M14 Project

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Panzerschwein

Panzerschwein

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I want to put together an M14 project:

Springfield M1A Standard
USGI M14 stock
Faux selector lever pinned to "semi-auto only" how many M14s were issued
USGI extractor (I hear they are much better than SA extractors)
USGI web sling

Should be much cheaper than a Fulton etc. and will look just like a real USGI M14 that has the selector lever set to the semi-auto position. Thoughts? Road blocks? I have oft heard the SA M1A is not up to snuff as a forged Fulton etc. but this will mainly be a fun range shooter for me.
 
The SAI M1A has plenty of snuff for what you're wanting to do. Get the standard grade

Brownells sells the feaux selector lever and bayonet lugged flash suppressor. Those things and a good GI sling and you're all set.

You can get a replacement extractor and toss it in your range bag for piece of mind, but honestly, the rumors of their failure are highly overstated and more internet lore than fact.

Welcome to the dark side!
 
You can get a used M1A with mostly GI parts for around $1100. The one I got is a 1995 and the only aftermarket part is the oprod.
 
Cooldill,

Actually the lever that has the markings on it was not on 3 out of four rifles at all. In the place of the lever was a cylinder bit that was pinned on. Only the M14A1 and M14E2 generally had the actual selector lever.

What the M1A is missing is the entire auto disconector system. This was a long rod like affair with a sprinc loaded plunger in the back that was pulled forward by the operating rod as it locked the bolt forward. This motion was transferred to the sear in the trigger group, which is why the M-14 sear has that little tit on the right side. The right side of the M14 receiver is releaved for this rod by both being thinner than the M1A part and having a relief about the center of the distance between the selecter lever and the front of the disconector. The bit of the M1A receiver that the opod rides on is a good bit thicker than the M14.

If you would like I will try to post some photos from one of the GI manuals to show you what I am writing about.

FYI when I used my M2 bipod on an M1A I found it teneded to shoot high, as much as two to three inches at 100 yards, depending on how much forward force was placed on it. This was the case with a standard stock or the E2 stock. If you go with the E2 stock (if you can find one these days you will want the M2A1 bipod (though a lot are marked M2) that has asling loop on it and a bullet stabilizer as well. As the last uses the bayonet lug as an attachment point you can not use the bayonet with it in place.
 
kBob reminds me that if you want a selector switch you'll have to find a GI stock (wood or fiberglass). There is no notch for it as they come from SAI
 
kBob said:
Cooldill,

Actually the lever that has the markings on it was not on 3 out of four rifles at all. In the place of the lever was a cylinder bit that was pinned on. Only the M14A1 and M14E2 generally had the actual selector lever.

What the M1A is missing is the entire auto disconector system. This was a long rod like affair with a sprinc loaded plunger in the back that was pulled forward by the operating rod as it locked the bolt forward. This motion was transferred to the sear in the trigger group, which is why the M-14 sear has that little tit on the right side. The right side of the M14 receiver is releaved for this rod by both being thinner than the M1A part and having a relief about the center of the distance between the selecter lever and the front of the disconector. The bit of the M1A receiver that the opod rides on is a good bit thicker than the M14.

If you would like I will try to post some photos from one of the GI manuals to show you what I am writing about.

FYI when I used my M2 bipod on an M1A I found it teneded to shoot high, as much as two to three inches at 100 yards, depending on how much forward force was placed on it. This was the case with a standard stock or the E2 stock. If you go with the E2 stock (if you can find one these days you will want the M2A1 bipod (though a lot are marked M2) that has asling loop on it and a bullet stabilizer as well. As the last uses the bayonet lug as an attachment point you can not use the bayonet with it in place.
Click to expand...

Very cool, thank you. I am wanting mine to look like a USGI M14 that has been "locked" to semi-auto only fire as I have read many were. How exactly that looks is still a mystery to me and I would love more info on how to duplicate that look.

I am wanting a wood stocked, iron sighted, standard issue M14 look for sure. No big scopes, plastic stocks, none of that jazz. Just a 1950-when wood n' steel USA battle rifle! :)

PS: I am selling my PTR-91 as we speak to fund the project. I have found I don't so much like the gun. Ergonomics are just not to my liking and I find myself leaving the rifle behind when heading to the range. No bueno. But I love shooting M1 Garands but the .30-06 ammo is more expensive than I'd like. I have handled M1As in the past several times and they just feel so good! The warm wood on my cheeck, the beautiful aperture sights... that parkerized steel... oh I'm getting the vapors!! :D

Thanks for the help on this one, gang. I have always wanted an "M14" but had to settle on the PTR because at the time just couldn't afford it. Now I've saved up and am finally ready to get an American battle rifle, the one of my dreams!
 
Cooldill said:
Oh? I would love to know where to look. :)
Click to expand...

Just hanging out on classifieds for me. If your area/community has a gun forum you'll find one sooner or later. Bought mine for about $1050 and see them in the same range now and then.
 
In our arms room at Ft Hood we had a bag of the selector switches. No M-14's just a bag of selectors. Circa 1971
 
my M-1A made in 1983(lower pic) has been a joy to shoot and as been equal to the M-14 i had in vn. i do have a bassit scope mount for it, but i like to shoot the open sights. the only time it bulked was when i loaded some ammo and only neck sized the brass and had to hit the oprod on the first round to lock the bolt. eastbank.
 

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Just a warning of what can happen to you once you start playing with the M1A. This is my best bud from about 1978. He was smitten with his M1A. When he came across an E2 stock and M60 sling, he had to have them. He actually fired the rifle in this configuration, from that position and with the roller skates. By round four or five he was noticeably rolling back wards if he did not apply his toe break as in that shot on his balcony.

Behold! Das Skatten Jadger!

skaten.jpg
-kBob
 
eastbank,

Nice shots. I got to shoot those Froggy rifles with the French Army up in Stettin I believe summer of '74. Iliked their pistol a bit, that rifle was OK and I was disappointed with their SMG and GPMG. That was the same week a German senior NCO about ready to retire was staring at my M60 during the class I was giving the Germans. Afterwards he came up and explained he thought he "Knew" this weapon and yet it was "wrong". I explained that it was two weapons he might know, the FG42 and MG42 melded together. Turns out he had used both in 1944.........

The next year I was talking to a French Commando Officer that was terribly upset that in 1975 there was talk of replacing those 7.5 Fr semi autos with a 5.56mm. He had some hands on with the HK93 as a result and had already had experience with an HK51 in 7.62NATO. He was appalled that the French Government was considering going to a smaller caliber. He did not think much of the M-16A1 I was showing off at the event. He expressed concerns about not being able to effectively engage air craft with the 5.56. His men had run the same competition I had just completed with their MAS 49/56 (? been a while) rifles and not done as well as my team (we carried the host's G3 rifles in the events), but finished. He and one of his NCOs were surprised to see a similar gas system on the M-16A1. They were unaware of both the earlier Swede M42b and their own WWI semi auto that used much the same system.

Although I get called a liar everytime I say it, both the French soldiers that I shot with in '74 and the Commando officer in '75 complained that the MAS 49 system suffered stoppages in some weather from carbon build up. May haps it is impossible, but that was what they complained of.

I first played with one in the early winter of 1973 when we met some French privates "guarding" a jeep outside our favorite eating gastehaus (drinking was better down the block as was scenery). After a bit of talking they allowed us to play with the rifles, an SMG and an old 3.5 inch Super Bazooka. Besides the Super Bazooka, the jeep and radios were also obsolete US gear. In the midst of that adventure I got my first run in with a Regular French Army NCO......nasty sort, that.

Anyhow feel free to post about that Froggy Rifle and include more pictures.

-kBob
 
sarge7402,

In late summer of '73 we had M-14E2s in the arms room, in Neu Ulm FRG.......for about a week after my arrival. Having seen them , when they asked what job I wanted I had quickly voluntered to be an Auto Rifleman. Never got to shoot one of those. I had shot both the M-14A1 and M-14E2 as auto rifles at Ft. Polk when I was allowed to join a Reserve unit doing their summer camp. I shot a straight up semi auto with the lock M14 also that summer for a night vision class with an AN/PVS -2 "Starlight Scope" on it.

In 1979 there were some M14 parts and magazines at the Florida State University ROTC arms room.....but no rifles of any kind, not even demilled M1903A3 rifles like the high schools had. We occasionally borrowed M16A1's from a reserve unit and eventually got a few rubber training rifles, both M-16A1 and AK47. I took one of the AKs home and gave it to a modeler buddy to paint. Turned a few heads with that one. Used it in a class on east European communist systems. The instructor assigned each of us to teach the class as though we were in a East European Communist College. My day came and he thought I was a no show and started teaching. Three minutes later I burst into the room with his apprentice who was wearing his Russian business suit with Komsomal pin on the lapel and myself wearing Czech Airborne Camo, jack boots and a faux Russian helmet while brandishing the painted up rubber AK. We "arrested" the instructor for counter revolutionary teaching and carted him off. I then stood in the door way as the Teaching assistant taught about the value of keeping the educational system "pure". I got an A.

Took the same rubber rifle to the 1980 World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention and Dr. Jerry Pournelle excitedly snatched it from my hands only to be disappointed that it turned out to be solid rubber! What a difference a few short years can make. What, six years later, real AKs were cheaper and more common than the rubber one?

-kBob
 
i shoot the 49/56(adjustable gas value added) and the 36/51, both had been rearsenaled to like new condition. i use stick powder, no ball powder in them. we owned the night with the starlights(mounted on M-14,s) in vn. eastbank.
 

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Cooldill said:
Is the M1A at least close?
Click to expand...

My then-brand-new NM M1A wouldn't shoot straight right out of the box, and after attempting two barrel replacements, SAI said that their receiver was off in all three axes and would need to build me a new rifle (which was handled under their lifetime warranty). It took over two months to get it back, and I was never happy with how the replacement shot.

Contrast that to my brother's standard weight M1A that is boringly accurate (and at a fraction of the cost).

You may get lucky, or you may end up doing their QA.
 
Cooldill

I changed out the original (birch?) stock on my brother's Standard M1A with one of Springfield Armory's walnut stocks. Fit was very good in all the right places with little if any extra sanding or fitting required.
 
I have the standard SAI walnut stock and a USGI fiberglass stock. Both fit perfectly and are a 30 second swap
 
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