M305 vs M1A vs GI M14

[mississaugagunnut]

Shorty Ordered!!!!!!!!!!!
I will try and attend the Owen Sound clinic in September. I was thinking of upgrading the stock, Sage or some other brand.

 

[raytherain]

It might not be the best gun to go hunting as it is heavier and longer than many alternatives.

If you ever choose this nice rifle to go hunting I humbly recommend:

- remove the hindged buttplate
- remove the storage tubes in the stock
- remove the cartridge clip guide
- use a 5 round magazine (as opposed to a 5/20 round magazine)
- mount a lightweight red dot sight on a M14/M1A CASM® "RD" mount
- get an ITC CHEEKREST™ for an intuitive cheekweld
- put that cleaning kit in a backpack or large pocket as it's place is certainly not in the stock

This way you will lose a lot of dead weight on the rifle and gain the ability to acquire your target quickly even in sub optimal visibility conditions.

My 2 cents.

Good advice. Thanks.

 

[superfluid]

"While you can"?????? Are they being discontinued?!

Whenever they're in stock they tend to sell out quickly. Nothing worse than staring at a big fat "Sold out" sign

 

[MauserMike]

or see if i can find an actual springfield M-14 semi

You're not meaning a real USGI M-14 are you? Prohibited class.

Of course you can take it hunting if you don't mind the weight. Its non-restricted.

 

[Otokiak]

All good answers ... from Norinco to Polytech to Springfield ... and if you really wanna have fun and make a shooter buy all the parts and build one ...

Otokiak
Rankin Inlet, NU
CANADA

 

[Bill Dauterive]

Why is everyone so enamoured with the shorty's?

I got my M305, 22" barrel a few months ago and it's great. The extra barrel length gives it the capability for long range accuracy/longer carry if you plan for scoping/ that kind of thing in the future.

For a short carbine length bush gun an SKS is a good choice. For that purpose I have an old Marlin 336 .30-30 lever action, so that's my bush gun.

If I didn't own an M305 and wanted one I'd buy the 22" regular length barrel, the way it was meant to be and the the better ballistics it gives.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Good question. I am no expert on this platform of firearms, so I can only speak to my limited experience and what I have read. Years ago I had one of the earliest examples of Chinese M14 to show up in this country. The fit and finish was atrocious and it looked plain terrible. The metal seemed too soft, the headspace was marginal at best, but, could it ever shoot. From what I read, the original Chinese guns were built by reverse engineering them to basically built a working copy. Later the machining and tooling was updated or perhaps changed is a better word to produce much better versions. Someone on here would be much better at explaining this than I .

In spite of all that, everyone of these guns that I have owned could shoot amazingly accurately.

The whole genesus of the Chinese production is discussed in the manual at link. The first guns were reverse engineered, then some US-based experts got involved to right the wrongs, and finally it would appear drawings were acquired.

Some of the early M305s are parts that STRONGLY resemble USGI parts. Without stating the obvious, a side by side comparison of old and new M305s will show where offensive bits were ground off.

http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerdog/generalstorage/m14tecnicalfolder/M14%20RHAD%20Online%20Edition%20070603.pdf