M305 Bolt Failure

It would be really great to actually know what caused the bolt failure, just like the post on the barrel breaking. To know the real facts and root cause analysis would be more useful.

BTW, I have to laugh at the beware of China, Chinese quality statements. Made in China is everywhere, Canadian Tire, Home depot, Ford, GM, Chrysler, etc, etc.
Outsourcing is on the rise in North America, just look a the closed John Deere plant in Welland Ont, spare parts for the auto industry, book printing, etc.
 
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Ardent said:
And Norincos will still be touted in this forum for decades. :)

This week I've read about:

-Catastrophic bolt failure
-Catastrophic barrel failure
-Razor sharp op rod handles
-Cracked gas cylinder, full length, from the factory before firing

My eyes are worth LRB and Springfield prices. People are going to jump on me, again, but this isn't just a joke, we're putting contained explosions inches from our heads, throats, and hands and trusting Chinese bottom basement crap to contain the 50,000+psi. Support the good guys, they're on our side too, and more than worth the money.
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Welcome to my daily battle. AS being the owner of two defunked m305's, and the guy that all my friends seem to give their defuct 305s to fix; I have a hate on for norinco. $450 gets you a decent bolt rifle, a good semi .22 or 2X 7.62 X 39 sks, or a good shotgun. So why can people justify it as a steal of a deal for a POS that your roling the dice with if it will explode, go run away, through a part off into woods, jam or fall apart after breif durations of fire?

My LRB was in glass bedding last week and should be fire tested this week and shipped. with it comes an extra bolt and barrel so I can fix the last m305 I own. I will then sell it, thus ending my saga with the norc 305's
 
Poor quality control in the foundry when the steel in is being composed in the foundry , bad heat treating to overall lack of quality in the assembly . I will agree with Ardent that we need to support the manufactures in the US that make parts for the M14 /M1A . I have a Springfield M1A and a Norinco the difference is like comparing a Bentley to a Lada .Although the Lada gets the job done it lacks a good finish and the parts interchangeability is rather limited as the thread dimensions and pin diameters are not standard . In the end it is a cheap rifle so you get what you pay for .
 
I have read story after story about these Norks and the defenders of them. It seems as though there are guys who recognize the defects and accept them as nothing more than a good project receiver and almost upon receipt - begin the GI upgrade process. Then there is the second group who know no better and bang away with it for 1000 rounds until the thing pukes - as expected by many of us.

Everyone on CGN seems to be aware of the excess headspace problem with these things. I have not seen one post where a guy says his headspace meets saami spec - in the factory supplied condition. AND even if it was by chance saami spec when new - it probably would not be after 200 rounds.

The most knowledgeable people I personally know and trust always recommend (at a minimum) the Nork bolt is discarded and replaced with GI spec bolt or better. The operating rod is next on the list.

A Nork M14 is a well designed rifle manufactured badly. Nothing more.

The problem with upgrading a Nork is that by the time you are done - you have as much invested as a Springfield would have cost in the first place. Plus you could never take it hunting or to a rifle match in the USA. With Springfield or LRB you can.
 
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A lot more support in this side of the argument these days. :) In years past it was a tar and feather offence around here to criticize Norincos. I did and received plenty of both, criticizing and getting lambasted. It's heartening to see change afloat.

First one that severs fingers, destroys an eye, or worse- especially if it results in a lawsuit, will really change things. Sadly, it's not if but when as these aren't Canadian Tire frying pans.
 
I have a 2009 m305 with over 2000 rounds that shoots 1moa , only upgrade is a USGI rear sight .. Best bang for my buck i ever got .. My experience is very good , but im sure there are lemons out there like with any product .. the Chinese made rifle lemon rate will be higher but its worth the gamble for the price ..
 
The receivers are very good, but fit and finish can be somewhat lacking sometimes. On mine, the receiver is the only thing chinese, the rest is all USGI ;)
 
It's just way too early to judge what happened. There are too many variables to arrived at a conclusive reason for the lug failure. Even I would not know where to begin because I am neither engineer, gunsmith , or metalurgist.... just a tweaker.

Stay safe!

Barney
 
yomomma said:
I have a chance of getting injured or killed driving to work each day
;)
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yes, but not because your engine block has a 20% (or higher) failure rate and may put a piston through your skull due to out of spec parts that were not inspected; or because your break pedal snaps off on the 200th time you depress the it because the metal is garbage and the parts poorly assembled.

I have a 2009 m305 with over 2000 rounds that shoots 1moa , only upgrade is a USGI rear sight .. Best bang for my buck i ever got .. My experience is very good , but im sure there are lemons out there like with any product .. the Chinese made rifle lemon rate will be higher but its worth the gamble for the price ..
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congrats on getting the white rino of norc305's

most of us arn't willing to gamble over and over like a routlet wheel trying to get double zero. I have dropped over $2000 on 2 norcs and geuss what I have a norc that is still unsafe to fire and put out a 12 inch group last time i fired it. I don't need more "parts" guns at $450 a pop.
 
Apparently the Ford truck I used to own caught on fire so often they had a recall.......

Most other manufactures also have recalls because there are malfunctioning bit which increase the risk of injury or death....
 
I want to thank everyone here for the time they take to add opinions - the information is invaluable - when I wanted to buy a norinco m14/m305 I read a ton of posts. It was apparent right off the bat the bolt could be an issue for lug fit and headspace. Most people buying one I would hope do the same to be aware of potential issues. Understanding the risk of receiving a rifle of unknown fitting issues the buyer should have it properly checked over or have the tools to do so. When I bought mine I also bought a new TRW bolt of EE before the rifle arrived. The original bolt would close on a go and a no-go gauge but not on the field gauge. TRW bolt almost closed with the go gauge - some time lapping it in and it's perfect with a huge piece of mind my bolt won't explode and i have proper headspace. Replaced the op rod with a RWB from dlask and had him fit it for $25 - replaced the op spring guide and this rifle is 100 times smoother than when bought and still at half the price of a Springfield. If you reload your own as I do follow the guidelines for your safety. If you don't have a way to check your headspace send some fired brass to Barney and he will tell you so you know what your dealing with. Enjoy your rifles - change what you want to change but it's up to the owner to take the steps to make sure its safe. We hear about the bad things that happen but there are thousands of people that are happy with the rifle that we don't hear from - I like mine
 
Griffin6869 said:
I want to thank everyone here for the time they take to add opinions - the information is invaluable - when I wanted to buy a norinco m14/m305 I read a ton of posts. It was apparent right off the bat the bolt could be an issue for lug fit and headspace. Most people buying one I would hope do the same to be aware of potential issues. Understanding the risk of receiving a rifle of unknown fitting issues the buyer should have it properly checked over or have the tools to do so. When I bought mine I also bought a new TRW bolt of EE before the rifle arrived. The original bolt would close on a go and a no-go gauge but not on the field gauge. TRW bolt almost closed with the go gauge - some time lapping it in and it's perfect with a huge piece of mind my bolt won't explode and i have proper headspace. Replaced the op rod with a RWB from dlask and had him fit it for $25 - replaced the op spring guide and this rifle is 100 times smoother than when bought and still at half the price of a Springfield. If you reload your own as I do follow the guidelines for your safety. If you don't have a way to check your headspace send some fired brass to Barney and he will tell you so you know what your dealing with. Enjoy your rifles - change what you want to change but it's up to the owner to take the steps to make sure its safe. We hear about the bad things that happen but there are thousands of people that are happy with the rifle that we don't hear from - I like mine
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Common sense being thrown into the middle of this good old-fashioned #### measuring M14contest, surely this could not solve anything?

Griffin apparently you have your head on the level.

You read, you absorbed, you discerned, you acted, you are thus satisfied. You have done well grasshopper.:wave:
 
LordEvilPepper said:
yes, but not because your engine block has a 20% (or higher) failure rate and may put a piston through your skull due to out of spec parts that were not inspected; or because your break pedal snaps off on the 200th time you depress the it because the metal is garbage and the parts poorly assembled.



congrats on getting the white rino of norc305's

most of us arn't willing to gamble over and over like a routlet wheel trying to get double zero. I have dropped over $2000 on 2 norcs and geuss what I have a norc that is still unsafe to fire and put out a 12 inch group last time i fired it. I don't need more "parts" guns at $450 a pop.
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Dude your obvious butt hurt and go around trolling every m14 thread you can find and talk #### ,, that is all you do on CGN ... Why the hell have tens of thousands of these rifles been sold in canada over the years and there has only been under 5 reports of kabooms ? and your claiming 20% ? lol you are so full of #### buddy , quit your trolling and bugger off
 
boss351cleveland said:
Dude your obvious butt hurt and go around trolling every m14 thread you can find and talk #### ,, that is all you do on CGN ... Why the hell have tens of thousands of these rifles been sold in canada over the years and there has only been under 5 reports of kabooms ? and your claiming 20% ? lol you are so full of #### buddy , quit your trolling and bugger off
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5 this month maybe...of the thousands of owners how many do you think actualy post here? how many people shot enough rounds through it to make it fail (in one form or another) or even know the signs that the gun is failing and has become unsafe to fire?. I've met guys that have had these guns for years and have yet to clear the 300 round mark.
The fact that almost every norcm305 I have held has had issues, some fairly minor some catistrophic (like mine) is a testiment to their ####ty manufacture. If any other manufacture sold you a rifle that exploded, had a triger failure, came with an off indexed barrel, broke the bolt when firing, had the sites fall apart, was shipped with a cracked gas system, had the reciever strech after a few hundred rounds, torpedoed the barrel, or came with/ developed any of the other issues that plauge these POS's... you would be ranting on the form, writing angry letters to the company, and demanding a refund. If this was a domestic product a recall would be issued and the companys reputation would be shot.
What makes it worse is that some of the more previlent safty issues (like headspacing and reciever hardness) requires gun smith tools to check properly that most people don't have ready access too.

The vast magority of new shortys (everyone I have seen) have head space issues that can cause "kaboom" style failure. I would wager that you could go into a store and over 1/3 of them would chamber a .308 field gauge right out of the box; and most of the ones that passed that test would be able to chamber the field gauge within a few hundred rounds.

PS Also the 20% was an example... and it refured to failure, failure that may be harmfull to your health.... and besides... norcs are easy 4/5 for guns that have issues that require fixing.
 
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