M-14 Clone

[Judan_454]

I was just wondering if any of you guys know anything about the Norinco M-305.I know its a clone of a M-14 at less than half of the price of Springfield Ammory M1A.
For that kind of money would it be worth it to buy one?

[Ben]

M-14 Clone

I owned one for about a month , many yrs. ago.

The receivers were soft and had to be re-heat treated. Many quickly developed excessive head space. I guess you get what you pay for ...........

[Hardcast416taylor]

My brother and I both bought 1 of these back then. To say they were "rough" would be a compliment. The magazines that came with each rifle wouldn`t stay locked in the magazine well. We sold them about a week after buying them. I now have an M-1A, the magazines from the Norinco copy rifle needed reworking so they would stay locked in the M-1A. Made in China kinda says it all, by U.S.A.Robert

[godzilla]

Only bad thing I have heard/read of them is soft bolts. Those were soft and the general advice seems to be swap for GI and you have a good rifle.

Couple years back they were every where for $800 but I havent seen many now a days.

Recicvers are hammer forged and supposed to be closest to orginals, at least until LRB came onto the scene

[Bob in Revelstoke]

I have one and am quite happy with it. It is very accurate and so far, reliable. I have put a case of 1200 rnds of South African mil surp through it as well as a a case of Norinco ammo and am starting on my second case of Norinco.

[runfiverun]

i didn't know they were still being imported i thought clinton killed that when he killed the rest of the chinese imports.
i bought one for 400.00 a few years back and have just shot it off and on since then and haven't had any issues.
the kids have handed it back with smoke coming off the wood a time or two though, from going the 30 round mag in about 4 seconds.

[JeffinNZ]

Lots knocking around in NZ. Also lots of reports of Kabooms! I would not touch one.

[Artful]

What's causing the Kabooms down under?

[baker1425]

When those were hitting the US, there were supposed to be heat treatment issues. One of the fixes was to let Smith Enterprises work and heat treat the receiver. Some of the upgrades involved installing a GI bolt and some other parts to increase reliability. I've got a polytech and never had a problem with it. \\
Smith's site doesn't specifically that they still do this work. http://www.smithenterprise.com/products13.html

[JeffinNZ]

What's causing the Kabooms down under?

It appears to be discharging out of battery, ie: the locking lugs are not engaged fully. I can't comment on alleged soft lugs etc but if it is the case then whoa nelly.

The biggest irony I have seen with the M305's here in NZ is that folk buy one because they are cheap then spend a fortune on replacing the stock, front sight, trigger group and goodness knows what else. You end up with Grand Pappy's original axe..........with three new handles and a new head.

[KCSO]

Gee I guess i'll just cut to the chase and say it...JUNK!

[quasi]

there are M-14 forums on the internet, check them out. The Norinco M305- M14 is very popular here in Canada. They are about $400.00 or so, and seem to be better quality overall than the U.S. (and Tiwan) made Springfield M1A.

[MUSTANG]

I bought one in early 1988, as I recall it was Taiwain made (Not ChiCom made). Taiwan had bought the M-14 tooling from the US as I recall, and made the M-14 for their military. Most of the Taiwain M-14 import magazines come from this tooling as I understand.

I Shot over 3K rounds through it with no problems. Did fair in High Power matches with it. It was not any where near the quality of a Springfield Armory rifle, but adequate to my pocket book at the time.

Only reason I parted with it was because of a bad judgement call on my part shooting some surplus 7.62x51 ammo I bought from SAMCO Global Arms in 1990. The rounds had a linear green corrosion line where moisture had corroded the brass case. I cleaned all of the corrosion off, and then used them in training for a High Power match. When I picked up the empties for future reloading, I noted a "Burn Through" on the brass where the corrosion was. Inspecting the chamber, I discovered multiple linear gas cuts inside the chamber where the brass had burned through. :groner:

Rather than replacing the barrel; I sold it to a friend who wanted an M-14 clone, with full disclosure of the damage. I would not hesitate to buy another at a decent price, but would recognize they are not of the quality of my Springfield M1a's.

Mustang

[BoolitSchuuter]

It appears to be discharging out of battery, ie: the locking lugs are not engaged fully. I can't comment on alleged soft lugs etc but if it is the case then whoa nelly.

One possibility is incorrect timing of the locking lugs. Check to see if the firing pin tang clears the slot in the receiver bridge before the locking lugs on the bolt are fully engaged. The firing pin tang should not clear the bridge until the bolt is almost fully engaged. This was a not uncommon problem on the Norinco's that were imported into the U.S. Get a copy of Kuhnhausen's book on the M1, M14 for more details. I use this book for all the work I do on my M1's and M14S (Polytech).

[10x]

I have 3 of the M-305 (m-14 clones) rifles. No issues with any and over 3k fired .
With a quality scope mount system one will give MOA accuracy with Hirtenberg milsurp.
There are thousands of these guns sold in Canada every month and there is no mention of poor quality or issues or blowups.

[mike daniels]

i just bought a poly last nov shoots fine i have a frind who is trying to sell me a receiver its a unmarked norinco

[MtGun44]

The only one I have had anything to do with is a post-mortem on one that fired
out of battery, destroying the gun. Difficult to measure precisely without the
factory gauges, but it appears as if the bridge in the receiver with the little cam
surface that keeps the firing pin tail back until the bolt is all the way locked was
out of spec, so the firing pin could hit the primer with the bolt just barely out of
battery.

I wouldn't have one. Garand's design is a good one, but it demands precision in
manufacturing and many of the checks HAVE TO BE MADE WITH A COMPLEX
FACTORY JIG OR GAUGE. Without these (meaning being a military armorer,
basically) you cannot check the firing pin tail to tip length and cannot check to
see if the receiver bridge cam is correctly located. There are other things that
are also critical which require factory gauges to check. It is a design that requires
experienced and equipped factory support - great in active duty military, not so
great when built in China to questionable quality standards and darned hard to
check out for the average gun crank.

Bill

[BruceB]

There is a LARGE body of experience with these rifles now.

Go to

www.m14-forum.com

and do a search there for "Norinco", Polytech" and perhaps "M305".

The receivers have a very good reputation among the professionals who "build" these rifles into something usable.

The regular procedure is to fit a US-made M14 bolt, which takes care of the major issue, i.e.: soft bolts.

The rifles are NOT being imported into the US..... note that many of the posts on this thread are from Canada and other countries.

The last REAL M-14 I bought in Canada, around 1988 or so, cost me exactly $192.... yep, less than $200. It was an excellent-condition all-TRW rifle, and it served me well for many years, along with its stablemate.... ANOTHER TRW M-14.

Sure wish I could have brought them along when I immigrated to my (native) USA in '97.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I've had a few of these. Polytech were the best of the older ones that came into the US. My present one is a Polytech built by Clint McKee at Fulton Armoury. It has all USGI parts,the reciever is all thats left from the original rifle. The recievers,op rods and barrels were the best parts of the Chinese rifles!

The trigger groups are good if you change out the hammer and sear. These chinese parts are obviosly coming from people who have gone with USGI parts or commercial. Here is my rifle with a GI stock I lengthened for my long LOP!

Oh yea,I like the forged recievers as they go ting! ting! instead of thud,thud when you shoot them!

[zuke]

I've had for year's with no problem's. All original

[Hickok]

If anyone ever decides to scope their M1A, I can recommend the Basset scope mount. Good price and totally reliable on my M1a NM. It performs exactly as Mr. Basset says it does.

[BruceB]

[QUOTE=Hickok;. It performs exactly as Mr. Basset says it does.[/QUOTE]

The Basset nount certainly has good reviews.

Unfortunately, Mr. Basset passed away a couple months back.

His daughter has been reporting to the M14 Forum on the company's efforts to keep things running, and it sounds positive so far.

If I decide to mount glass on my M1A, it will likely be in a Basset mount.

[762 shooter]

+1 on the Bassett.

Beauty in simplicity and function.

762

[marlin39a]

I have 2 Springfield Armory Inc. M1A rifles. A Standard and a scout. Like BRUCE B says, go the M14 Forum and follow them. Lots of factual information there. Gauge all your ammo and keep your M1A clean and properly greased.

[Dutchman]

Polytech M14S. Me shooting in Lima, Ohio 2002. This one was rebuilt by Fulton Armory to include USGI parts & bolt. Stock is French walnut. Very nice rifle to shoot. Flawless functioning. They had to pry it out of my sweaty hands.

http://images109.fotki.com/v82/photos/2/28344/1033768/dutchm14-vi.jpg

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I have a Polytech version with a GI bolt fitted and a GI NM flash suppressor. Makes a beautiful ping sound every time it's fired. Accurate with the German .308 milsurp I have in poly bags. I'm sure it would do better with hand loads, but I haven't gotten around to it.

[Tackleberry41]

Seems the Chinese made rifles are hit or miss, some are great, some marginal, some junk that require alot of effort to make them right.

I had one of the Fed Ordnance, M14A's they sold a while back. Wasn't chinese, bought it in 89 before everything was made in China. There are some who rave about them, some who said they were only worth the GI parts used to assemble some of them. And these were made by a US company, and had issues with making them right. Mine didnt have any issues, never had any problems with it, sold it not long ago. But some would ask about it, Fed Ord, nope didnt want it.

So you want an M1A, either you need to know what your buying, or pay the cash and get something that wont have issues.

[QIDPlb]

I have an early Polytech with no problems.

[jr86]

I had 2 norinco m305s one short barrel, and one full length. Both offered roughly 4MOA groups with anything and everything I could do to work with it. Full length was a 2007 and it had a .311 bore. Both I swapped stocks on for USGI and used NM OP rod spring guide. M14.ca scope mount on one with a 10x bushnell elite tactical. I ran half dozen different factory loads through it, my own reloads of different recipes and some cast ammo. Could never get it to where I liked it. So I sold em both.

I wouldn't waste my money on anything other than an American made one.

i prefer bolt guns anyways :)