M14 and all of the variants/teach this guy about the M14 in general.

[steve-oh]

I love the M14 but if you're looking for precision it's probably not your best option. It's better than most shooters but they are difficult to get sub moa consistently. I'm only on my 2nd M1A though and there's a lot of people with more experience so I may have to defer to their expertise.

[TOrrock]

I love the M14 but if you're looking for precision it's probably not your best option. It's better than most shooters but they are difficult to get sub moa consistently. I'm only on my 2nd M1A though and there's a lot of people with more experience so I may have to defer to their expertise.

What Steve said. The M14 system can be made to be very accurate, but they require a lot of work to keep them that way. The rifle was designed to be a battle rifle, not a tack driver.....


I love the M14, I've owned a fair number of semi auto clones and one real registered transferrable Class 3 select fire M14, but the AR-10's will out shoot them easily and with less work.

[Iraqgunz]

Hindsight is 20/20. I wish I hadn't bought my SOCOM II and then converted it to the Troy MCS. I would have just bought an LMT .308 gun.

[DocGKR]

The first rifle I shot expert on after getting commissioned in 1986 was an M14. Back when I shot Hi-Power, I had a lot of match grade McMillan stocked M1A's, both iron sighted and with optics (they were heavy beasts). For a variety of reasons, I have sold almost all my M1A's--I only kept two lightweight 18" SA M1A's in simple GI brown stocks and I'll get rid of those as soon as I move out of CA.

I've seen more M1A and M14 clones break recently than I care to contemplate--particularly the SA M1A SOCOM's; in fact, I've yet to see a M1A SOCOM make it through a multi-day carbine course without breaking. If you do decide to get an M1A/M14 clone, make sure you send it to someone like Smith Enterprise or Fulton to have all the current manufactured poor quality parts replaced. M1A's can be made very accurate if you spend a lot of money...but they don't stay accurate very long. Buy 3 of them, so that at any given time you can have one that shoots well, one for training, one that is being re-built... Mounting optics is a bit harder than on an AR15/AR10 type rifle. Again, Smith Enterprise and Fulton Armory are good sources.

Two years ago after teaching my section of the course at a SWAT carbine school presented by a large PD here, I decided to stick around and run through the rest of the day's drills and tests with the students. However, instead of using an optic equipped 6920 like normal, I chose to run an old school, iron sighted, CA civilian legal, 18" M1A that had all the crappy SA parts replaced with USGI ones. Last time I shot a SWAT course with iron sights was back in 2000 with a Colt 6520 carbine. The young studs were giving me a hard time about my old "musket"...until we started shooting. I was surprised how well things went--dumping 20 rounds into a stationary head size target at 100 m was easy, close in CQB drills and shooting on the move went well, and some scenario based tests (including simulated one arm injuries) posed no problems. The rifle fired 500 rounds of 155 gr Hornady AMAX with no failures to feed or function. In this era, I FAR prefer an AR15 in 5.56 mm or 6.8 mm, but it was interesting to see how well the old dog (both the rifle and me) could run and it was a lot of fun! One area that could be an issue on M14/M1A’s is the safety location--this is a huge liability concern for an LE rifle. The poor safety location on an M14/M1A is MOST definitely an issue for demanding LE tactical use, especially for entries/CQB--in fact, it pretty much makes it a non-starter for those missions.



The only reason I continue to own M1A's is that they are still "legal" and not restricted as "assault weapons" under CA's asinine laws (unlike AR's, AK's, FAL's, etc...). M1A's work OK as simple, rugged iron or possibly RDS sighted rifles of limited long term accuracy potential, kind of like a big AK. For mounting optics or any other precision role, there are far better choices. The only justification for my M1A's existence is to reside in the trunk of my POV's. For every other situation, I am reaching for the far superior ergonomics of an AR15. Now that viable modern designed 7.62x51 mm carbines are coming to the market, for example the 16” KAC SR25 EM and LaRue 16” OBR, I might consider switching over from an AR15 for the superior terminal performance offered by the 7.62x51 mm cartridge—but I would NEVER willingly choose to purchase an M1A in this day and age for serious/duty/precision use, given the substantially better options available in most areas.

http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a...4735#987104735

http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a...3673#939103673

http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a...5131010204/p/1

[Dot.Com]

It seems that getting the performance I want from the platform will be more of an undertaking than I thought. For the most part the general consensus is pointing towards just checking out an ar-10, and I may end up doing just that.

I was looking for some info, and I got exactly what I was looking for, thanks for all the help.

[TOrrock]

Doesn't mean you can't still have one to enjoy.

There's a lot to be said for the confidence inspiring feel of a 21" barreled M14 on the range.

It was America's last battle rifle. A piece of history.

And if I lived behind the lines in Kali like Doc does, I'd have an 18" Criterion barreled M14 Bush Rifle with an Aimpoint T-1 and light on it in a GI synthetic stock, just about like his set up there, rather than one of the neutered AK's or AR's that I'd be allowed to have there.

I know guys who grab their M1 Garands and Carbines out of the safe to watch Band of Brothers. Nothing at all wrong with that.

But, if you're looking for a precision tack driver, the AR system starts out being intrinsically more accurate, easier to keep that way, easier to mount optics to, and far superior ergonomics.

What's your price range?

[Dot.Com]

Oh well of course I may still get one, it just wouldn't be for what I planned.

Budget? I had planned to drop anywhere around 2,000 for the parts to make a fairly decent rifle(plus or minus a few hundred depending on how long it would take to acquire parts, if its gonna take a while, then the gun-fund has time to build up)

Again, until about a few days ago I had just started looking into it, and I don't exactly know how much everything in all would cost - but the setup in mind was just a basic wood stock and irons to begin with. Don't need to factor in optics for later down the line, as I already have that covered, and don't need to factor in ammo, because I already have that as well.

I have been saving up a lot for my next purchase, and money doesn't always have an opportunity to go to the gun-fund, so I don't mind paying out a little more buck at once for a better bang in the long run. If the springfields are going to fail on me, I don't particularly want to put more time/energy/and most importantly cash into it.