M305 front sight question?

greyhulk

greyhulk

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Hi Guys,
I just bought a Norinco M14. I was cleaning all the oil off it when I notice the Front Sight was position all the way to the right with a big gouge marking it's position on the muzzle brake. Is that normal or should I readjust the sight to the center?

Thanks
 
Barrel might not be indexed perfectly or the dovetail is not cut perpendicular to the centerline of the flash hider. Normal is matter of debate...
R
 
Very typical. After sighting in, is your rear sight centred? If it is, I'd leave the front sight as is. If it isn't, then I'd centre the rear sight and move the front until it shoots straight. I'd rather my zero be centred on the rear and not care if that means the front is off centre.
 
just lazy chinese assembly, I am seeing many new in box rifles arriving in this condition. I would center the front sight on it's dovetail and then a test fire will tell you if she needs adjustment.
basically, if you have the front sight set close to center, the rear sight should also be on center ..... if you find you have to have the rear sight off center to get zero windage , you will have to move the front sight to corresspond with how many clicks the rear is off center.

on a standard 22" long m14 type barrel, moving the front sight 8 thousands of an inch moves POI 1 inch at 100 meters. so if your shooting 2 inches to the right with the rear sight centered, move the front sight 16 thou and you should be at zero for windage.

Now, if your front sight seems tilted and zero's in a way off center position, the flash hider dovetail is not centered to the bore or the front sight itself has a sight blade not on center. A tilted flash hider can be barrel indexing..... or in MOST cases (but not all), as seen on rifles crossing my bench..... it's the flash hider, not the barrel index.

this is the main reason many folks immediatley throw away the chinese sights and flash hider alltogether as machining and dimension/hardness values are often considerably out of spec. Replacing with garand rear sights and a springfield armory flash hider (brownells) and front sight is around a 200.00 upgrade to your rifle and ends the frustration completely.
Usgi M14 rear sights are WAY more expensive but like the chinese version are graduated in meters instead of yards like the garands. USGI bayonet lug flash hiders also make excellent replacements and are generally a little more than new springfield (offshore made) versions. I have a few of the genuine usgi flash hiders if anyone is interested.
putting one of these on will tell you right away if your barrel is off index as well. ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys for all the great info. I'll try my best to make the correct adjustments and go to the range to see if I got it right.

Cheers

Mike
 
M14Doctor said:
just lazy chinese assembly, I am seeing many new in box rifles arriving in this condition. I would center the front sight on it's dovetail and then a test fire will tell you if she needs adjustment.
basically, if you have the front sight set close to center, the rear sight should also be on center ..... if you find you have to have the rear sight off center to get zero windage , you will have to move the front sight to corresspond with how many clicks the rear is off center.

on a standard 22" long m14 type barrel, moving the front sight 8 thousands of an inch moves POI 1 inch at 100 meters. so if your shooting 2 inches to the right with the rear sight centered, move the front sight 16 thou and you should be at zero for windage.

Now, if your front sight seems tilted and zero's in a way off center position, the flash hider dovetail is not centered to the bore or the front sight itself has a sight blade not on center. A tilted flash hider can be barrel indexing..... or in MOST cases (but not all), as seen on rifles crossing my bench..... it's the flash hider, not the barrel index.

this is the main reason many folks immediatley throw away the chinese sights and flash hider alltogether as machining and dimension/hardness values are often considerably out of spec. Replacing with garand rear sights and a springfield armory flash hider (brownells) and front sight is around a 200.00 upgrade to your rifle and ends the frustration completely.
Usgi M14 rear sights are WAY more expensive but like the chinese version are graduated in meters instead of yards like the garands. USGI bayonet lug flash hiders also make excellent replacements and are generally a little more than new springfield (offshore made) versions. I have a few of the genuine usgi flash hiders if anyone is interested.
putting one of these on will tell you right away if your barrel is off index as well. ;)
Click to expand...

Hey Doc.,

This is what I was asking you about in the PM I sent you.
 
We indexed sasha's rifle at the port alberni clinic using a USG flash hider. Now his chinese one is tipped.
Solution: a correctly machined Chinese, usgi or springfield flash hider.
Many of the 2005 thru 2007 dated imports have incorrectly machined flash hiders, 2009 series with bayonet lugs seem to be better.

So no need to chop her down, simply source a non buggered flash hider ;)
 
M14Doctor said:
We indexed sasha's rifle at the port alberni clinic using a USG flash hider. Now his chinese one is tipped.
Solution: a correctly machined Chinese, usgi or springfield flash hider.
Many of the 2005 thru 2007 dated imports have incorrectly machined flash hiders, 2009 series with bayonet lugs seem to be better.

So no need to chop her down, simply source a non buggered flash hider ;)
Click to expand...


Thanks Doc!

I have been thinking about cutting the barrel down anyways and as for the flash suppressor, I figured as such. That was why you used yours to index our rifles, right?

Anyhow, I'm still doing some research as to how the rifle is affected by shortening the barrel. If I decide to get it done I'll be contacting you. :)
 
Shortening PROS
1)Decreased barrel whip and a professionally cut crown = potential accuracy gain.
2)Result is generally a handier, faster handling rifle.

Cons
1)Front sight option must be found, dlask gas lock sight or my UFS
2) Some velocity loss so shooting beyond 300 depends on the rifle/shooter
3) In the odd case, dwell time needs adjusting and possible gas plug modification to alleviate gas pressure related cycling issues.
 
M14Doctor said:
We indexed sasha's rifle at the port alberni clinic using a USG flash hider. Now his chinese one is tipped.
Solution: a correctly machined Chinese, usgi or springfield flash hider.
Many of the 2005 thru 2007 dated imports have incorrectly machined flash hiders, 2009 series with bayonet lugs seem to be better.

So no need to chop her down, simply source a non buggered flash hider ;)
Click to expand...

Doc as stated by the OP and noted on my M-14S, there is a stake mark when Rifle is new with front sight running to the right edge of the base. I'm sure from all I've read that you are correct in their poor spline cut orientation on the flash hider, and the sight shift and staking is Norinco's way of not having to throw out 6,000,000 flash hiders that a guy cut on his CNC machine after falling asleep and not QA 'ing the first one he cut. The "staked" right position is where it needs to be for vertical zero, I already went through starting with mechanical zero and ended up back at the staking point.
 
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