M14 and Smoothing up the action: does the spring guide help?

greg11

greg11

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Just playing with my gun... My rifle guys, not my other gun.

I just got my Shorty M-14 from the EE and have noticed that the action feels super rough. Now, I don't have ANY experience with M-14's so maybe this is par for the course, but....

Cocking the gun is a cinch when it is done fast. The inertia of the process seems to make it easier, obviously. But when cocking the gun slowly, it is very hard to overcome that hammer tension. Just wondering if this polishes itself out over time, as it feels like most of the tension is gritty, metal on metal roughness, not simply spring tension from the hammer mechanism.

When the rifle is cocked it is obviously easier to work the action.... But when I'm working the action slowly, I can hear the spring binding and can almost feel it doing so... Working the action slowly gives a gritty, jerky stroke, rather than a glassy smooth one. I'm wondering if the spring guide helps this, forcing the spring to compress in a uniform manner.

I do realize a lot of this post sounded quite ###ual, by the way. hahah...
 
I used high temperature wheel bearing grease and spray-on gun oil on my M-14. Got the method from "TonyBen". Smoothed out the action a lot in my case.
 
I found that the NM spring guide did help make it smoother overall, but it didn't help any when cocking it slowly, you still get stuck without the inertia. I haven't fired mine much yet so I cant say whether it will smooth out, but I sure hope it does.
 
Don't forget to GREASE (not oil) the bolt lugs, bolt raceways, op rod track, op rod guide (that figure 8 thingy under the barrel), hammer nose , hammer face where the bottom of the bolt pushes back during the recoil stroke... Just rack your rifle several times and observe the contact points. If in doubt... grease it MORE! :D

Once you get to my clinic , I'll have a whack of grease syringes with the CURVED tip (straight works but not as good as curved, as I will show you at the clinic) !!

:cheers:

Barney
 
Greg,... I think they all are similar feeling when cocking slowly and depressing the hammer for the first shot of the day.

Don't get to annoyed with this. Remember the rifle was meant to be cocked once that way, then for the next 4 the rifle does it for you.:p

Then it's stopped at the rear,.. open and empty. Then your choice of strippers which I prefer, or mag changes, all it takes is the gentle pull back with your index and let her fly closed on another 5 dollar bill:eek:.

Whether you fire 40 rounds on the range, or 180 rounds during a ferocious firefight in the Fulda Gap, you will never feel that annoying drag again till you are ammo less.

Look forward to meeting you and other M-14 nuts at the clinic in June. Cheer's RTS:canadaFlag:
 
Part of the roughness you are feeling is just plain surface machine tool marks. The more you shoot or cycle the parts, the smoother it will get. I once tidyed up a Ruger 10/22 and a Browning HP with valve grinding compound and a flat oil stone to grind off the tops of the grinding marks.
 
RememberTheSomme said:
Then it's stopped at the rear,.. open and empty. Then your choice of strippers which I prefer, or mag changes, all it takes is the gentle pull back with your index and let [the bolt] fly closed on another 5 dollar bill:eek:.
Click to expand...
Why oh why in the name of all that is holy did you have to say that?

Argh... NOT the mental image I need when I'm at the range... HAHAHA.
 
Why grease? I lubed the bolt, but everything else is BreakFree CLP. It disolves powder residue and will not gum up like grease! It was the cure for AR platforms.
Regards,
Henry;)
 
Having just put in a new spring guide rod which our very own Hungry donated to me, I will say the difference in the feeling of the action, just cycling it by hand is night and day. Most of the "roughness" seems to be gone.

Thanks Hungry, you da man! :cool:
 
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