With the high percentage of the new batch of BELL/Polytech 2009 M14 rifles having barrels that are INDEXED INCORRECTLY, there seems to be increased interest in M14 barrel reindexing, removal, and replacement.
This is the BIG job for an M14 do-it-yourselfer, and the point that separates the men from the boys … usually with a 6’ steel cheateer handle on the wrench.
Almost any BUBBA can remove an M14 barrel from the receiver using commonly available farm implements, and judging by some of the M14 receivers and barrels I've seen,
with Record 6" vice jaw "checkering" on the receivers,
and whopping big PIPE WRENCH jaw marks on the barrels,
Bubba has been very busy working on M14s.
The trick is to get things separated,
and properly torqued back in place,
and / or
reindexed precisely,
without leaving any HORRIBLE marks as a sign of your membership in the guild of BUBBAS.
Step 1: The Chinese have cleverly installed a top secret " barrel falling off on its own" safety device, otherwise known as "that @#$%^%^^& screw ". This secret screw is hidden away nicely under the op rod, on the right side of the receiver. Removing some of these screws sometimes becomes an exercise in futility, and a visit to the dark side.
These screws are sometimes MASSIVELY over torqued in place by XUXXU [ Bubba’s Chinese cousin ], and these screws have a tiny, short, thin, shallow slot. Screw driver tips can break off, and/or, that tiny/short/thin/shallow slot can quickly get buggered up beyond recognition. So then we bring out the drill bit, and try to drill out the screw. Unfortunately, sometimes XUXXU has slept through the alarm that tells him to turn off the heat treatment on those screws, and some of those screws are HARD!!!!
REALLY HARD!!!!
Hard enough that a drill bit just skips off and gouges up the receiver.
So into the drill press or milling machine, and out comes a CARBIDE end mill, to make a nice neat hole where the screw used to be.
Many think that that @#$%^&*( screw is useless, and can be thrown away, but just possibly, those clever little Chinese grade 8 shop students that assemble the M14 rifles, may be smarter than you think. Maybe they put that screw there for a very good reason. Maybe they knew that some of the Chinese barrels were VERRRRrrrrrry soft steel, and that with the slight undercut on the barrel shoulder, that allows the barrels to be turned precisely into correct indexing [ HA! HA! ] without precision clearances between barrel shoulder and receiver, that some times that tiny little screw is all that keeps the barrel from turning out.
BTDT …
I have personally seen THREE Chinese M14 rifles where the barrels had shot loose. As in loose to the point that one shooter kept hand turning the barrel back into place after every few shots.
TRUE!!
SO,
Step one can be easy, or it can be not so easy,
But it is still the first step in barrel indexing.
Of course,
There are those who skip step one.
Maybe they didn’t know about the Chinese
“secret barrel retention safety device”.
Or maybe they got one of the special @#$$%^%^%^ screws, and gave up trying to get it out.
These people [ BUB and BA ] just resort to a bigger vice, a longer wrench handle, or a bigger hammer to beat on the wrench handle, or all of the above. AND THEY TORQUE THAT BARREL RIGHT OUT WITHOUT REMOVING THE SCREW.
Unbelievably,
on the M14 receivers I’ve seen that have been subjected to this ultimate indignity, none of the receivers have been damaged [ beyond Bubba leaving his cosmetic exterior surface trademark ] On the other hand, the barrel threads can and sometimes do get severely reamed by that hardened screw passing by. This may or may not ruin the barrel to the point where it should not be reused.
So,
This is step 1 of barrel reindexing … more to follow later … plus pictures.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: There are two ways to re & re an M14 barrel from a receiver.
One way is to firmly clamp the receiver in place, and use a barrel wrench to rotate the barrel.
The other way is to firmly clamp the barrel in place, and use a receiver wrench to rotate the receiver.
Both methods have their pros and cons, and will depend on what tools you have to do the clamping and wrenching.
After several years, and hundreds of barrel jobs on M14 rifles, I have come up with a set of tools that will do both jobs professionally. These tools hold the M14 parts firmly and securely, and have been proven over many jobs, to be able to remove any M14 barrel … even if you forgot step one.
These combination barrel blocks / receiver wrench or barrel wrench / receiver blocks can be reversed to be used for both jobs. One set can be used with a bench vise or bench mounted press, or two sets can be combined for both jobs. The blocks are machined from steel to fit perfectly all M14 regular contour barrels, USGI, Chinese, or American clones. Blocks can be firmly bolted to a solid work bench. Or instead, if you prefer to mount the receiver or barrel solidly in a vice, the blocks can used as a portable barrel or receiver wrench simply by adding a steel tube extension handle.
Designed to use replaceable/disposable CUSTOM FIT thin Aluminum pads [ strips cut from Beer cans ] to avoid marking your barrel.
These steel blocks have exceptional holding ability, and the necessary clamping power to break loose the tightest M14 barrels. We have tested these blocks on hundreds of M14 barrel re-indexing, removal, and replacement jobs, and with a 6’ cheater bar as a handle, they will literally unscrew a Chinese M14 barrel without removing that hidden, horrible barrel side locking screw. NOT that you would want to do this on a regular basis, but if you absolutely can’t get that side screw out, you can power out the barrel … and probably chew up the barrel threads on the way out.
I will be dropping by my favorite machinest shop to get a couple of extra sets of these M14 barrel/receiver tools made up.
Is there any one else who would be willing to buy a set of these?
Cost will be determined by volume so no price yet, but probably under $ 100.
[;{)
TTFN
LAZ 1
This is the BIG job for an M14 do-it-yourselfer, and the point that separates the men from the boys … usually with a 6’ steel cheateer handle on the wrench.
Almost any BUBBA can remove an M14 barrel from the receiver using commonly available farm implements, and judging by some of the M14 receivers and barrels I've seen,
with Record 6" vice jaw "checkering" on the receivers,
and whopping big PIPE WRENCH jaw marks on the barrels,
Bubba has been very busy working on M14s.
The trick is to get things separated,
and properly torqued back in place,
and / or
reindexed precisely,
without leaving any HORRIBLE marks as a sign of your membership in the guild of BUBBAS.
Step 1: The Chinese have cleverly installed a top secret " barrel falling off on its own" safety device, otherwise known as "that @#$%^%^^& screw ". This secret screw is hidden away nicely under the op rod, on the right side of the receiver. Removing some of these screws sometimes becomes an exercise in futility, and a visit to the dark side.
These screws are sometimes MASSIVELY over torqued in place by XUXXU [ Bubba’s Chinese cousin ], and these screws have a tiny, short, thin, shallow slot. Screw driver tips can break off, and/or, that tiny/short/thin/shallow slot can quickly get buggered up beyond recognition. So then we bring out the drill bit, and try to drill out the screw. Unfortunately, sometimes XUXXU has slept through the alarm that tells him to turn off the heat treatment on those screws, and some of those screws are HARD!!!!
REALLY HARD!!!!
Hard enough that a drill bit just skips off and gouges up the receiver.
So into the drill press or milling machine, and out comes a CARBIDE end mill, to make a nice neat hole where the screw used to be.
Many think that that @#$%^&*( screw is useless, and can be thrown away, but just possibly, those clever little Chinese grade 8 shop students that assemble the M14 rifles, may be smarter than you think. Maybe they put that screw there for a very good reason. Maybe they knew that some of the Chinese barrels were VERRRRrrrrrry soft steel, and that with the slight undercut on the barrel shoulder, that allows the barrels to be turned precisely into correct indexing [ HA! HA! ] without precision clearances between barrel shoulder and receiver, that some times that tiny little screw is all that keeps the barrel from turning out.
BTDT …
I have personally seen THREE Chinese M14 rifles where the barrels had shot loose. As in loose to the point that one shooter kept hand turning the barrel back into place after every few shots.
TRUE!!
SO,
Step one can be easy, or it can be not so easy,
But it is still the first step in barrel indexing.
Of course,
There are those who skip step one.
Maybe they didn’t know about the Chinese
“secret barrel retention safety device”.
Or maybe they got one of the special @#$$%^%^%^ screws, and gave up trying to get it out.
These people [ BUB and BA ] just resort to a bigger vice, a longer wrench handle, or a bigger hammer to beat on the wrench handle, or all of the above. AND THEY TORQUE THAT BARREL RIGHT OUT WITHOUT REMOVING THE SCREW.
Unbelievably,
on the M14 receivers I’ve seen that have been subjected to this ultimate indignity, none of the receivers have been damaged [ beyond Bubba leaving his cosmetic exterior surface trademark ] On the other hand, the barrel threads can and sometimes do get severely reamed by that hardened screw passing by. This may or may not ruin the barrel to the point where it should not be reused.
So,
This is step 1 of barrel reindexing … more to follow later … plus pictures.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: There are two ways to re & re an M14 barrel from a receiver.
One way is to firmly clamp the receiver in place, and use a barrel wrench to rotate the barrel.
The other way is to firmly clamp the barrel in place, and use a receiver wrench to rotate the receiver.
Both methods have their pros and cons, and will depend on what tools you have to do the clamping and wrenching.
After several years, and hundreds of barrel jobs on M14 rifles, I have come up with a set of tools that will do both jobs professionally. These tools hold the M14 parts firmly and securely, and have been proven over many jobs, to be able to remove any M14 barrel … even if you forgot step one.
These combination barrel blocks / receiver wrench or barrel wrench / receiver blocks can be reversed to be used for both jobs. One set can be used with a bench vise or bench mounted press, or two sets can be combined for both jobs. The blocks are machined from steel to fit perfectly all M14 regular contour barrels, USGI, Chinese, or American clones. Blocks can be firmly bolted to a solid work bench. Or instead, if you prefer to mount the receiver or barrel solidly in a vice, the blocks can used as a portable barrel or receiver wrench simply by adding a steel tube extension handle.
Designed to use replaceable/disposable CUSTOM FIT thin Aluminum pads [ strips cut from Beer cans ] to avoid marking your barrel.
These steel blocks have exceptional holding ability, and the necessary clamping power to break loose the tightest M14 barrels. We have tested these blocks on hundreds of M14 barrel re-indexing, removal, and replacement jobs, and with a 6’ cheater bar as a handle, they will literally unscrew a Chinese M14 barrel without removing that hidden, horrible barrel side locking screw. NOT that you would want to do this on a regular basis, but if you absolutely can’t get that side screw out, you can power out the barrel … and probably chew up the barrel threads on the way out.
I will be dropping by my favorite machinest shop to get a couple of extra sets of these M14 barrel/receiver tools made up.
Is there any one else who would be willing to buy a set of these?
Cost will be determined by volume so no price yet, but probably under $ 100.
[;{)
TTFN
LAZ 1
Last edited:
