As much as I like more news exposure of M14 type rifle, title of the article is misleading. Nothing in the article point to Seals connection / reasoning of using M14.

 

Outdated and misleading information.

 

It’s not even a SEAL in the picture.

 

 

The real life emojis are much better than the computer generated ones.

 

Ya'll are ruthless 😜 !!!

 

Supply chain disruptions, you know. Worldwide shortage of Ruth. Cannot be helped.

 

Hello,
Now we have seals...

 

The soldier in the OP photo is actually firing from the prone position. That's as close as he can get to the ground with all that crap on.

 

Love the inspection video!

 

I had thought that all branches and units had moved on from mthe M-14 in any configuration to other platforms, in other calibers.

With the adoption of the M-5 (formerly the NGSW) by the Army, any M-14s still in service with some niche of US forces should be mothballed by 2025. I am guessing that will also apply to the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge.

I am not an active shooter and have no real experience with the M-14/M1A,but I was confused by the claims by Big Army on the one hand, that the M-14 was dropped as a sniper platform due to difficulty in keeping them tuned-up in the field, yet they were adopted as DMR rifles for a while. The M-5 will eliminate that too I think.

 

Not to hijack a bread, but the NGSW/M5 is going to flop and here is why. Let’s build an eight. 5 to 9 pound service rifle that fire is a full bore cartridge, his piston operated, and holds 20 rounds. Sound familiar? Every reason they got rid of the M 14 is why they are choosing the M5. Just to pose a prediction; a conflict arises within the next five years before the M5 is fully fielded, Poor supply chains lack the ability to fulfill 6.8 X 51 ammo requirements and most soldiers immediately regress to their M4. The SDM‘s grab whatever high-power rifle they can find in readily available NATO calibers. Several mark 14s and a complement of M 80 A1 ammo is rushed into service.

 

That inspection video brings back a lot of memories. God help you if you had a weapon with grease and/or oil anywhere. And if you failed to make a clean release of the weapon to the inspecting officer you were pretty much done for right there. We used to practice so that the rifle was dangling in mid air as the inspector's hand was coming up and ours were going down. That was a fun exercise. If everything else was perfect including starched fatigues with no fins you might escape guard duty.

 

I barely grazed the inspectors cheek while getting my rifle back, long story short it wasn't very fun doing mountain climbers in my dress uniform...!!!

 

Yeah, I get all that. I had the same thoughts about the NSGW program while it was still a three-way competition. Your five years out scenario is valid, I think. But I understood that the Army had gotten several newer 7.6x51 chambered guns based nominally on the AR platform or another piston driven system already.

That Big Army has committed billions of dollars to move this concept forward may make the program too big to fail, somewhat like the F-35. The goal I have read, is to completely replace the 7.62 NATO cartridge across the board with conversion kits for the M-240 family of co-axial MGs. The M-4 carbine will be retained for support or rear Eschelon troops. That is the gun not going away.

Even with a general conflict within the next five years (2027-ish), I do not see the M-14 coming back. There are other guns in that class already in service and in production.

General Patton famously praised the M-1 Garand as the best rifle of WW-II. It was too . . . for W-II. However, by the 1950s there were other, more effective battle rifles in service around the world. The M-14 was one of them. It is my judgement that the same is now true for the M-14. Many love and cherish it. That is why this forum exists. Yet moving forward in the 21st Century, there are and will be other rifles that superweed the M-14 in performance and usage.

 

I submit that the problem is not necessarily the platform, nor the caliber, but rather "Big Army"... No hit on any of you guys in or out of uniform, BDUs, that is. As I've previously stated, the Army has looong history of throwing sick money at ridiculous weapons programs, Sergeant York, to name but one. It's all contract/kick back driven. That said, I do believe that the 6.8 has a niche. The Fifth Special Forces was working with several years back, but who knows what transpired there. As always, the folks on the ground know what they need. What we need, is to listen to them... That and not leave 80 billion dollars of it on the field of battle. Could it be that the same ones responsible for the waste in weapons research, are the same ones responsible for abandoning our equipment in Afghanistan?

 

Funny thread.

Somewhat fake news.
the Seal didn’t work . Maybe we need to pull out the woman in bikini’s to suck people in.

 

That always works Cap.

 

What Seal team is still using M(K)14s? lol

 

Probably the one Charlie Sheen and Michael Behan are on! 🤣 Last M(k)14 I saw in action was in Iraq in ‘08 when I was in the 82nd. My current Engineer company doesn’t even know such a rifle exists. I showed them pictures of mine, even in my “updated” Vltor stock and I got “that’s cool, what is it?”

 

I never get over watching those guys do the rifle inspection. Solid stuff. Good read Tom, thank you.

 

Did someone say bikini?

 

Where's the M-14?

 

[Navy Seal Museum photo] Another SEAL w/ M14

Novel approach to keeping sand out of the action.

 

[US National Archives] Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) team members take a break during a field training exercise in the desert. One of the SEALs is holding an M14. 9/1/1987

 

[US National Archives] Armed with an M14 rifle, a US Navy Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) team member hides in the foiliage at the edge of a river while providing cover for fellow team members during a tactical warfare training. He is using a flotation device to minimize his swimming movements. 9/1/1987

Appeared that SEALs love the A1/E2 stocks.

 

[Navy Seal Museum photo] Another SEAL w/ M14

 

Novel approach to keeping sand out of the action.

And fiberglass stock cameo. Very cool.

 

Having spent a little time in the sand box, I can attest that the sand is more like talcum powder. I still have some in my stuff 31 years later. I might be a horder. I should have gotten rid of much of this stuff a long time ago...

 

Thanks for those pics from 1987. Back in the 1980s I get the impression that SEALs liked the M14A1 configuration (E2) stock, but minus the front grip. They are reportedly easier to control in full-auto with the pistol grip on the E2 stock. A guy at Crane told me that SEALS liked them back then for the ergonomics, but after getting submerged a few too many times, the wood would start to warp and eventually the pistol grip would come loose on wooden E2 stocks. That was his recollection when I asked about SEALs and E2 stocks.

The SEALs wanted an M14 rifle that was more robust and shorter, and this same small arms engineer at Crane was responsible for developing with SAGE a robust aluminum chassis system in the early 2000s. This program started with the Mk 14 Mod 0s circa 2004-5. The last M14s designed for use by Navy SEALs was the Mk 14 Mod 1 that was first issued circa 2007-8ish, as seen here:

...but I suspect most of those rifles have been replaced for the NSW/SEAL guys, and I doubt those elite warriors are still using the M14 these days...so the title of this article in this thread is quite misleading as of 2022 - (it would be an appropriate title if written a decade ago or more - back when the Mk 14 Mod 0/1 were in widespread use).

The Navy does still use M14s in some EOD roles (including the Mk 14 Mod 0), and I heard the Mk 14 Mod 2 was still used as a DMR as of 2020 with the NECC sailors (aka 'brown water Navy'), but the 'tip of the spear' Navy SEALs and SOCOM guys are using more modern platforms at this point in time. (Not sure if the Coast Guard is still using their SAGE-based M14 T, but perhaps others know more.)

 

M-14's left NSW a long time ago. The era I am familiar with started mid 90's. They were preferred for maritime and cold weather use vs the 727/M4.
We had the usual lego festivals cobbled together..
I had a 18.5" with choate stock (shortened the stock) and an aimpoint atop

SR25's took on the longer range accuracy role and some compact versions in LR assaulter roles. Then the SCAR and.. a few other m1913 festooned carbines required to afix the war widgets too.