[coppercollarworker]

Would a senior member(s) with knowledge to the M14 platform be willing to take a new member under his wings and mentor and maybe guidance? As a new member I made an uneducated purchase of a M14, now I’m a little shell shocked so to speak, and don’t know which way to proceed. I have purchased several books and have read and educated myself to a higher degree, however I still need advice.

I just don’t want to waste money and make am uneducated purchase again.
I live in the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky area, and I know of M1, M1 carbine and AR enthusiast but no M14 guru to bounce questions off of, etc.
I initiate or pay for the calls. Let me know if you’re interested.
A couple of questions if I may, 1st is this Fed.Ord. Receiver worth sticking any money into and can the barrel be replaced with a US made barrel? Also, are Winchester (SA) receivers available?
Goal is to have a shooter M14 that looks good and is safe.
Thanks

 

[Rileyo63]

As a pretty new member myself I would say the advice and or questions asked and answered here are outstanding and are FREE!! The knowledge that these members have is outstanding and folks are really friendly. I can't imagine any help that you would need that couldn't be taken care of on this forum.
Unless you are looking for "hands on" person to person help?

 

[Captain America]

Everything you need to know is contained within this website.
All your questions can be answered here, just ask.

I'm curious as to what your "uneducated purchase of an M-14" was?

 

[tonyben]

Everything you need to know is contained within this website.
All your questions can be answered here, just ask.

I'm curious as to what your "uneducated purchase of an M-14" was?

I am curious as well. What about your purchase makes you feel uneasy? I was like you a few years ago and was unable to meet a face to face mentor as there was really none in my area, let alone on this forum.

We are here to help as much as possible. As for a Winchester receiver, there are only a few real M14 rifles in circulation for civilians and I don't know how many are Winchesters; plus, they are expensive. Your Fed Ord may be just fine. Have you shot it yet? Do you know what parts it has? Is it giving you trouble?

Tony.

 

[Ivan1GFP]

From about 3 that I remember having seen, Federal Ordnance receivers are all over the place. I was much less knowledgeable when I saw these guns, so all I can recall is that one of the receivers had the left receiver lug not contacting the bolt lug. It wasn't even close. Gun seemed to shoot quite well though. I seem to recall that one of the other guns had something strange in the rear sight serations but can't recall specifically what the problem was. The rear sight also didn't line up straight as was obvious by comparing with the rear of the receiver where the windage markings were. This was years ago and I didn't take notes, so take this as just an anecdote.

The gun with only one lug bearing is for real. It belonged to a friend of mine who could have afforded anything that was then in production but knew the platform less than I did. I can attest to the accuracy because I actually shot the rifle quite a few times and with iron sights and just iron sights, both of us could hit in the 1.5 inch range with NATO ball ammunition.

- Ivan.

 

[coppercollarworker]

In response, I purchased a federal Ord rifle locally. I have not fired the rifle because of unknown safety issues headspace etc. I tore the rifle down and examined the various parts, documented various markings and numbers and photographed the parts. I posted picture and information on this forum for advice and recommendation. Through reading and comments I was left a little confused.

Again my questions are,
I have been told the Fed Ord receiver vary so much in regards to spec's that most Smith’s won't work on them, correct or not.

Can someone recommend a good M14 smith?

I would like to have the rifle checked out for safety issues headspace, TW MW, timing.
Also have the rifle re-barreled with a US barrel (USGI, etc.)

Possible remove all the Chinese parts i.e. bolt, Op rod, gas system, etc. with good quality USGI parts. Is it cost effective for me to replace them or have the smith do it while he has it, are they truly drop in parts, or do they require fitting?

I understand the barrel is Chinese (metric), can a US barrel be placed on the receiver.

Again my goal is a rifle that looks good, shoots good and get rid of those Chinese parts if all possible.

 

[GARRARD]

The answers to most of your questions are definitely yes, but how much are you willing to spend?

 

[John Crusher]

My buddy took out a Fed Ord today that has been in the safe for he doesn't remember how long. Shot a 11/2" group @ 100. It was very dry so we lubed it up since I always carry such stuff and it is Chinese parts. After lubing the bolt and trigger pack he shot 1"+.
Chinese barrels are chrome-lined and generally accurate. I may get picked on but if it where me I'd find a local smith or gunshop that has .308 field gauges and check headspace, lube it up and shoot it. The cost of converting to U.S.G.I. parts is expensive nowadays and in the end you will sink more $ into it than it'll ever be worth if/when you sell it. Plus you have a pile of parts to try and sell to recoup some of your cost.

 

[coppercollarworker]

Can someone recommend a good M14 smith, As far as I know I have know resources in my area?

 

[Lazerus2000]

You don't really need a personal M14 mentor or tutor or "guru".
The M14 was designed by a genius to be simple to use ...., and to be used and field maintained by people who may [ or may not ] be "simple" ...
as in the M14 was designed to be used effectively by any average IQ young draftee straight out of basic.

The theory behind the M14 ain't rocket science.
If you want to know more about the M14,
there are various readily available sources of information for you to learn about the M14
on your own.

For example,
before I OFFICIALLY retired,
after more than a decade of working as a gunsmith,
I occasionally used to teach HANDS ON seminars about
The M14; Inspection, Maintenance, Repairs, and Modifications.

Most of the theory you need is included in my M14 seminar handout,
posted here:
http://www.m14.ca/seminar/M14_Seminar_EBR.pdf

After you have read this QUICK INTRO to the theory behind the M14,
YOU WILL BE KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH ABOUT THE M14 TO ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.

If you have any SPECIFIC questions about the M14,
just post them here on this web site and some one [and probably a WHOLE BUNCH OF SOME ONES ] will be glad to answer.

That is the whole point of this web site.

The "HANDS ON" part of the learning procedure is left up to you.
Dig into your own M14!
Get your hands dirty!
And enjoy the learning experience, just like we did!!!

PS: If you REALLY want to know more [ almost EVERYTHING ] about the theory of the M14, the acknowledged M14 Bible is the book by Kuhnhausen.

Once you memorise and understand this bible,
you will have been officially indoctrinated into "The DAO of the M14",
and as a fellow M14 cult member,
you will be well on your way to being your own M14 Guru!

Enjoy!
[

 

[echokilo60]

frankly....

In response, I purchased a federal Ord rifle locally. I have not fired the rifle because of unknown safety issues headspace etc. I tore the rifle down and examined the various parts, documented various markings and numbers and photographed the parts. I posted picture and information on this forum for advice and recommendation. Through reading and comments I was left a little confused.

Again my questions are,
I have been told the Fed Ord receiver vary so much in regards to spec's that most Smith’s won't work on them, correct or not.

Can someone recommend a good M14 smith?

I would like to have the rifle checked out for safety issues headspace, TW MW, timing.
Also have the rifle re-barreled with a US barrel (USGI, etc.)

Possible remove all the Chinese parts i.e. bolt, Op rod, gas system, etc. with good quality USGI parts. Is it cost effective for me to replace them or have the smith do it while he has it, are they truly drop in parts, or do they require fitting?

I understand the barrel is Chinese (metric), can a US barrel be placed on the receiver.

Again my goal is a rifle that looks good, shoots good and get rid of those Chinese parts if all possible.

please do not take this wrong, but my advice is to verify head space is safe and dump it. if you want a good to go m1a at least get a SAI. i know from reading some of the posts here that springfeilds are junk, but they are better than FED ORD. i own 3 M1as now and have had half a dozen others in the past and any problems i had were minor and all taken care of with exceptional customer service.there is not a thing wrong with springfeild.the junk comment was sarcasim.

 

[jens5]

Mentor?

I think there are some folks who learn things,"hands-on" and some that can read instructions or see pictures and glean the desired information. I teach guitar and Banjo part time. The majority of my students,(20 to 40 weekly depending on the time of year), have tried to teach themselves either by book or internet and have failed for the most part. They come to me for "in person" tutoring, because there's nothing like having an individual show you how it's done. I also learn through teaching as it keeps me sharp. Although I taught myself how to play at an early age, it took hours every day listening to records. They call it ADD now In retrospect had I had a teacher to show me, it would have taken much less time. A Library of knowledge can be useless w/o someone showing you how. If any the M14 guru's on this sight were geographically close to me, I'd be making appointments with them for lessons.

 

[RET DEP 04]

Check out this thread and hopefully there might be someone close enough to help. If not, keep asking, someone will show up with the right answer. http://m14forum.com/reference/54366-gunsmiths-armorers-who-work-m-14-type-rifles.html

 

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

Well, before you either dump the rifle or spend a lot of $, let's take a look at what you actually have. First, what is the serial #? FYI, I have an older FedOrd that gave me much grief for a while, but after I had a few things taken care of, it's been just fine. Mr. Ted Brown at Shooters' Den in Oregon helped me with some of it; shipping to/from was no big deal. I took care of the rest.

Anyway, as others had mentioned, the quality could be at either end of the spectrum. What parts are on your rifle? Are they USGI, commercial, Chinese or a mixture? It's not difficult to check the head space and any decent gunsmith should be able to do this if they have a gauge set. They don't have to be an M14 expert. As long as your receiver is good, most of the rest can be taken care of. So, send us some more info and we'll help figure out what's up.

Regards, Jim

 

[MesaRifle]

My really big Q!

Everything you need to know is contained within this website.

All your questions can be answered here, just ask.

OK then, Capt.: What is the meaning of life? GI3

Oh.... and, does that include ownership of an M1A?

signed: grasshopper

 

[RET DEP 04]

OK then, Capt.: What is the meaning of life?

The answer is "42", I thought everyone knew.