My H&R M14 in by far much better than the Norinco M305, I puchased this summer. I replaced most of the parts on the M305. Rear sight was sloppy, trigger housing rough, piston did not sit true in gas block, and guide for op rod in receiver was polished as it was very rough. You get what you pay for. The only advice I can give you Super Dave is listen to what people have to say and base you decision on the information you gather.
FINAL POINT "If you have to attend a clinic to make the rifle function properly is the rifle really good" therfore, make your decision and let us all know which direction you went.
Looking fwd to your decision.
Why do I bother replying to these types of posts? Glutton for punishment, I guess.
First of all, I have had M1A's. Been there, done that. they are, by and large, high-priced TRASH. Yes, that's right, GARBAGE. Most of them suffer from bolt roller slap due to improper receiver machining and most will not accept a GI scope mount because they are machined wrong from investment castings. Real M14's are forged and gauged for perfect parts interchangeability.
If you have a real H&R M14 (that you can't take out and shoot) then good for you. Of course the real thing made by a government contractor where cost was not a factor is going to be seuprior. NOBODY makes an M14 receiver the equal of a real GI. Period. LRB, SEI and 762mmfirearms have made close copies from billet or forgings recently, but they are still just imitators and not as good as a real M14.
Interestingly, Smith Enterprises will only build custom M14's on a few receivers. They are:
1) USGI
2) LRB
3) SEI (obviously)
4) Polytech/Norinco.
That's right - they do not use your vaunted M1a because it's out of spec trash. A high sale price doesn;t make it good - look at Dodge trucks. they cost a mint and are a piece if sh!t with nice looking stepped fenders
(see, I can chuck trashy remarks too - just like you!)
As for needing parts replacement... lol... SAI stopped using GI parts years ago except for a few small bits like bolt stops and gas cylinder locks. Their bolts, gas cylinders, op rods, etc. are for the most part made in... wait for it... Taiwan and China!!!
Now for tweaks...
ANY M14, including USGI, works better and shoots tighter groups with National Match modifications. that's what the clinis are about mostly. How to unitize a gas system, how to lap your bolt, how to make sure your barrel is perfectly indexed, how to stone your trigger and sear, etc. The one obvious difference is the Norinco guns need to have the flash hider welds broken and some guns need the barrel indexing tweaked - I've seen that on a lot of M1A's too though.
As suggested, go to a clinic. See for yourself. I guarantee you you'll never think of an M1A the same way again.
That being said, an early M1A with all USGI parts (these haven't been around since the 1980's) is a decent gun. You need to use specific scope mounts to account for the out of spec scope grooves and you often have to get the receiver op rod ledge modified and re-parkerized to fix their sh!tty machining so the bolt roller doesn't smack the receiver, but after $200-300 worth of gunsmithing they are passably useable.
Most Norincos work acceptably well right out of the box - or at least the half a dozen or so I've taken out of the box were like that.
