Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum The CMP M-14 Rifles...

I inherited about 10000 rounds of .308
Need to find something to complement that inheritance.
I've been debating on a Springfield but if that M-14 comes in at the right price I may go in that direction.

My dad tried to get a Garand back in late 80's(?) from CMP. Wasn't successful.

I love my SOCOM 16, got it from a buddy on here. Killed a couple deer with it.

I don't know the CMP's stance but I've had several Garands over the years and have two now. Am also on my third M1A. I'll add a couple of comments. M1As are difficult to scope. If you don't know what you are doing or have a quality mount you will waste a lot of ammo. I tried with my first one and finally gave up. Didn't even consider a scope for my next two.

Ref the ammo, the weak point on both rifles is the operating rod, more so on the Garand than the M1A. With the Garand the oprod extends to the gas port on the end of the barrel. Too much gas - too much pressure - too much recoil and you bend the oprod. This was so prevalent that the .gov did a modification to the oprod so it would bend instead of crack.

The M1A's gas port directs the gas into a chamber to a piston that strikes the oprod. So the piston takes the beating instead of the oprod.

I use a Shuster plug in my Garand. This is an overpressure valve that directs overpressure outwards and away from the oprod. Eliminates any possibility for overpressure. Its adjustable. When I'm firing reloads or commercial I open it all the way which makes the rifle a single shot. Then as I fire I close it until the rifle ejects the spent cases. I do this with any change of ammo.

The last weak point for both rifles is again the oprod. The oprod has a small tab that inserts into a slot in the receiver. There is a small cutout where it is inserted. With use and inattention the tab will wear and pop out of the receiver slot. The main cause of this is shooters pulling it outwards as they chamber rounds and open the bolt. The first inspection I do with either rifle is open the bolt while applying outward pressure on the oprod. If it pops out of the slot you will need another one. They aren't cheap.

I had a M14 in basic and AIT as a 12B Combat Engineer. I also had a M14 in Vietnam for a while but sent it on down the line as soon as I could because it was heavy and I had a lot more firepower with a lot less weight using a M16.

Either rifle is a good one. Anyone is welcome to shoot mine.

They are cool but I have an Armalite AR-10(T) Carbine with a bunch of mags so that checks my Battle Rifle box in my arsenal.

The M14 was a great rifle and I get why they designed it off the M1 but things changed and there is a reason they were not in service very long... A fine weapon. But either way you just couldn't control it firing a burst. Wasn't happening.

Don't need one. But I got a lot of stuff I don't need. Ar-10 is 10x better.

This 100%. I've owned two DPMS AR10s. Good design, flat top with a rail so easy to mount a scope, simple to clean and maintain, reliable and unbelievably accurate. They can however be sensitive to reloads. Sent them on down the line when I stopped deer hunting.

Of the three main battle rifles of the 1960s (FAL, G3, M14) the FAL was the best.

I own 2 built on military rifle kits. All military parts except receiver. I ordered 2 hot forged LBR receivers and had them built by a military retired armorer. I love mine and shoot 7.62x54 surplus and hunt with 308 ammo

I have a Mini-14 and a Mini-30. Both based on the Garand/M-14 design.

I often wonder if the Mini-14 had been selected instead of the Armalite, how good would the Mini-14 family be right now and would we have all forgotten about the AR-15 as some stupid kid's toy rifle by now.

I'm still of the camp that if you put as much R&D into the Mini-14 family, it would be a better rifle than the current crop of service rifles and be much more reliable too. I've never liked the AR platform. I just never thought it was robust enough for a battle rifle. And yes, with the same level of R&D the Mini-14 family could be just as light as the AR family.

After having AR10 and M1a my tanker is more enjoyable to shoot for some reason.
I shoot mostly 7.62 nato and put an extended mag release on it and barrel thread adapter from
SEI. It shoots suppressed well with a vented gas plug. Never have shot a FAL though.