Norinco M14 quality over the past 10 years. Are they really getting better........?

RememberTheSomme

RememberTheSomme

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I had a great morning shoot at our club today. It must have hit 40c with humidex. Got to fire many rounds out of my 2009 and help a young chap with his oprod disengaging from his bolt.
One of our guys had his new M305B come in yesterday, so he was gearing up an arms 18 mount with silohuette scope to get her up and running.

Couldn't see any improvements over my 2009 that has bayonet lug, but again it was only side by side superficial comparison.

The thing that surprised me the most was this......., A guy my age was blasting away further to my right, and I could see it was an M1a.
When we made all clear to change targets, I strolled by his racked rifle, saw the NM flash hider etc, and said M1A I see. M1A!........ Don't think so, bought this new around 2006 , its a stock Norinco, he said.:eek:

Oh.. my.. ...god, I had to look her over. It was pre-2007 stamped receiver rifle with chu wood he had darkened to look like well used USGI walnut. That NM flash hider,..... well it was bone stock chinese and was it ever cut precise. My flash hider looked like it was done by Cambodian Tire compared to this precise machined specimen. Don't know if it compared to USGI in actual dimensions, but it sure looked the part. The overall fit and finish I'd say was 30 percent better than my 2009. It had a lovely GI olive drab or khaki looking sling and not the flourescent floater green on mine. The park looked GI. The barrel appeared indexed bang on or at least his sight was staked dead center from factory and his windage was center

Except for the selector switch and bayonet lug missing, It looked like it just came from the Mekong Delta, circa 1965. I would give him 200 bucks and my plastic stocked M-14 for that baby.

I never realised, being only new to the M-14, they were so good back I guess pre-2006. Maybe theres heat treatment issues or dimensional tolerances that mine might be better in, but GeeWhiz this one looked the part, and I have viewed the original M-14.

And to think I have passed up many of these on EE for excellent prices with the chu wood.
Anyone else have this experience with older Norincos say pre 2007s, or is this an exception rather than the rule?:canadaFlag:
 
Interesting observations RTS...a buddy who is very handy, has a Norc M14, and has taken a seminar from an M14 expert went through my brand new Norc with me (including disassembling the bolt!)and accurized it for me. As much as I dig this new acquisition...I have to wonder how many other puchasers have access to someone who can help them out like I was helped. The Norc M14 is a firearm for afficionados...It is not ready to go out of the box, it will make extravagant demands on your time, patience & pocketbook. I suggest you other newbie purchasers lobby our CGN experts for a new round of seminars!
 
Don't buy ONE! :eek:

Buy TWO of them! Especially since they are banned here in Australia (I'm in Sydney tonight). Tomorrow, I'm flying to Auckland to do some M14 fun with the kiwis!

Cheers, mate!

Barney
 
My anecdotal experience is that the quality of these rifles varies from lot to lot and when they were built.

I have one sitting in my safe that I got from SIR in the mid-nineties, but was probably imported several years earlier. The finish doesn't look as good as the newer models and even the dimensions of the stock are different (not too well rounded along the edges). It came in kit form however, so it's hard to judge quality of assembly of the earlier rifles based on my one example.

The later Marstar imports I've owned or handled (2004-2005) looked a bit better, though the sights were still of questionable quality and the indexing was somewhat off. I sighted in one of those with irons and a cheap B-Square mounted scope (all I could afford at that time), and the rear sight had to be cranked over an awful lot to make up for the indexing of its barrel.

I've got one of the first lot of 2009 synthetic stocked rifles without the bayonet lug. It's finish, indexing and durability of the sights are satisfactory and it's served me well out of the box. A friend of mine who tweaks many of these rifles has pointed out however that some of the later lots of synthetic stocked rifles appear to have more variable quality control. Painted flash hiders or differing coloured parkerization on various parts were examples that he cited and that I've seen on some rifles.

I think that these are great rifles and look forward to shooting them more often once I've got time to tweak them, reload or source more affordable 7.62 ammo, but would recommend handling a potential purchase first, especially if you'd like to shoot them as-is out of the box. I was lucky with my 2009 rifle, but some of the others I've seen would at the very least require re-indexing the barrel and/or replacement of the rear sights with USGI. Not a big deal for a tinkerer, but for those of us with limited time and other projects (i.e. reloading, other guns to shoot) it would make sense to pick out a rifle that's already good to go.
 
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Mine is 2007, no bayonet lug, walnut stock. Got it for Xmax last, it was never fired. Very nice. Coming up to 500 rounds through it this year.
 
Well it has been over a year for this post but reading it i had to add.I bought one in 04 off Millarms full wood i added a walnut handguard i picked up from Springfield they shipped it to me after a little talking but i was completely happy with mine [M305] and she was a looker [still have some pics somewhere of it] when i was breaking it in the bolt flew out but i think maybe when i cleaned it out of the box i didn't reinstall it right.Anyway i put everything though it from off the shelf to hot reloads and that was right out of the box i can't say anything neg. about it at all other then i didn't care for the gas system i tryed to break it but was unable i ended up selling it and got into the SAFN 49 i am more of a FN guy.:)
 
My brand new one, can't speak to the fabrication year, is excellent quality. The finish is consistent and tool mark free over the whole exterior. The interior is relatively well finished and the stock fits tight and doesn't rattle at all. Not going to shoot it until I've mounted my new rail and scope to it but on the outside at least she's a keeper.
 
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