M305 shorty front sight ears don't protect the sight post

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Rooster1a2

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I bought a 18.6" M305 yesterday, and I noticed this. Aren't those ears supposed to protect the post? When field stripping the rifle you have to lay the rifle on its sights, so it seems like the front sight post will be subject to inevitable abuse.

I'd like to purchase an aftermarket front sight to fix this, although I would be alright with filing the post and adjusting the rear sight to compensate.

Can anyone offer any guidance?
 
funny, I never have and I've had the m14 since god knows when- practically born with one in my hand-it's a between the legs kind of strip- like the m1 garand- for the life of me I can't see why you would lay the rifle on it's sights- open the trigger guard, wiggle it free, then separate the upper from the stock- my BEST advice- DOWNLOAD FM23-8 FIELD MANUAL and follow chapter 5 to the letter- the only caveat I use is that I lay the action on its side with the charging handle UP
 
t-star said:
funny, I never have and I've had the m14 since god knows when- practically born with one in my hand-it's a between the legs kind of strip- like the m1 garand- for the life of me I can't see why you would lay the rifle on it's sights- open the trigger guard, wiggle it free, then separate the upper from the stock- my BEST advice- DOWNLOAD FM23-8 FIELD MANUAL and follow chapter 5 to the letter- the only caveat I use is that I lay the action on its side with the charging handle UP
Click to expand...

I don't have the manual with me, but I recall it saying to lay the rifle down with the sights down for a few steps. Total nonsense if you don't take care to protect the sights.

I'll check out that manual you referred to.

Edit: Check out Chapter 2, point 8.a(2) of FM23-8: Removing the operating rod spring and operating rod spring guide. Place the barrel and receiver group on a flat surface, sights down, muzzle to the left....
 
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t-star said:
funny, I never have and I've had the m14 since god knows when- practically born with one in my hand-it's a between the legs kind of strip- like the m1 garand- for the life of me I can't see why you would lay the rifle on it's sights- open the trigger guard, wiggle it free, then separate the upper from the stock- my BEST advice- DOWNLOAD FM23-8 FIELD MANUAL and follow chapter 5 to the letter- the only caveat I use is that I lay the action on its side with the charging handle UP
Click to expand...

Double post
 
the w ay I was instructed was that sights down meant that the REAR SIGHT LADDER was fully retracted; which makes perfect sense as you don't want to break it - kind of a step 1 of field stripping- you have to remember, what it says in the manual and what's done in real life may differ- if you're using a battle zero, ( 200 meters) the ladder is at it's lowest notch anyway, - therefore, that step could be omitted
 
yes but make note if you file down the front sight to line it up with the side posts it limits your ability to sight it in, as I very stupidly did for some reason ( it was taller, and every time ive seen one its lower on every but the norinco shorty ones so naturally I shortened it and then did my research ) and now by burying my rear sights all the way down im zeroed at 100 yards
 
A short barreled M-14 style rifle was never a military rifle. Marketing thing started by SA Inc. only. The Chinese copies are no different. Putting a higher sight wing on will cost 'em more. Means a totally new part.
Like t-star says, you shouldn't be resting the rifle on its front sight to field strip it.
 
ih8ipods said:
yes but make note if you file down the front sight to line it up with the side posts it limits your ability to sight it in, as I very stupidly did for some reason ( it was taller, and every time ive seen one its lower on every but the norinco shorty ones so naturally I shortened it and then did my research ) and now by burying my rear sights all the way down im zeroed at 100 yards
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up. I read about that happening to others, too.
 
sunray said:
A short barreled M-14 style rifle was never a military rifle. Marketing thing started by SA Inc. only. The Chinese copies are no different. Putting a higher sight wing on will cost 'em more. Means a totally new part.
Like t-star says, you shouldn't be resting the rifle on its front sight to field strip it.
Click to expand...

I agree that you shouldn't be, but that is what the manual says. Ostensibly because they're assuming the ears are taller than the post.

In any case, I've ordered front and rear USGI sights from TreeLine. One of the main reasons being the walls of the windage adjustment slots on my rear sight base aren't "vertical" - the knob can wiggle around. If the USGI fronts don't work I am going to look into filing down the Norinco one. Hopefully I won't run into the issue ih8ipods noted.
 
The front sight has to be higher due to geometry. This from an old M14Doctor post:

No worries man it stumps most guys at first and I've scratched my own head over the issue more times than one hehehehe


If you put it on paper, it goes like this.
Draw a straight line representing the bore center of a 22" barrel. The line must be the length of the distance between rear sight aperture and front sight blade at it's highest point.
Next take the height of the center of the bottomed out rear aperture and make a mark.
Now go to front sight location, measure up from the line, the distance from bore center to top of standard sight blade.
Connect the two marks with a straight line.


This will show you why a higher sight is needed as the two lines before you will not be parallel. The top (sight) line angles down, towards the bore. So as you move the sight back, the blade height must increase to compensate.


This is magnified when shortening the barrel as you now must also account for the change in tragectory that 3 1/2 less inches of barrel gives the .308 cartridge. Again, an increase in blade height in necessary.
 
I can remember my familiarization classes when I got my m14- the "instructor" had the "comic book", fm 23-8, and a GARAND manual- if your manual has the instructions on how to remove the connector rod, and associated pieces in it, it's a DIRECT copy of the m14 manual and has a LOT of irrelevant information in it- this b/s about sights down is one of them-once you get the trigger guard open, and lay the action on it's side, the position of the rear sight ladder is of no consequence; moreover, on its side with the oprod/charging handle up also gives you a 90 degree angle for your combo tool to open your gas plug- and i'll bet they don't tell you to open a stuck gas plug by striking it with the heel of your hand either
 
did you try tightening the nut on the RIGHT side of the rear sight?-that nut holds the whole windage assembly
 
I remember something about sighting in years ago where you buried the ladder, added 8 clicks and that was supposed to give you a 200 BATTLE ZER0- AND YOU ZERO'D THE LADDER FOR 200 meters- that's why it's marked like that- provided you used usgi 150 ( approx.) ammo-
 
what's NEEDED here is for barney( tactical teacher) or maybe 45acp king or whatever he calls himself now to hold a q&a or maybe attend one of those fellows classes- they're much more qualified than i
 
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