M14 to Cut

[Mencius]

Ok, I have a chinese M14. I was thinking about cutting the barrel down to 16 to 18". I was even considering shortening the stock a touch to make it a little faster. I might put a muzzle break on it as well, depending on how the recoil ends up. Do I need to re-barrel or can I cut the original barrel? Any thing I should consider?

 

[RaceM]

Cutting down a gas operated weapon sometimes leads to cycling failures. You'd prolly need to dial up the gas a hair to compensate. When the Russkis chopped the AK real short (AKM?) they ended up needing to add a chambered brake to the barrel to add duration to the gas for reliable cycling. Doubt that'd be needed on a 14.

 

[1KPerDay]

What front sight setup do you plan to use?

 

[Mencius]

I was probably thinking of just using the one that is already on there. Any thoughts on what I should use?

 

[1KPerDay]

If you want to use the one on there you'll have to have splines cut for it as well as threads. It would probably be cheaper and much less trouble to get an 18.5" "bush" or "scout" barrel and have it installed by a knowledgeable smith. You might consider having them do a USGI bolt conversion while you're at it; some Chinese bolts have proven soft.

BTW if your current flash hider has a bayonet lug and you want to use it, 18.5" is the shortest you can go and still have enough room to remove the gas plug for cleaning/disassembly. I'm not sure if the 18.5" barrels have larger gas ports abut I believe the 16" variants (springfield SOCOM) do, as well as some modifications to the gas cylinder/plug.

You might want to step over to the m14forum.com forums and ask around.

 

[Mencius]

Ok, thanks for the thoughts. I will see what I can come up with.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Look into the La France M-14 K to get an idea as to how deep the end of the pool that you're about to dive into really is. I had one, dead stone loved it but let it move on when the offer passed $5,000 about 10 years ago. He was using modified M-60 gas systems then went to a custom scratch-built system at the end.

Also, for what it's worth that character Ron Smith'll probably work up the assembly for you but that might be a crap shoot (NPI).