gen3 stock. Yes I will definely reload for it and given the weight of the JAE I figured it was heavey anyway so go the whole hog with the heavy Krieger. Maybe that's the right decision for the stock and maybe one day I'll get a second lighter lighter more portable M14.
 
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Start reloading with a known recipe and then once the groups are nice and tight start playing with the barrel tension. The heavy doesn't whip nearly as much as a standard barrel so your good there. Got a trigger job yet? Who built the rifle for ya? What are the rest of the specs?
 
blueoval56 said:
BadAsMo, that is a really nice rig. That is exactly what I wanted to build in the first place a few years ago but I ended up holding off because of the fact that those stocks were really hard to get at the time. When the Backfeather came out, I jumped on it. I support Canadian whenever I can.
With your Krieger, I have no doubt she should the lights out. If I cant get mine to shoot to my satisfaction, I'll be rebarreling with a medium weight(heaviest I can go with the blackfeather stock).

Cheers
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X2
I was all over the idea of a JAE stock when I first started planning my m14, got the blackfeather though and haven't looked back yet. I'd love to build an M25 with medium weight barrel into another blackfeather, but apparently money doesn't grow on trees anymore. Dang plasticy new legal tender!
 
Oldsmobiler said:
Start reloading with a known recipe and then once the groups are nice and tight start playing with the barrel tension. The heavy doesn't whip nearly as much as a standard barrel so your good there. Got a trigger job yet? Who built the rifle for ya? What are the rest of the specs?
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Oldsmobiler, LRB bolt, op rod is from Dlask. TRW trigger group. Unitized gas system. Sadlak spring guide. Smith extended bolt stop, Barrel was installed by Joe Kroetch in Guelph Ontario, I did all the fitting and final assembly.

For hand loads I figure I'll work up a load for 150 gr SMKs with 4064 powder brobably finish around 41-42 grains and see where that gets me.
 
358Rooster said:
I looked at Hungry's tips in the stickies last night. I'll make a few adjustments today. I got the mount used from Pop (fellow CGNer) and Pop got it used from someone else, so I'm guessing someone before me lost or discarded the c-clip. At least I can eliminate that. I may do a bit of shimming to better align the mount with the bore - don't know how much faith I have in just the dovetail holding position in this gun.

I really couldn't find much with regard to bedding 'how to' for these rifles, so I just tried to use common sense. I bedded the top of the stock along the whole length of the receiver and saw last night that you're only supposed to bed the heel area and forward of the bolt release and then the trigger pads and the rear "tang" of the trigger mech. Is this about right? Supposedly, there's supposed to be a small gap between the front of the heel area to just forward of the bolt release? i can't see that bedding the full length in a stress free manner would make any real difference but I'm not exactly one to critique M14 tuning methodology!:onCrack: I've always been a bolt gun guy and this thing is definitely a different animal!

I feel pretty confident that it's the scope / mount because it sure showed better manners with the irons. I know I only fired three rounds but I was actually more accurate with those than I was at 16X with the scope.

Rooster
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Hey Rooster, if it turns out to be a bad mount I'll buy it back from you - I don't want you to get stuck with a lemon.
 
Lost...again said:
Appreciate your honesty Blue. Lots of guys wouldnt have said the same. Pretty sure you'll get it ironed out.
Mine is shooting better than me with handloads...150 gr FMJBT with 42 gr H4895 CCI200.........it used to shoot like a shotgun with factory loads.
Wishing you the best and watching with interest.......Good luck.
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Well, you know it's like this - if it's a sh*t sandwich, it's a sh*t sandwich. No sense trying to dress it up with a bit of mustard to make it look like something else and fail to address the root problem. I believe there's nothing to be gained by lying. Besides, I find that if you're honest about your shortcomings, there are a lot people that are more than willing to help you resolve the issue.

Pop, not to worry, my friend. I highly doubt it's the mount - it's the putz with the tools and the propensity to disregard established instructions that's the real problem here! When the weather warms up a bit, you've gotta come out to my range - we'll make a full day of it if you can spare it.

I got out on Sunday and fired a quick volley (before sustaining frostbite) with just the irons. In all that full value wind, I managed to pound out five rounds at 100 yards in about 40 seconds that went into 4" - just as good as I shot with the scope the time before. If I can shoot as good with irons as I can with a good scope at 16X, I'm a monkey's uncle. Once I'm back from work in early March, I'll get the mount straightened out and try it again. Still very much optimistic at this point! I've also been paying more attention to some of the match conditioning tidbits I've picked up along the way this last year or so. Back to the bench!

Rooster
 
Just tried out my Springfield M1a all USGI parts with cheap surplus 308 PRC ammo. Although I would always get a flier ruining my 5shoot groups to 3" or 4" groups at 100m, I did get quite a few 3shot groups of 1" with the iron sights. I even hit the bulls eye twice on my first 3 shoots at 200m! I am sure the right ammo would give me amazing 5shot groups at any range.
 
This newb is very curious about the results of spending some cash on one of these. $1000-$1500 and seeing where it ends up.


No expensive stock system just a Criterion barrel, Bedded USGI stock, Unitized gas system, trigger job.
 
GunNewb said:
This newb is very curious about the results of spending some cash on one of these. $1000-$1500 and seeing where it ends up.


No expensive stock system just a Criterion barrel, Bedded USGI stock, Unitized gas system, trigger job.
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On the one hand, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you've tuned your rifle to the utmost of it's ability to perform.

On the other hand, the guy with the Savage Axis on the bench next to you will likely still be shooting tighter groups.

On the gripping hand, half the fun of owning one is tinkering with it :D
 
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