“Free advice is often worth a lot less than you paid for it”,
And of course,
“Your personal mileage may vary.”
Remember also that at this time, the supply of M-14 type rifles, old or new, is limited,
and that there will be no more new Chinese or original US GI M-14 type rifles coming to market in the foreseeable future.
Like the great Canuck philosopher HUNGRY says,
“Don’t buy one … buy two …”
and get them quick,
before the supply runs out,
and your #### falls off”.
Norinco VS Springfield …a Canadian perspective
Norinco M14 rifles are made primarily of FORGED parts, with excellent dimensional tolerances, but with some possible variations in heat treatment and assembly. In Canada, if you buy your new or used Chinese M-14 from a reputable dealer, you will probably have some type of warranty. The vendor may also have some spare parts, and a repair/maintenance service, to keep your Chinese import shooting as long as you want. With the recent explosion in popularity of the Chinese M-14 type rifle in the Canadian market s, there is a wealth of information, accessories and services available in Canada to support these fine firearms.
If you view the Norinco [ M-305 or M-14 or M-14S ] as only a stripped FORGED receiver, with very close to US GI dimensional specifications, you can never go wrong. Think of all those extra parts that come attached to the receiver as [ mostly usable ] free bonuses. If you like a hands on, do it yourself project, get a Chinese M-14 Simply do a bit of tuning, add the requisite US GI parts, and you have one of the best rifles available, and at only 1/3 or so of the cost of an equivalent Springfield M1A.
BUT,
for those who don't want to get their hands dirty working on their own rifles, or who don’t want to pay for a gunsmith to do it for them, the Springfield M1A can be a very good choice. Springfield offers a lifetime warranty on the M1A. Unfortunately, this lifetime warranty may be required even on a brand new Springfield, because, in my experience [ and in many other M1A owner’s experience ] there may not be much difference in quality control between the new US and the new Chinese made versions, There have been considerable complaints that many of the M1A CAST receivers are not correct dimensionally. Aside from the CAST receiver, new Springfield M1A rifles no longer use surplus US GI internal parts, and in their place, SA has turned to more cast parts, of varying quality, from various suppliers.
Known Springfield Armory M1A deficiencies
Springfield Armory, Inc. M1A rifles may have some or all of the following deficiencies:
1) The receiver scope mounting hole and mount surfaces may be out of specification, which makes fitting non-adjustable scope mounts difficult.
2.) The receiver bridge primary (bolt closing) firing pin retracting surface can be mislocated. The camming surface of the tang on the firing pin should be inspected carefully for damage. If the firing pin tang is damaged, the firing pin should be replaced with a non-chromed firing pin. With firing pins that are not chromium plated, most of the damage will be on the firing pin instead of the receiver bridge. The harder surface of the chromium plated firing pin will cut a groove into the receiver bridge deeper and sooner .. Note that light polish wear is normal on the retracting surface but a groove cut into the receiver by the firing pin is not.
3) The bolt may be cast, and have cast parts. These cast bolts are not top quality, and especially have a bad habit of losing the cast extractor
4) The receiver locking lug engagement surface is slightly misaligned. Lapping the bolt to the receiver can resolve this, and is recommended to evenly distributes stress on the receiver.
5) The bottom of the bolt roller makes contact with the receiver when the bolt is in battery, preventing the bolt from closing completely. The fix is to grind a half round relief cut into the receiver, to accept the bolt roller when fully locked in the down position. This will save replacing the bolt or bolt roller, which otherwise could be destroyed rather quickly.
6) The receiver groove that takes the tab of the op rod may be undersize, rough, vary in size, and not cut straight. This can cause rough functioning, unreliability, quick wear on that tiny op rod tab, and op rods eventually jumping out of the track. This also can cause extra work when properly fitting a replacement GI or Chinese op rod with an unworn, full size tab.
7.) The receiver rear sight elevation knob indexing detents wear prematurely due to too soft surface hardness. The fix is to install an elevation repair disk.
8.) The holes for the bolt lock pin are too small. The bolt lock roll pins could be forced in which may cause one of the bolt lock window receptors to break. The simple solution is to use a slightly smaller diameter pin.
9.) Some of the earlier Stainless Steel barreled “loaded” rifles, had the chambers cut TOO FAST = very rough = reamer chatter = poor extraction and reliability.
10.) The rear sight pocket is slightly too short. This results in a slight over hang of the rear sight base at the rear.. This springs the rear sight cover more than it should. The front edge of the cover can be lightly filed down, which requires less force to install the rear sight cover.
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