M14S loose handguard

Poparelli

Poparelli

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Just a quick question, I bought one of the Norinco M14s and it seems to be in good order from what I can see. The one issue is the handguard/front band are a bit loose and have some play of a few mm's forward and back.

The front band is secured to the stock but rattles around. This is my first M14 so I'm not sure if this is nothing to worry about or a problem that needs fixing?

Here's a cropped pic to give an indication of the loose space...



Thanks in advance! (Also, first post, hello all)
 
Loose handguard is ok. I wondered about that too when I first got mine. Its not supposed to be wedged in tight. If it rattles and the noise is annoying, I believe you can put a dab of silicone on one end to quiet it down, but its not supposed to be a solid bridge between the receiver and barrel.

Is something else loose as indicated in the second paragraph?
 
The front band is loose and rattles as well. As I said, it does still clip in under the stock but there's (too much?) space there.

frontbandcropjn8.jpg
 
That's no good. There should be preload on the barrel such that the barrel band tab is pulling up against the stock ferule with pressure. No gap, nor loose. To fix that you need to bed the action with tension. If its loose, the barrel is free floating. This gun isn't designed for that. You should have to squeeze the stock to compress it enough to open a gap and when you let go it should tightly press back together. This is what helps the barrel return to a consistent position after firing and whipping about.
 
Is it that the band is loose on the barrel, or is it that the band is solid on the barrel, but not tight against the stock. If its the former, disregard my above post of advice as I misunderstood what was loose.
 
Looks fine to me.... :rolleyes:

Yes, you want the gap between the front stock ferrule and the front band. If the front band rattles, that's okay , too. Now in my clinic in Barrie, Ishootguns welded up about 10 of the M14 gas cylinder assemblies to 'unitize' these babies together. No more gas cylinder rattling like my USGI M14's use to rattle. :evil:

I have to admit that these Norinco M14's are way tighter than all of the USGI M14's I've owned (about 4 of them, then I lost count.).

Peace be to journey !
 
I put about 30 rounds through it just as a general function test (performed flawlessly). I never even noticed it was the front band loose as well until I was packing up. I just figured it was only the handguard.

There's enough gap between the tab and stock ferrule to permit the movement of the band forward and back the width of the gap in the pic, so it's obviously not under pressure. However it's not just flapping around there either, just loose enough to go back and forth and bit, not up and down.

I haven't touched anything on the rifle yet other than to get rid of the cosmo and give it the usual clean/lube.

Anyway thanks; I'll have to look into unitizing the gas cyl. but I just wanted to make sure nothing was "defective" and/or dangerous as far as the looseness goes.
 
nope not the end of the world.... but unitizing the gas system or shimming it, will solve the problem. Any parts rattling that can be tightened.... will cause vibrations through the rifle that can and often do affect accuracy. BUT it's not the end of the world if you choose to leave it be. For details on unitizing and tightening the gas system , visit the stickies and read through skullboy's info.
 
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