As I've posted many many times, the M14 is INCREDIBLY sensitive to ammo variations. I've seen the same M14 shoot sub-moa with one brand of FACTORY ammo, and 5" with a different brand.
Here are some 100 yd groups from my last range session, with my Rem R25/ AR 10,
and a basically new [ 40 rds fired ]
out of the box M14 Norinco.
The
Norc M14 was in a
USGI fiberglass stock,
with a
bipod,
IRON SIGHTS,
and a
really sh!tty/Gritty trigger.
It shot the two groups on the BLACK targets, in the right of the pic.
The top BLACK target, 2 1/2" group [ 4/5 into 1 1/8" ] was shot with Federal 168 HPBT Match ammo,
and with that gritty trigger, I suspect the flier was mine, not the rifle.
The lower BLACK target, 2 1/8" group, was shot with 7.62 NATO Hirtenberger BALL.
Just for comparison,
in my 15X scoped Rem 25 / AR 10, with a 2 1/2 lb JARD trigger, and a bipod.
The AR 10 had a best group that day of
11/16" with Hornady 168 gr HPBT ammo,
3/4" with Federal 168 GR HPBT,
7/8" with OLD Win 200 Gr Silvertip SP,
1 1/4" with OLD Dominion 110 Gr SP,
[ not shown ]
and the Hirt 7.62 NATO spec BALL ammo shot into 3".
Good enough for the first time at the range?
With the leasst expensive modern AR 10 clone available?
While learning to softly
"caress" the 2 1/2 lb JARD trigger?
With
FACTORY ammo ...
some of it 20 years old??
The M14,
like most of my M14s do,
had an industrial accident involving ... MR CHOP SAW.
The M14 now wears an 18 3/4" barrel [ superbly chopped and threaded by Dlask ],
a Dlask clone of the PWS comp,
a different POLYTECH bolt,
properly lapped in for full bearing and .0015" thou over .308 GO head space,
and is waiting for my NEW Garand trigger and hammer to arive from Italy.
I've also mounted one of our NEW prototype M14 scope mounts, and a Bushnell Scopechief VI with BDC.
It will be interesting to see what the 14 will do after all these mods???
So, the M14 now costs about 1/2 what I paid for the REM R25/ AR 10.
And the M14 is shorter, lighter, and NOT RESTRICTED!!!!
For an ACCURATE semi auto battle rifle,
my experience with about three dozen AR 10s,
and well over 100 M14s,
has convinced me that the AR 10 is a [on average ] more CONSISTENTLY ACCURATE platform.
BUT,
at half the price, the M14 [ properly modded ] is still my favorite go to gun for the trunk of the car, for "practical " shooting, and for hunting.
And if I want to run and gun, at a Rifle match which focuses mostly on CQB scenarios,
wellll,
my 10.5" LMT AR 15 with the doubled up 10 rd LAR mags is the game machine of choice.
just one man's opinions,
and opinions you get for free on the internet are often worth much less thanyou paid for them,
YPMMV
LAZ 1
[;{)