I want to buy a 305... Im worried about the bolt. Also not sure what Barrel length.

What should I do ?!

  • Buy it! 20" Barrel !

    Votes: 36 34.6%

  • Buy it! 18.5 Barrel !

    Votes: 45 43.3%

  • Avoid! Do not buy!

    Votes: 23 22.1%
  • Total voters
    104
Canadiankeeper

Canadiankeeper

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I want to buy a 305... Im worried about the bolt.

Also not sure what Barrel length I am leaning towards 18.5 over the 20 for looks. It wont be shooting past 800.

My buddie has been having success with his at minimal cost down to a 2moa rifle.

SO what should I do. Aside from checking the new bolts for those 6 dots.'

Side note this should be in battle rifles! lol
 
I had both, still have the 22 for historic look and feel (plus I got the bayo to fit, which can't on the shorty).

I preferred the 18.5 handling/balance/maneuverability.
 
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I have an old one probably from the early 90's, serial # is 927X on the reciever, it was my Grandpa's. It's still a go to for taking in the bush for me. I've used 3, mine which is excellent, reliable and I'm told it shoots around 1.5moa, another bought around 2012 which was heavily modded, it worked great and shot around 1 moa, and another bought sometime around 2010 which had some minor annoying issues, although it shot fine with groups in the ballpark of 2 moa.

I'd say buy one while they are still relatively cheap. As with anything Norinco, getting a lemon is possible, but chances are much higher it'll function and shoot fine.

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Canadiankeeper said:
I want to buy a 305... Im worried about the bolt.

Also not sure what Barrel length I am leaning towards 18.5 over the 20 for looks. It wont be shooting past 800.

My buddie has been having success with his at minimal cost down to a 2moa rifle.

SO what should I do. Aside from checking the new bolts for those 6 dots.'

Side note this should be in battle rifles! lol
Click to expand...

Though I had a bad experience with a MIM bolt, I would 100% buy one again. You are just not getting a new high powered semi for that kind of money on today's market. The AIA mags are a big plus as well.

As for barrel lenght, if you are just plinking, wich this gun is just awesome for, pick wichever one you think looks better. However if you are gonna hunt with it consider this:

I hunt geese with a winchester ranger 120 with a 20'' barrel. Most of my buddies have 26 or even 28'' barrels, and their shot is much more efficient than mine past a certain range. That sometimes extends the salvo a whole shot more, when I stop shooting because I think they are out of range, they can sometimes drop one more. Barrel lenght doesn't replace good distance jugement though of course... but the results can be felt in the field. To me it isn't worth it to replace my excellent shotgun just for this, but it is something that is always in the back of my mind.

Now I know the game is not exactly the same with rifles, but consider that for some bullets types 2500 fps and 2700 fps might make a big difference on expansion and overall speed of death of the target. Anyone short of a psycho believes that if you are gonna kill an animal,killing it as quickly as possible is better. Besides, shots are very often taken at dawn and tracking and dressing in the dark is not always easy. If I can get a 10% higher probalility the target is gonna drop where I shoot it, Im all over it.

OF COURSE a 308 out of probably any lenght of barrel over 6'' will kill a deer, OF COURSE you can kill deer with 223 and 22s... Im just saying getting the most out of the cartrige is always better for hunting... Its most likely why the army chose a 22'' barrel to begin with too.
 
I checked the stock at my LGS,
They had 2 M305 shorties that looked to be post 2014 rifles with forged bolts.
Super easy to identify the MiM bolts, unusually jet black & almost plastic looking. Also just flip the rifle and look through the magwell at the underside of the bolt, look for those circle marks and absence of any tooling marks
 
Definitely do not buy one with the mim bolt
Either inspect before you buy or buy a used older one with a known good bolt
It's not fun having to pay hundreds more after the fact to fix something that should not need fixing
If I were to do it again I would probably shell out the cash for a made in America one and not even think about the made in China junk, JMO
 
Deathrawt said:
Definitely do not buy one with the mim bolt
Either inspect before you buy or buy a used older one with a known good bolt
It's not fun having to pay hundreds more after the fact to fix something that should not need fixing
If I were to do it again I would probably shell out the cash for a made in America one and not even think about the made in China junk, JMO
Click to expand...

+1

But if I had to spend 2500$ instead of 700 for this gun I would get a 1000$ bolt gun for hunting and a 1000$ 223 for plinking, and still have 500$ left for ammo.

You go a long way with 2500$ . The gun IS awesome but its price is what sets it apart. If SA bought norinco receivers and had something for like 1500 my opinion would be different.
 
What is your budget?
I think that's what it's all about. If you can afford it, the best option IMO is an IDF build and Wolverine still has the light barrel kits in stock. However that would put you into a 22" barrel and you still need a donor receiver. With a new M305 for a receiver you are at about $2000 for that option. M14medic can screw it together for you if you don't have the skills and/or tools to do so. I put mine together at a Tactical Teacher seminar.

Alternately, You could buy a new M305, a USGI bolt from Wolverine and any other upgrades you like. I reckon that will cost about $1200-1500 depending on what you do. Curtis264 did a really nice M305 build, I recommend looking it up. You can pick the barrel length you like. I tried both and preferred the balance of the 22".

The cheapest option would be to hunt down a used one. The older ones ca. 2007 have a reputation for the best quality. I think most of those will be 22".

One thing I would NOT do is buy a new one unless you can inspect and verify that it doesn't have the telltale circles on the bolt. It seems that Norinco is using these bolts on a go-forward basis, possibly due to manufacturing changes. If that is true then the days of a cheap, reliable out-of-the-box M14 based semi are ending.
 
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