I am thinking of selling my troubled m14/305. The rifle has several issues, the barrel is not indexed properly and has bad accuracy. It does fire continually with out hickup and fires basically anything that I have fed it. Just can not get it on target. I believe in full disclosure and any buyer will be made aware of the problems this rifle has. I think that the problems are curable and likely a visit to one of hungries clinics would solve the problem. I am not interested in working on it at this time. What do you guys feel would be a decent amount for the rifle? I paid $450 for it.
Troubled m14s/305 for sale?
- Thread starter Davie Sprocket
- Start date
I hate to say it, but being honest and selling firearms means you got a number of PMs by people telling you its unsafe to sell. My m305s has similar issues and I gave up trying to sell it. Now I'm just going to fix it one day, though it helps that the wife likes it.
Might not be that bad. Perhaps your sights don't lock down tight, so when you shoot it they move around, preventing you from zeroing it. I think the indexing can be fixed as well. That or you have to sell it well under $400 for anybody to take it on as a project gun.
Why not pick up a new chinese barrel?
If the rifle cycles with no troubles but is shooting poorly, there are two things to consider.
One, if bench testing reveals tight groups under 3 inches but the point of impact won't correspond to point of aim, my bet is on the front and rear sights as being the issue. Barrel index can cause front sight issues in this equation.
Two, if the rifle won't group under 3" and/or point os impact shows no consistancy, then something is not right inside the barrel. Flaked chrome lining or flaking/damage at the muzzle could be the prime suspect.
If the rifle cycles with no troubles but is shooting poorly, there are two things to consider.
One, if bench testing reveals tight groups under 3 inches but the point of impact won't correspond to point of aim, my bet is on the front and rear sights as being the issue. Barrel index can cause front sight issues in this equation.
Two, if the rifle won't group under 3" and/or point os impact shows no consistancy, then something is not right inside the barrel. Flaked chrome lining or flaking/damage at the muzzle could be the prime suspect.
It sounds to me like a combination of barrel indexing (which throws off the front site) and a substandard rear site are throwing things off.
The indexing may require setting the rear sights way over to the left or right, and possibly really high or low. Even if you get that right, the POI will change at different distances.
If the rear sight is of poor quality, it may not hold zero, perhaps moving slowly enough to allow for fairly large groups.
Taking apart, cleaning and reinstalling the rear site followed by a sighting in session sounds like the first thing I'd do, followed by getting a replacement M1 Garand rear site as step Two. That might keep you satisfied until an opportunity arises to re-index the barrel, at which point everything might be fine.
That said, I'm not questioning any of the advice M14 Doctor said, which should be ruled out before doing too much work to replace sites, reindex the barrel, etc. I just wanted to say that maybe the problem is nothing major, which should be ruled out before getting caught up with trying to tweak the rifle's accuracy.
The indexing may require setting the rear sights way over to the left or right, and possibly really high or low. Even if you get that right, the POI will change at different distances.
If the rear sight is of poor quality, it may not hold zero, perhaps moving slowly enough to allow for fairly large groups.
Taking apart, cleaning and reinstalling the rear site followed by a sighting in session sounds like the first thing I'd do, followed by getting a replacement M1 Garand rear site as step Two. That might keep you satisfied until an opportunity arises to re-index the barrel, at which point everything might be fine.
That said, I'm not questioning any of the advice M14 Doctor said, which should be ruled out before doing too much work to replace sites, reindex the barrel, etc. I just wanted to say that maybe the problem is nothing major, which should be ruled out before getting caught up with trying to tweak the rifle's accuracy.
Thank you for the replies guys. I'll have a look at the barrel, I have a replacement rear site from hungry just have not mounted it. I will leave it sit for now and look at playing with it when I have time. Maybe in the spring.
Well, I could always tweak it this coming spring / summer. Just leave it with me! 
I am coming out to visit the western side of the country this July! What is your home workshop like? You see, I'll have all my M14 tools on this road trip.
Barney
I am coming out to visit the western side of the country this July! What is your home workshop like? You see, I'll have all my M14 tools on this road trip. Barney
Well, I could always tweak it this coming spring / summer. Just leave it with me!
Barney
Are you coming back to manitoba this yr? Ive got 2 now. one with feeding problems that shots a 18 in group about 2 ft low & left the other cycles great but I cant even tell where the bullets are going!
Yeah no kidding. I screw around with them for a while every year & then when I get too pissed I put them away for another 6 months. Ive had a bit of fun & learned a lot but These things are junk. I dont know anyone personally thats happy with theirs for other than making noise. I keep hear how guys get 1 min groups right out of the box but I havent seen it. I would really like to get these working right . They are fun to shoot but they are very agravating
My buddy took his box stock 2009 poly as his main rifle on our Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii deer hunt last week. Conditions were extreme, wet windy, sandy, muddy, mossy, rain forest jungle. His untweaked rifle was making reliable headshots out to 75 yards. The rifle groups 2.5 inches at 100.
If you get a "lemon" and have bought it new, return the damn thing. Why beat yourself up trying to turn a lemon into an orange? A non functioning rifle constitutes a warranty return in my opinion.
For the most part, in 5 years of working on these professionally, I'd say less that 5% of the rifles I've handled were true lemons
If you get a "lemon" and have bought it new, return the damn thing. Why beat yourself up trying to turn a lemon into an orange? A non functioning rifle constitutes a warranty return in my opinion.
For the most part, in 5 years of working on these professionally, I'd say less that 5% of the rifles I've handled were true lemons
The one I have is a 2007, so no returns for me. I guess some of them were hit or miss or like doc has said its possible that the barrel may have problems. Hungry if you come through Alberta I will attend one of your courses, just so frustrating having a gun so cool sitting becuase it can't hit anything accurately, I have nearly a 1000 rnds waiting for it.
Just to update, I took the rifle out last sunday to give it one last try before selling it on the EE. I installed the rear sight that hungry sent me, hammered away on the front sight. Made sure every thing was nice and tight and nothing was to tight or worse broken. I still need shims for the gas port. I have a scope mount but I am not using the scope as the mount is junk and was likely part of my problem as well.
Set up on a bench, shoot 1 rnd, nothing on paper, shoot second rnd nothing, shoot 3,4,5. Aiming at the same spot nothing. Move my spotting scope around and all five rnds are a foot low and 6 inchs right of the entire target board. Adjust the sight, shoot 1, on paper lower corner adjust some more, 2nd 4 inchs out, adjust some more 3rd is 2 inchs high. Put 60 more rounds through it and it danced around the target, but I am on paper now and I am with in a pie plate at 100m. So I am going to keep the rifle and keep tweaking it.
Thanks to all the guys who posted help here, the barrel was out of index and the new rear site has made a world of difference. Now I am actually looking forward to tweaking it more. At least now I can hit the side of barn.
Set up on a bench, shoot 1 rnd, nothing on paper, shoot second rnd nothing, shoot 3,4,5. Aiming at the same spot nothing. Move my spotting scope around and all five rnds are a foot low and 6 inchs right of the entire target board. Adjust the sight, shoot 1, on paper lower corner adjust some more, 2nd 4 inchs out, adjust some more 3rd is 2 inchs high. Put 60 more rounds through it and it danced around the target, but I am on paper now and I am with in a pie plate at 100m. So I am going to keep the rifle and keep tweaking it.
Thanks to all the guys who posted help here, the barrel was out of index and the new rear site has made a world of difference. Now I am actually looking forward to tweaking it more. At least now I can hit the side of barn.
