my DA Socom 18 (M14 shorty) review + problems + lots of Pictures

dukecrab

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Nanaimo
got it last Monday, but as I am a working man and a family guy, did not get a chance to touch it until this passed weekends

1 took to the range in the weekends, fired 15 rounds, no failure

2. I am not good at iron sight, so can not tell the accuracy now.

3. one of the mag is nearly useless, very hard to get in and very hard to get off; the other one is good

look at the picture, the one with the white tape is the bad one; the small iron pieces are in different height. that could be the reason.

FFwV4TH.jpg


4. the op rod guide is not tight, making the op rod not lining up with the piston
I had tried with vise and wrench to make it right, but it just came back easily.....
0YWn7Nm.jpg




5. the safety is so hard to engage, need to push very hard. anything we can do to correct it?
nzuydXj.jpg



6. the bolt seems have some problem (or the receiver); when the blot is going forward, it will touch the red part first, which has 1 mm overlap. the green part has a gap, no over-lapping;

that means, the bolt will "hit" the receiver on the bottom hard.
or the receiver on this part blocks the bolt...

eventually, because the force, the bolt will be lifted a bit and go on forward.
look at the red part and green part; the red part has been scratched , but the green part is not touched.
is this normal? does your bolt do the same ?

OWhnQt4.jpg


KpYtpXS.jpg


7. the flash hider, unlike others's, mine is loosed with hand.

8.no shimming needed currently for the gas system

9.do not know my head space yet, no tools, do not know how to...

10. the barrel seems a little bit over indexed. I will post picture later.

11. blot lagging seems OK, but I should try again tonight
RfgapSS.jpg
 
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I noticed the same #4. the op rod guide is not tight, making the op rod not lining up with the piston
I had tried with vise and wrench to make it right, but it just came back easily.....
 
Its an easy fix to tighten up the op rod guide .Knock out the roll pin holding it onto the barrel then slide it out of the way. Take a center punch and large hammer and make alot of dimples in the barrel where the op rod guide sits. Put on some loctite and replace the guide.Making the dimples is called peening and it will raise the metal enough to tighten the guide right up.To get the guide back on you may have to tap it in place to get it to line up correctly.

To loosen up the safety place the trigger group in a vice with the trigger guard up , unlatched and taped in position away from the trigger.Put a screwdriver through the hole in the safety and work the safety on and off a couple hundred times.
 
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Its an easy fix to tighten up the op rod guide .Knock out the roll pin holding it onto the barrel then slide it out of the way.Take acenter punch and large hammer and make alot of dimples in the barrel where the op rod guide sitys. Put on some loctite and replace the guide.Making the dimples is called peening and it will raise the metal enough to tighten the guidxe right up.To get the guide back on you may have to tap it in pl;ace to get it to line up correctly.

To loosen up the safety place the trigger group in a vice with the trigger guard up , unlatched and taped in position away from the trigger.Put a screwdriver through the hole in the safety and work the safety on and off a couple hundred times.

Thanks, I also found a good example

How to Fix an M1A Op Rod Guide

Read more: http://www.shotgunnews.com/2012/11/23/m1a-accuracy-issues-the-op-rod-guide/#ixzz2llixPqw8
http://www.shotgunnews.com/2012/11/23/m1a-accuracy-issues-the-op-rod-guide/

pic-2.jpg


pic-3.jpg
 
for #6 problem I mentioned on the first floor, is that OK if I file the red part down a little bit ?? anyone has experience with it?
KpYtpXS.jpg
 
My Op rod looks the same, tight safety but not the the end of world. Wanted to shoot before I messed with anything, shoots fine now all the fiddling and clean up can happen.
 
good info here. I also got a new SOCOM and I'm having many of the same problems(Op rod guide loose, hard to switch on safety) ill take a better look at my bolt tonight..I haven't had a chance to take it out and shoot yet (working 14 hour days), but maybe In the next couple of days. My mags seem ok but not as good as the norinco mags of the past. The bolt stop releases when the mags are removed, I might just order a new bolt stop this week. Good luck
 
for #6 problem I mentioned on the first floor, is that OK if I file the red part down a little bit ?? anyone has experience with it?
KpYtpXS.jpg
Just put some grease on it....that safety bridge keeps the firing pin from setting off the rounds in the chamber (slam fire) so you don't want a file near that....
 
good info here. I also got a new SOCOM and I'm having many of the same problems(Op rod guide loose, hard to switch on safety) ill take a better look at my bolt tonight..I haven't had a chance to take it out and shoot yet (working 14 hour days), but maybe In the next couple of days. My mags seem ok but not as good as the norinco mags of the past. The bolt stop releases when the mags are removed, I might just order a new bolt stop this week. Good luck

Clean out the area of the bolt stop really well and work it a bunch it should come around .
 
Clean out the area of the bolt stop really well and work it a bunch it should come around .

No amount of cleaning will help the one I saw on a buddy's 22" DA M14 yesterday.

The hole is drilled in the wrong spot on the bolt stop. It physically can not rotate enough to work properly.
 
Multiple issues posted here.
The worst is the receiver bridge issue. Next up would be to true that bolts locking lugs. Then op-rod alignment is easy. Same with getting equal engagement on the hammer hooks. Plus the mag just needs a bit of a bastard file to the top of the tad.
As for that receiver bridge issue. Well that is no easy fix. It will evolve a machinist to remove the overlap and then re-case harden the receiver and bolt. Is this new or used?
got it last Monday, but as I am a working man and a family guy, did not get a chance to touch it until this passed weekends

1 took to the range in the weekends, fired 15 rounds, no failure

2. I am not good at iron sight, so can not tell the accuracy now.

3. one of the mag is nearly useless, very hard to get in and very hard to get off; the other one is good

look at the picture, the one with the white tape is the bad one; the small iron pieces are in different height. that could be the reason.

FFwV4TH.jpg


4. the op rod guide is not tight, making the op rod not lining up with the piston
I had tried with vise and wrench to make it right, but it just came back easily.....
0YWn7Nm.jpg




5. the safety is so hard to engage, need to push very hard. anything we can do to correct it?
nzuydXj.jpg



6. the bolt seems have some problem (or the receiver); when the blot is going forward, it will touch the red part first, which has 1 mm overlap. the green part has a gap, no over-lapping;

that means, the bolt will "hit" the receiver on the bottom hard.
or the receiver on this part blocks the bolt...

eventually, because the force, the bolt will be lifted a bit and go on forward.
look at the red part and green part; the red part has been scratched , but the green part is not touched.
is this normal? does your bolt do the same ?

OWhnQt4.jpg


KpYtpXS.jpg


7. the flash hider, unlike others's, mine is loosed with hand.

8.no shimming needed currently for the gas system

9.do not know my head space yet, no tools, do not know how to...

10. the barrel seems a little bit over indexed. I will post picture later.

11. blot lagging seems OK, but I should try again tonight
RfgapSS.jpg
 
Multiple issues posted here.
The worst is the receiver bridge issue. Next up would be to true that bolts locking lugs. Then op-rod alignment is easy. Same with getting equal engagement on the hammer hooks. Plus the mag just needs a bit of a bastard file to the top of the tad.
As for that receiver bridge issue. Well that is no easy fix. It will evolve a machinist to remove the overlap and then re-case harden the receiver and bolt. Is this new or used?

Thanks,
it is a NEW, totally new product from CAN AMMO;
lot of CGNers get this batch recently;

Do I have a "bolt locking lugs " problem ??
 
The bolt should not be hitting the safety bridge. Sad to say but I think that either the bolt or receiver is out of spec. I'd speak to Can Ammo about sending it back.
 
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