Bill Dauterive
New member
- Location
- Southeastern Ontario
I got a regular 22" M305, pciked up at SFRC last year after Christmas.
My first trials were in the winter, before I made any accurizing mods, and I was getting 2-4" groups at 120 yards. I shoot in a field with a block of oak for the target holder I retrieve the bullets when I split the block, and there's a designated little hill as a backstop; that's my range.
When I fooled around with it taking all the forum tips my groups got much worse, like they hit the edge of the ~1.5 foot diameter block, sometimes missing. This happened after I did the following:
I noticed the front of the stock on new norincos pressed up on the front band, so I sanded back some stock to give a 1/16" gap, did the NM ferrule/stock mod for space around the GC, and greased the ferrule. I clamped the barrel in a vise and tried smashing off the flash hider with a cold chisel and a hard swinging hammer. It wouldn't budge, even with heat. I ended up just cutting around the welds with a dremel. Then getting it on straight and tight (using the pencil alignment tek), with the castle nut screw able to seat into a notch is an ongoing issue. I then use a punch on it to tighten it more to get to the next notch, but I have to stop due to fear of stripping threads. It may loosen next time I take it out, but I've never had a bullet hit the side so it's relatively okay alignment wise, but I wonder about imbalanced pressure on bullet exit.
I thought the stock mod where I took the forward tension away from the front band would increase accuracy, but it made it worse. The GC itself is very tight on the barrel. I can thumb it to 5 o'clock at max strength, and then use the channel locks (yeah I lose some parker). After those mods were done, I noticed the stock was 'bent' left in reference to the barreled action; the inside of the stock was slightly touching the right side of the GC. I hollowed out more of the stock to get at best a 1/32" gap, which seemed to go away sometimes. The left side of the GC had plenty of space. The downward tension on the ferrule was present but not strong; maybe 2 pounds. My shots were consistently going right and were loose; no real group pattern. I had previously adjusted the front sight far to the right compared the dead center that gave me the 2-4" groups before I started screwing with it, but the sight correction still wasn't enough. Looking at the sight line from above; it looks really off to the right in reference to the barrel, just to keep it on the target. I thought right side pressure would push rounds left, but I guess it inhibits harmonics and sucks them right.
After a bunch of tinkering I decided to try to revert to the original stock setups by filling the ferrule with (cut and formed) foam and putting JB weld on the ferrule holding area of the stock. When I put the B-A back in the ferrule presses against the front band and I manipulated it to be stuck in the central position with some downward tension. The foam makes it tight but gives it 'cushion play' so it's not a total jam fest, and I was able to get it back in the steel liner of the stock without too much force. The JB weld might break because I've effectively made it a recoil point but the foam should keep it in place anyway.
This is the best I could think of besides buying an unmodified norinco stock, which I've been unable to find. At some point I want to upgrade to a USGI fiberglass anyway.
Obviously this goes in counter to everything I read on the internet about accurizing, as it binds the front band but that's what it was like when I bought it and it shot much better then.
One thing I did manage to improve was the trigger. I pollished off the bluing from the hammer/sear hooks/surfaces and oiled it. It still creeps, but now it's a bit lighter and a ton smoother of a creep. It eliminated that gritty super-unpredictable breaking point.
If there's anything that doesn't make sense here or that I'm missing please let me know. I haven't tested the remade 'bound/original' setup yet and might not be able to for a while (in a city for uni).
Sorry if this is a bit of a tl;dr. Just trying to be detailed. I was also looking for a catch-all thread along the lines of "M14 troubleshooting" but couldn't find one. Please merge if there is one.
Thanks for any help.
My first trials were in the winter, before I made any accurizing mods, and I was getting 2-4" groups at 120 yards. I shoot in a field with a block of oak for the target holder I retrieve the bullets when I split the block, and there's a designated little hill as a backstop; that's my range.
When I fooled around with it taking all the forum tips my groups got much worse, like they hit the edge of the ~1.5 foot diameter block, sometimes missing. This happened after I did the following:
I noticed the front of the stock on new norincos pressed up on the front band, so I sanded back some stock to give a 1/16" gap, did the NM ferrule/stock mod for space around the GC, and greased the ferrule. I clamped the barrel in a vise and tried smashing off the flash hider with a cold chisel and a hard swinging hammer. It wouldn't budge, even with heat. I ended up just cutting around the welds with a dremel. Then getting it on straight and tight (using the pencil alignment tek), with the castle nut screw able to seat into a notch is an ongoing issue. I then use a punch on it to tighten it more to get to the next notch, but I have to stop due to fear of stripping threads. It may loosen next time I take it out, but I've never had a bullet hit the side so it's relatively okay alignment wise, but I wonder about imbalanced pressure on bullet exit.
I thought the stock mod where I took the forward tension away from the front band would increase accuracy, but it made it worse. The GC itself is very tight on the barrel. I can thumb it to 5 o'clock at max strength, and then use the channel locks (yeah I lose some parker). After those mods were done, I noticed the stock was 'bent' left in reference to the barreled action; the inside of the stock was slightly touching the right side of the GC. I hollowed out more of the stock to get at best a 1/32" gap, which seemed to go away sometimes. The left side of the GC had plenty of space. The downward tension on the ferrule was present but not strong; maybe 2 pounds. My shots were consistently going right and were loose; no real group pattern. I had previously adjusted the front sight far to the right compared the dead center that gave me the 2-4" groups before I started screwing with it, but the sight correction still wasn't enough. Looking at the sight line from above; it looks really off to the right in reference to the barrel, just to keep it on the target. I thought right side pressure would push rounds left, but I guess it inhibits harmonics and sucks them right.
After a bunch of tinkering I decided to try to revert to the original stock setups by filling the ferrule with (cut and formed) foam and putting JB weld on the ferrule holding area of the stock. When I put the B-A back in the ferrule presses against the front band and I manipulated it to be stuck in the central position with some downward tension. The foam makes it tight but gives it 'cushion play' so it's not a total jam fest, and I was able to get it back in the steel liner of the stock without too much force. The JB weld might break because I've effectively made it a recoil point but the foam should keep it in place anyway.
This is the best I could think of besides buying an unmodified norinco stock, which I've been unable to find. At some point I want to upgrade to a USGI fiberglass anyway.
Obviously this goes in counter to everything I read on the internet about accurizing, as it binds the front band but that's what it was like when I bought it and it shot much better then.
One thing I did manage to improve was the trigger. I pollished off the bluing from the hammer/sear hooks/surfaces and oiled it. It still creeps, but now it's a bit lighter and a ton smoother of a creep. It eliminated that gritty super-unpredictable breaking point.
If there's anything that doesn't make sense here or that I'm missing please let me know. I haven't tested the remade 'bound/original' setup yet and might not be able to for a while (in a city for uni).
Sorry if this is a bit of a tl;dr. Just trying to be detailed. I was also looking for a catch-all thread along the lines of "M14 troubleshooting" but couldn't find one. Please merge if there is one.
Thanks for any help.
