[MNCop]

At a gunshop today I came across an unusual M14. The reciever heel was marked as an original H&R govt M14. You could see where it was welded just in front of the front reciever legs. The rear legs were cut off and ground down. There was a drawing number on the front of the reciever. I could not find any drawing numbers or makers marks on any other part. The owner said he bought it back in the 70's from another collector. The finish and machining on the other parts did not look to be up to USGI standards. My thought is that someone built up a semi-auto M14 using a rewelded USGI reciever and used foreign parts. The only other markings were light electropen that was near the reciever drawing number. it appeared to be PROC-74.

Any info would be helpful. Thanks

 

[boomer]

Sounds like a reweld to me.

Beware of it, if your thinking of buying it.

Boomer

 

[MNCop]

Thank youfor that input. It is a reweld. I am trying to find out if anyone was making guns this way in the 70's. I think the parts are possibly from china or taiwan.

 

[lefty o]

first bad sign is you can easily see the welds. second bad thing is without provenonce, that rifle would most likely be considered by the ATFE to be a machine gun.

just my own personal thing, reweld would imply that it was originally welded together.

 

[bad-andy]

Proc 74

Peoples Republic of China?

Someone else may chime in.

 

[yellowcarbon]

It sounds like it is a reweld w/ Chinese parts from your description. Do not believe what the 'story' behind it is. The rifle tells it's own story.

If you can obviously tell it is a reweld just by looking at it, then it is not a great job. While it may be functional, it will be suspect until it proves to be otherwise. If the parts don't like they are quality, they may not be. The Chinese parts aren't bad, but they are Chinese and will never have the same value as USGI parts. So unless it is dirt cheap, I think there are better buys out there.

 

[RET DEP 04]

In the past several companies tried to market re-welded M14 receivers, several of them without permission from ATF. I believe only one company actually was licensed by ATF and that licensing did not last very long. Other ventures resulted in weapons being seized and destroyed. One of the companies used an electric pencil to mark the re-welds. My understanding from past threads on this forum is that several of the illegal weapons are still outstanding and ATF is going to be interested in them as they come to light.

 

[MNCop]

Thanks for the replies guys! The only reason I believe the back story given is the guy used to work for the ATF and he has the largest collection of Lugars and C-96 pistols I have ever seen. He has been collecting guns since the 60's. I also have met the collector he bought it from and has the bill of sale.

 

[BDH]

Odd description...

The M14 doesn't have two sets of receiver legs, but the M1 Garand does. H&R made M1s and M14s. Could this be a welded M1 rear and M14 front then modified for a magazine?

The drawing number may be able to be traced to a Garand series as well. By the way, if it is made entirely from M14 parts, a bill of sale will not save the owner.

Bruce

 

[Cass]

I wondered about the M1 conversion also, but it is the rear legs of the M1 that are kept. The front legs are removed in a conversion.

Cass