What Ammo for M14

Rusty Shackleford

Rusty Shackleford

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Hi, I've got a rifle course coming up soon and need to get some Ammo for my M14. What is everyone using now that the milsurp has dried up? I gotta find something by Saturday that hopefully won't cost an arm and a leg. Can I even use commercial .308?

Thanks
 
hold on there- you can use most , but with some caveats- mostly, nothing above 170 grain, and none of the special "light magnum" ammo
 
ok, less than 170 grain. I'd thought that commercial ammo was ok, but I spoke with a guy today that thought it might not be good. He said something about the shoulder width on commercial ammo was different than milsurp or something like that. I wasn't really sure what he was talking about.
 
You'll end up buying the ball type ammo of the three major commercial manufacturers anyways. The FMJ 147 gr of Winchester, 150 gr of Federal and UMC are those three that they sell in terms of ball like ammo for the price you will want to pay. Yes, they will function on your M14...accurately is another story.
 
my newly purchased m14s loves the federal 150gn ball..... i'm grouping 1.5 at 100 and the rifle is bone stock... still in the chu wood. 50 rounds down the pipe so far without as much as a hiccup. tried the win ammo..... my rifle doesn't like it. no malfuntions but every third round is flier and i can't get any better than 2.75 groups with the 2 out of three bullets..... ZERO fliers with the fed ammo.
 
I have used umc with pretty good results 1.25 group open sights at 100. Have also dialed in some 150 speer to 1 inch in hand loads. I am going to try some 165 perhaps for a hunt load. I had the very good luck of having a customer whom is a retried Canadian force range Marshall He had couple of belts of Nato stuff and he thinks he has a case of the stuff left(fingers crossed) sucks to be me
 
it's the headspace where the controversy lies-stick around and you'll hear from lots of folks- i've run both in mine since 90 with no problems- depends on your headspacing
 
My Norinco M14 arrived this morning...

I've got some 180 grain .308 cartridges from wal-mart. So what do you figure? Not a good idea, since the bullet weight is over 170? The receiver is marked .308 Winchester, by the way, not 7.62x51. I'd have to drive about an hour and a half one way to buy some lighter loads. I really wanna shoot this thing!!!
 
Eddie Honda said:
My Norinco M14 arrived this morning...

I've got some 180 grain .308 cartridges from wal-mart. So what do you figure? Not a good idea, since the bullet weight is over 170? The receiver is marked .308 Winchester, by the way, not 7.62x51. I'd have to drive about an hour and a half one way to buy some lighter loads. I really wanna shoot this thing!!!
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good gawd, man- the top end normal for the m14 style is 175 grain, plus i'm willing to bet the mv on that stuff is 2610-2650- WAY TOO FRIGGIN STRONG
the m118slr (special long range) was a 175 at 2550fps- you'll PROBABLY get away with it , but a steady diet is going to hurt/bend something for sure- you want 165-168 as the top end , period- besides lighter doesn't really mean less powerful- you gain VELOCITY when you lose bullet weight
 
Check through the M14/M305 posts by Hungry and Lazerus2000. Stick with 150's and use up to 168's with moderation (IE hunting). The rifle was designed to use NATO ammo which is 147/150 grains.
 
I was just functon testing and adjusting sights on my new M-14s this afternoon. I'm using Win bulk 150 FMJ crimped in military cases (DA) over 41 grains or H335. Using original open sights at 100 m the first 5 shot group was 1.75", discounting one that I mis-sighted low, other 4 shots were 1.3".

My first powder choice would have been H4895 or Varget but I have a lot of H335 so I'm burning it.

When I've used up the current batch of loaded ammo I'll try some match grade bullets with Varget to see how they do.
 
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It will take a 308 no problem the heavier grain is hard on the gas system stay 168 and less or turn the gas chamber off and hand rack it if you use 180. the pressure is the issue not bullet weight or size nato vs 308
 
One of the beauties of casting lead boolits as you have a wider choice of bullets for your guns. At around 1800 fps my M 14 loves my 311291 Lyman boolits and they reun to 185 gr. Some of the guys and the cast Boolit forum have gone to 200 grainers with no ill effects on their M 14.

Remember these are cast lead bullets using gas checks and velocities range up to 2,000 fps but not much more. With the price of jacketed bullets going through the roof and surplus ammo becoming incresingly scarce shooting your own cast bullets becomes and attractive alternative. For shooting paper targets out to 200 yards or just banging away at tin cans at 50 shooting cast bullets can be a lot of fun.

I should add shooting lead bullets in your M 14 does not plug the gas system as some would think.

Take Care

Bob
 
eyeguy said:
It will take a 308 no problem the heavier grain is hard on the gas system stay 168 and less or turn the gas chamber off and hand rack it if you use 180. the pressure is the issue not bullet weight or size nato vs 308
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i don't know about you, but all of mine have been an absolute b*tch to open without the gas assist- i've done it a few times just to see what it's like- that list includes real m14s as well as norcs- there's just not enough steel on that tab to get a good grip and pull to the rear at the same time and i waited a few minutes between rounds to let the pressure in the chamber diminish- just stick to the 165-168s top end and you'll be fine
 
eyeguy said:
It will take a 308 no problem the heavier grain is hard on the gas system stay 168 and less or turn the gas chamber off and hand rack it if you use 180. the pressure is the issue not bullet weight or size nato vs 308
Click to expand...

i don't know about you, but all of mine have been an absolute b*tch to open without the gas assist- i've done it a few times just to see what it's like- that list includes real m14s as well as norcs- there's just not enough steel on that tab to get a good grip and pull to the rear at the same time and i waited a few minutes between rounds to let the pressure in the chamber diminish- just stick to the 165-168s top end and you'll be fine
 
eyeguy said:
It will take a 308 no problem the heavier grain is hard on the gas system stay 168 and less or turn the gas chamber off and hand rack it if you use 180. the pressure is the issue not bullet weight or size nato vs 308
Click to expand...

i don't know about you, but all of mine have been an absolute b*tch to open without the gas assist- i've done it a few times just to see what it's like- that list includes real m14s as well as norcs- there's just not enough steel on that tab to get a good grip and pull to the rear at the same time and i waited a few minutes between rounds to let the pressure in the chamber diminish- just stick to the 165-168s top end and you'll be fine- btw, with handloading, i get groups of 1 inch and under at 100 yards- about the size of a loonie for a 20 round mag
 
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