I just grabbed an m305 from the EE. This is my 3rd m305. I'm no expert on the platform. Just an enthusiest. I thought would be interesting to outline my inspection procedure when acquiring a new-to-me Chinese M14.
I was hoping for a fresh, untouched example. This one is a 2012 short barrel, with a forged bolt. The previous owner claimed a low round count, but he took it on trade. He said he hadn't worked on it at all, but couldnt speak for the orignal owner.
When I got her home I had a good look over. I performed the trigger safety check. All good. The safety is a bit tighter than I would like, but better than my last one, which was far too light, and would disengage when the action was opened.
I Checked the bore condition. looks perfect.
I took took notice that the barrel is slightly over indexed. I figured so much because the front sight was set almost all the way to the right. Bummer, but no big deal. I'll take care of that at some point when I gain access to a barrel clamp.
The next thing i noticed was the gas system has been unitized. It's likely not going to do any good with this setup, and i know there is more to it than just welding the band to the gas cylinder, but it looks like a decent enough job. I can dig it even just for the legit USMC look... But better yet, it was evidence of another more useful "improvement". More on that later.
Next, I disassembled the rifle into 3 main groups.
With the rifle apart I noticed was a big fat oprod spring guide. Another bonus. Saves me a few bucks.
The oprod guide has been tightened but was a tiny bit off centre. A couple of medium taps with a small nylon hammer fixed that.
Next I removed the oprod spring and guide...Tilt test... ACES!
Now i'll get to that other "improvement". The gas system had been worked on obviously. It must have been removed for welding (I would hope!). That means the welds for the flash hider have already been broken and I dont have to do it, while risking the cost of a new flash hider if it should break.
While I removed the gas system I saw peen marks in the splines. I may have to peen again eventually, but as it stands, when I reassembled the front of the rifle, everything still fit nice and tight.
With the gas system removed i found 2 shims. I will put thise aside on favour of trying something else. I previously picked up a spare gas lock. I gave each side of my 2 gas locks a try, to see if i had something that timed properly while aligning the gas port.
My last attempt was the winner. A little shy of 4:00 when hand tight and some "encouragement" to turn it into the 6:00 position. As Tactical Teacher would say: "Tight as F***!" And with NO SHIMS!! Gas port alignment is perfecto.
Next, I cleaned some lingering Cosmolene (still not done...cosmo can be a stubborn bastard)
Now to remove that stupid barrel set screw, to prep for the barrel index correction . My last one came out with little effort. Lots of downward pressure on my screwdriver while turning and she spun right out like butter. This time...a bit more effort was required.
As I turned the screw driver it started to deform the flathead slot. I used a file to clean the edges of the stake marks. I used a small centre punch to "push" the stake dimples on the screw back away from the edges. My screwdriver bit widened the slot from turning too hard to overcome the stakes, and began to slip. I used the centre punch to gently push the metal back to it's original position, and continued turning. It sounds a lot harder than it was. Took less than 5 minutes start to finish. Slow is fast. Dont destroy the slot and use the proper bit.
Time to strip the bolt for more cleaning. I got my trusty 30-06 case and followed the procedures I learned in TonyBen3's Youtube videos. At this point I also took the opportunity to check the bolt lug contact, also following TontBen3's instructions. (I made the "tool" out of a cut .308 case and the hammer spring)
Contact Isn't ideal, unfortunately. I have nearly 100% on the right lug and 30-40% max on the left. Not something I am going to fuss with now. I'm not ready to drop $300+ on a USGI bolt, nor do I want to decrease headspace by lapping this bolt. I will live with it for now.
Now she is greased up and all back together. Overall, I am very happy with it, other thank the fact that I did not get to perform the majority of the work myself. For me much of the appeal of these guns is working on them. They have their quirks, but there is so much you can do with them and you can really see the results of your work.
I purchased this gun mainly because NOT having an M14 just won't do for me. I sold my others in favour of adding other things to my safe but I always come back to the M14.
I plan on keeping things minimal for this one, but functional and reliable. The norinco parts work fine so I'll mainly just use those. I am NOT chasing accuracy. Just a safe reliable gun that can hit my 8" gong at 100m. I'll be adding a USGI stock and rear sight and will probably leave it at that, at least until I feel like piecing in some other USGI parts little by little.
Well that is that. Thanks for reading.
I was hoping for a fresh, untouched example. This one is a 2012 short barrel, with a forged bolt. The previous owner claimed a low round count, but he took it on trade. He said he hadn't worked on it at all, but couldnt speak for the orignal owner.
When I got her home I had a good look over. I performed the trigger safety check. All good. The safety is a bit tighter than I would like, but better than my last one, which was far too light, and would disengage when the action was opened.
I Checked the bore condition. looks perfect.
I took took notice that the barrel is slightly over indexed. I figured so much because the front sight was set almost all the way to the right. Bummer, but no big deal. I'll take care of that at some point when I gain access to a barrel clamp.
The next thing i noticed was the gas system has been unitized. It's likely not going to do any good with this setup, and i know there is more to it than just welding the band to the gas cylinder, but it looks like a decent enough job. I can dig it even just for the legit USMC look... But better yet, it was evidence of another more useful "improvement". More on that later.
Next, I disassembled the rifle into 3 main groups.
With the rifle apart I noticed was a big fat oprod spring guide. Another bonus. Saves me a few bucks.
The oprod guide has been tightened but was a tiny bit off centre. A couple of medium taps with a small nylon hammer fixed that.
Next I removed the oprod spring and guide...Tilt test... ACES!
Now i'll get to that other "improvement". The gas system had been worked on obviously. It must have been removed for welding (I would hope!). That means the welds for the flash hider have already been broken and I dont have to do it, while risking the cost of a new flash hider if it should break.
While I removed the gas system I saw peen marks in the splines. I may have to peen again eventually, but as it stands, when I reassembled the front of the rifle, everything still fit nice and tight.
With the gas system removed i found 2 shims. I will put thise aside on favour of trying something else. I previously picked up a spare gas lock. I gave each side of my 2 gas locks a try, to see if i had something that timed properly while aligning the gas port.
My last attempt was the winner. A little shy of 4:00 when hand tight and some "encouragement" to turn it into the 6:00 position. As Tactical Teacher would say: "Tight as F***!" And with NO SHIMS!! Gas port alignment is perfecto.
Next, I cleaned some lingering Cosmolene (still not done...cosmo can be a stubborn bastard)
Now to remove that stupid barrel set screw, to prep for the barrel index correction . My last one came out with little effort. Lots of downward pressure on my screwdriver while turning and she spun right out like butter. This time...a bit more effort was required.
As I turned the screw driver it started to deform the flathead slot. I used a file to clean the edges of the stake marks. I used a small centre punch to "push" the stake dimples on the screw back away from the edges. My screwdriver bit widened the slot from turning too hard to overcome the stakes, and began to slip. I used the centre punch to gently push the metal back to it's original position, and continued turning. It sounds a lot harder than it was. Took less than 5 minutes start to finish. Slow is fast. Dont destroy the slot and use the proper bit.
Time to strip the bolt for more cleaning. I got my trusty 30-06 case and followed the procedures I learned in TonyBen3's Youtube videos. At this point I also took the opportunity to check the bolt lug contact, also following TontBen3's instructions. (I made the "tool" out of a cut .308 case and the hammer spring)
Contact Isn't ideal, unfortunately. I have nearly 100% on the right lug and 30-40% max on the left. Not something I am going to fuss with now. I'm not ready to drop $300+ on a USGI bolt, nor do I want to decrease headspace by lapping this bolt. I will live with it for now.
Now she is greased up and all back together. Overall, I am very happy with it, other thank the fact that I did not get to perform the majority of the work myself. For me much of the appeal of these guns is working on them. They have their quirks, but there is so much you can do with them and you can really see the results of your work.
I purchased this gun mainly because NOT having an M14 just won't do for me. I sold my others in favour of adding other things to my safe but I always come back to the M14.
I plan on keeping things minimal for this one, but functional and reliable. The norinco parts work fine so I'll mainly just use those. I am NOT chasing accuracy. Just a safe reliable gun that can hit my 8" gong at 100m. I'll be adding a USGI stock and rear sight and will probably leave it at that, at least until I feel like piecing in some other USGI parts little by little.
Well that is that. Thanks for reading.
