M305 Feed-ramp problem - Fixed

Cut a groove aprox 6 1/4 inches long on the right side of your stock
This was one point I wasn't sure about until you made this post. I needed to read through it, think about it, after knowing it was part of my issue. I though because it was sitting flush on the outer edge I was okay and didn't know I was in error.

The heel of the receiver has to sit flush with the stock...no gap.
Yes, I have less than an 1/8" gap which I read was correct even though I didn't like it.

This shows the area of the receiver that is shaped different than non chinese models.It has the bottom of the receiver shaped at an angle.If the groove is not cut in the stock you will never get it to fit right. As well ensure the rifle will pass the " after assembly trigger test" to make sure you dont get a slam fire .Are you familiar with how to do this test ?

Okay, so this is the real issue. I've never seen an M14/M1A disassembled so didn't know the M305 was that different. I guess I need to measure the depth of this angle on both ends, tape a line on the inside of the stock and try to match it with a dremel. (I assume this is from the walk-through/guide I saw so I'll be downloading that site page. If not thanks for the additional trouble you went to to explain this.)

I don't know about the "AATT" yet. Only ever heard of it happening to a SKS. I useually bump the stock on the ground a few times to make sure the seer doesn't slip and then check to see if the pin rattles/moves freely.

Thanks again,
Zen
 
Totally what these guys are saying. Zen, you gotta modify the Archangel stock as these fellows described for the norinco M14 to work properly in it.
I'm finally getting it. Understanding and trust where a little slow...

I need to take things apart and see how they work and why. Drives my wife nuts. But I'm almost always able to fix things when they break whether electronic or mechanical. Had a lot of disassembled watches as a kid as I recall. :)
 
And another:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...stock/page2?highlight=Fitting+Archangel+stock

To be fair, these aren't stickied, although I think they should be

Thanks to krprice84 I was able to search for the guide earlier but didn't think it would solve my issue. These are what I found and using a bit from both they helped today but your pics helped the most.


Fit a M305 to the Promag Precision Stock:
http://www.mysticprecision.com/wp/1751/how-to-fit-a-m305-to-the-promag-precision-stock/

My Archangel M14/M1A stock fitting:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/631197-My-Archangel-M14-M1A-stock-fitting

I've already applied the solution and its working much better and feeding the A1A mags almost perfect. (Final hold open is working but I want to field test before I do any further mods to keep things as tight as possible.) My duds/trainers no longer have the point like real ammo so a little more material might need to come off later.

I also found I had to remove material from the stock where the oprod slides and grease it a bit. It was staying back in the open position but would shoot forward if I touched it lightly. For anyone else looking to do this using a wood chisel to scrape the material off worked better than a razor or dremel with far more control. Once tested and passed I'll lightly sand any remaining rough places and oil to clean any marks.

Thanks all for the help. Can't wait to get out and test. It will be a nice change not to have to resight the scope after this one. :d

A final question; I found the gas cylinder lock was lose after one round of testing so I used a bit of plumbers teflon tape to keep it tight. Any reason I shouldn't do this?


L8r,
Zen
 
I've (AKA M14Doc) probably contributed far more M14 info on this site than the stickies even cover.
Sadly most of that is absent from the stickies.
But then again, skullboy and hungry were moderators when they were doing the M14 stickies and got to control the content.
Makes a guy go hmmmmm sometimes....

Thankfully there's a pile of keen M14 nuts here who have taken their own journeys with tuning/building/maintaining these rifles and can step in and help guys out as some of us move on to other things.
 
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I've (AKA M14Doc) probably contributed far more M14 info on this site than the stickies even cover.
Sadly most of that is absent from the stickies.
But then again, skullboy and hungry were moderators when they were doing the M14 stickies and got to control the content.
Makes a guy go hmmmmm sometimes....

Thankfully there's a pile of keen M14 nuts here who have taken their own journeys with tuning/building/maintaining these rifles and can step in and help guys out as some of us move on to other things.
You're one of 4 people who I noticed step up and help out a lot and it's appreciated, even if it's not always communicated. As a guy who has helped others on computer forums from time to time I know what it's like to have politics or BS ruin the experience. I saw in one post that you are thinking about stepping back from this and I hope it's not due to any issues or BS here. But do what's best for you right now. You helped me, along with others, to see what I was overlooking and that saved me time and trouble!

Thanks again and I hope to hear from you if I have any other stupid questions, but I'll understand if I don't.

Regards,
Zen
 
Finally made it out to test today. Ran fine, smooth. A1A and OEM mags all fed without issue. At 25m set in the scope again, managed 3 10 round 1 1/2" groups, one had a flyer, used the M14 25M-250M target. At 60m I was doing 2" 10 round groups but I wasn't talking my time. I was enjoying the day and lack of issues. I haven't shot over 100M in years so I'm looking forward to getting out and seeing if I can still hit paper, even with the scope, at 200M+. This time the oprod ring stayed in place. The locktite seems to have made the difference.

Then I switched to the MR1 and sent 90 more rounds down the range at 60m, quick fire. It was a blast but no where near as loud as the M305. I can't believe I went through 200 rounds that fast. :)


Thanks again all for the pointers.
Zen
 
I found the link and steps to modify the Archangel stock, no video, but as it was a major change to the stock that would void the warranty I followed the vendors advise first. Cutting into a new stock and making all those changes only to find out I was wrong or following the wrong steps to fix my problem would have left me with a useless lump of plastic and $400 in the hole.

There is as much bad advice on the net as there is good so knowing which I should follow is not always easy so following the vendors first seemed prudent. Now it seems I'm at the point I don't have a choice. It seems some M305 owners get a drop-in fit while others, like me, need to go further. It also sucks that I don't always get to know why I have to do something when the instructions say otherwise. I guess I'm not a very trusting person but I'm trying.

Thanks,
Zen

Just a tip for the future - when you buy a part like the archangel stock, try not to worry about things such as "warranty". It's a stock. Nothing is going to go wrong with it that you'll need warranty for. If it doesn't fit your rifle out of the box, your choices are take it back, and get your money back (if that's an option from the person you bought it from), or modify it and make it work right. Warranty be damned (plus, it ain't a laptop or an iPhone, you don't have crap that's going to break on it easily or regularly).

400 bucks sounds like a lot for that stock though - maybe I'm wrong, but I thought they were under 300? Either way, like I say, warranty is kind of a no-go word for aftermarket parts for guns, it seems. Buy it, if it works great, if not, make it work. Plus, any good company would stand behind their product (or any good retailer). If you had to remove a little material to make it fit, as per what others have had to do, then had the stock snap in an unrelated location due to voids in the material, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be replaced for you, even if you had done the modification. If the modification was done and the stock broke where you modified it, then sure, you're probably SOL, but then again, maybe it really was you who caused it if that happened ;)

Quote Originally Posted by krprice84 View Post
Warranty on what? The Norinco? Bedding wouldn't matter at all you're not doing anything to the receiver if you bed.
No, I meant the warranty on the Archangel stock. The original stock I was planning to stipple and improve for hunting use at a later date.

My guess is your problems will disappear after you fit the stock, you shouldn't need to bed it to get it to work, but I guess you never know with the shop class produced Norinco
As I now seem to be at the point I need to trust the advice I'm offered I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The groove on the feed ramp is to guide the bullet nose in.
I don't have an account anywhere to post photos, and don't plan on making one, but the groove I mean is the perpendicular one that is half moon shaped that runs through the middle of the two feed ramps. It probably assists with the round locking into the bolt so it can be extracted but I haven't looked into it.

If your mag isn't high enough in the receiver, then this exact thing could happen. File the stock
The OEM stock doesn't like the A1A mags either but that doesn't mean it's a good fit either, being a Norc. But we'll see how things go with the Archangel stock before I move onto the OEM one. Regardless I can see how lowering the contact points would raise the lip of the mag and by default the bullet contact point. I just hope it doesn't become lose and sloppy. (At least I have JB Weld around somewhere if needed.)

Thansk again,
Zen

Yes, you should definitely start to try to trust the advice offered, especially from someone like 45ACPKING. He's been around the block more times than the school bus, and he knows his stuff. I've been learning what I can, had TacticalTeacher over to my place a little while ago and took one of his clinics, and have learned a lot, but I'm hardly an expert. But yes, trust those who have experience.

You can make a free account at photobucket or one of a million other places. It's an invaluable tool to have in order to post photos online in this forum. The forum doesn't host photos, so if you ever plan on selling something, or ever need technical help again, it would be a very wise move to get an account set up, for free, so you can link photos.

The groove you are talking about, I have no idea what you mean. There is no groove in between the two feed ramps - there's a "hump" that's kind of sharp (an inverted groove maybe?), but I don't know what you're concern is here?

The AIA mags should work just fine in your gun. The stock fit actually shouldn't have a big impact on this, after thinking about it, as the mag is held only by the receiver parts. I guess the mag well on the receiver holds with friction a little, but the AIA mags should work just fine. I was wrong here when I talked about the fit of the receiver in the stock affecting this - your magazine latch is what determines how high the mag is held.

I will say that one of my AIA mags didn't always work right, but that was because the curved parts at the top were too far apart from each other. Bending them in just a few thou was all that I needed to get them to work right (they were popping rounds free when they shouldn't have been).

Read up on the tilt test - it's very important to do, for your own safety.

As for the blanks, yes, you're right, with respect to the oprod popping out, you definitely need recoil to see if it's working. But for feeding, you should have no problem figuring out the feed problem with blanks.
 
I found the link and steps to modify the Archangel stock, no video, but as it was a major change to the stock that would void the warranty I followed the vendors advise first. Cutting into a new stock and making all those changes only to find out I was wrong or following the wrong steps to fix my problem would have left me with a useless lump of plastic and $400 in the hole.

There is as much bad advice on the net as there is good so knowing which I should follow is not always easy so following the vendors first seemed prudent. Now it seems I'm at the point I don't have a choice. It seems some M305 owners get a drop-in fit while others, like me, need to go further. It also sucks that I don't always get to know why I have to do something when the instructions say otherwise. I guess I'm not a very trusting person but I'm trying.

Thanks,
Zen

Just a tip for the future - when you buy a part like the archangel stock, try not to worry about things such as "warranty". It's a stock. Nothing is going to go wrong with it that you'll need warranty for. If it doesn't fit your rifle out of the box, your choices are take it back, and get your money back (if that's an option from the person you bought it from), or modify it and make it work right. Warranty be damned (plus, it ain't a laptop or an iPhone, you don't have crap that's going to break on it easily or regularly).

400 bucks sounds like a lot for that stock though - maybe I'm wrong, but I thought they were under 300? Either way, like I say, warranty is kind of a no-go word for aftermarket parts for guns, it seems. Buy it, if it works great, if not, make it work. Plus, any good company would stand behind their product (or any good retailer). If you had to remove a little material to make it fit, as per what others have had to do, then had the stock snap in an unrelated location due to voids in the material, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be replaced for you, even if you had done the modification. If the modification was done and the stock broke where you modified it, then sure, you're probably SOL, but then again, maybe it really was you who caused it if that happened ;)

Quote Originally Posted by krprice84 View Post
Warranty on what? The Norinco? Bedding wouldn't matter at all you're not doing anything to the receiver if you bed.
No, I meant the warranty on the Archangel stock. The original stock I was planning to stipple and improve for hunting use at a later date.

My guess is your problems will disappear after you fit the stock, you shouldn't need to bed it to get it to work, but I guess you never know with the shop class produced Norinco
As I now seem to be at the point I need to trust the advice I'm offered I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The groove on the feed ramp is to guide the bullet nose in.
I don't have an account anywhere to post photos, and don't plan on making one, but the groove I mean is the perpendicular one that is half moon shaped that runs through the middle of the two feed ramps. It probably assists with the round locking into the bolt so it can be extracted but I haven't looked into it.

If your mag isn't high enough in the receiver, then this exact thing could happen. File the stock
The OEM stock doesn't like the A1A mags either but that doesn't mean it's a good fit either, being a Norc. But we'll see how things go with the Archangel stock before I move onto the OEM one. Regardless I can see how lowering the contact points would raise the lip of the mag and by default the bullet contact point. I just hope it doesn't become lose and sloppy. (At least I have JB Weld around somewhere if needed.)

Thansk again,
Zen

Yes, you should definitely start to try to trust the advice offered, especially from someone like 45ACPKING. He's been around the block more times than the school bus, and he knows his stuff. I've been learning what I can, had TacticalTeacher over to my place a little while ago and took one of his clinics, and have learned a lot, but I'm hardly an expert. But yes, trust those who have experience.

You can make a free account at photobucket or one of a million other places. It's an invaluable tool to have in order to post photos online in this forum. The forum doesn't host photos, so if you ever plan on selling something, or ever need technical help again, it would be a very wise move to get an account set up, for free, so you can link photos.

The groove you are talking about, I have no idea what you mean. There is no groove in between the two feed ramps - there's a "hump" that's kind of sharp (an inverted groove maybe?), but I don't know what you're concern is here?

The AIA mags should work just fine in your gun. The stock fit actually shouldn't have a big impact on this, after thinking about it, as the mag is held only by the receiver parts. I guess the mag well on the receiver holds with friction a little, but the AIA mags should work just fine. I was wrong here when I talked about the fit of the receiver in the stock affecting this - your magazine latch is what determines how high the mag is held.

I will say that one of my AIA mags didn't always work right, but that was because the curved parts at the top were too far apart from each other. Bending them in just a few thou was all that I needed to get them to work right (they were popping rounds free when they shouldn't have been).

Read up on the tilt test - it's very important to do, for your own safety.

As for the blanks, yes, you're right, with respect to the oprod popping out, you definitely need recoil to see if it's working. But for feeding, you should have no problem figuring out the feed problem with blanks.
 
Thanks to krprice84 I was able to search for the guide earlier but didn't think it would solve my issue. These are what I found and using a bit from both they helped today but your pics helped the most.


Fit a M305 to the Promag Precision Stock:
http://www.mysticprecision.com/wp/1751/how-to-fit-a-m305-to-the-promag-precision-stock/

My Archangel M14/M1A stock fitting:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/631197-My-Archangel-M14-M1A-stock-fitting

I've already applied the solution and its working much better and feeding the A1A mags almost perfect. (Final hold open is working but I want to field test before I do any further mods to keep things as tight as possible.) My duds/trainers no longer have the point like real ammo so a little more material might need to come off later.

I also found I had to remove material from the stock where the oprod slides and grease it a bit. It was staying back in the open position but would shoot forward if I touched it lightly. For anyone else looking to do this using a wood chisel to scrape the material off worked better than a razor or dremel with far more control. Once tested and passed I'll lightly sand any remaining rough places and oil to clean any marks.

Thanks all for the help. Can't wait to get out and test. It will be a nice change not to have to resight the scope after this one. :d

A final question; I found the gas cylinder lock was lose after one round of testing so I used a bit of plumbers teflon tape to keep it tight. Any reason I shouldn't do this?


L8r,
Zen

Be aware, bolt hold open doesn't always work very well on the norinco guns. On my gun, it will hold open after the last round, MOST of the time, but as soon as I pull the mag, the bolt slams home. It sucks, but it is what it is - the bolt latch on the norincos isn't always shaped right (it depends on what high school shop class made your gun ;))

One other thing you might want to look at to ensure good functioning is look at any areas on the stock where there is rubbing. You should be able to tell fairly easily, but if not, some white out or some marker will help you. If you see rubbing on the stock ANYWHERE by any moving parts on the gun, file that part down until it doesn't rub AT ALL in any position. You need clearance around the oprod.

Then, look at the gun. Anywhere there is rubbing, grease it. On the barrel underside where the oprod rides, put some grease there - the oprod usually rubs/slides here. You want it to be slick as a greased pig.
 
400 bucks sounds like a lot for that stock though - maybe I'm wrong, but I thought they were under 300?
349.99 + tax = $395.95, then I had a 3 hour trip to get it! It SHOULD be less that $300 but this is Ontario after all.

If you had to remove a little material to make it fit
After the right side was done I also had to remove a few millimetres from the stock under the oprod. After that a bit of grease and it was fine. Now I check after each trip to see if it has any rub marks so I can shave if needed.

Yes, you should definitely start to try to trust the advice offered, especially from someone like 45ACPKING.
Only issue I had was there wasn't a sticky on it, I checked, but Odd Shot posted parts of a thread he found. It was enough for me to get the idea and run with it.

The groove you are talking about, I have no idea what you mean. There is no groove in between the two feed ramps - there's a "hump" that's kind of sharp (an inverted groove maybe?), but I don't know what you're concern is here?
A pic would help greatly here but let's see if I can clear this up via description. If you look from the rear of the rifle with the bolt back you see the two feed ramps with the hump in the middle. Just a little higher than halfway up the feed ramps is a groove this is like a smile on a happy face. It start's a little higher on the left side, goes through the ramp, hump, and then stops on the right side of the right feed ramp. If you don't know what I mean then you don't have it on your rifle as you can't miss it. It was a concern as the rounds where hitting this and stopping. Now that the stock has been fitted it's no longer an issue and rounds feed fine. (60 TulAmmo and 55 of Norinco 147gr FMJ.)

The AIA mags should work just fine in your gun.
Now that the rifle is fitted to the stock better they feed fine and no longer jam or FTF. It was a nice change and made it a much better experience!

I will say that one of my AIA mags didn't always work right, but that was because the curved parts at the top were too far apart from each other. Had this issue when I bought a used LAR mag for my MR1. Same fix you applied and all was well.

Read up on the tilt test - it's very important to do, for your own safety.
I found that in the stickies a while back and it's fine, before and after moving the oprod ring. Just glad the locktite worked and it's staying in place now.

So everything seems good now. I might need to tweak a bit more later but at the moment all is fine with no friction or issues.
 
Why not use snap caps to test function?
I used to with my 30-06, 9mm, and .22LR (plastic screw anchor) but I don't have any in 308. Nearest store that might have them is 40 minutes away downtown. Took me less than 10 minutes to make 3. As it's working now I no longer need them anyway.
 
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