Posted on 04/03/2010 1:03:04 PM PDT by neverdem
hussein happy
I have eight MNs. Six 91/30s and two M44s. I love them all! I wasn't looking to get that many, but I just kept finding really nice examples on sale and couldn't pass them up.
;-)
Close-up view on the controls of the military M14 rifle, including fire mode selector switch (on receiver above the trigger)
Source URL: http://world.guns.ru/assault/as15-e.htm
Source URL: http://www.lrbarms.com/
See that metal lever missing below and behind the rear sight. The lower M14 would only fire semi, IIRC. My memory is 40 years old.
There’s actually still production of them, but re-branded as the M21 and the M25 with some modernizations.
Match hollow points don’t expand. The mk 262 and M118 are match hp.
The Hague Convention prohibits expanding bullets.
Put a few thousnd rounds through one.
Tubb shoots his T2k now, not service rifle.
Regardless, match 5.56 loses nothing to 762 NATO at range windage wise. The AR platform dominates service competition and that’s not because the M16 is the issue rifle. The M14 is harder to keep running accuracy wise and harder to shoot well. The AMU proved that in the 90s.
I called the selector switch a ‘key’ because it was removable. Unless they changed it, I’m pretty sure that all M-14s were select fire.
I saw why it wasn’t used as full-auto when they handed one to a desk-jockey-looking sergeant to fire. When he pulled the trigger the barrel rose to near vertical and he looked to fall backwards before he released the trigger.
The M-14 manuals showed a variety of models that were likely never used. With a wire stock, with a pistol grip (meant for full-auto and, if the old brain is reliable, designated as M-2) and so on.
So they went down to the PX and bought
Remington model 700's and Redfield Widefield scopes
If I remember correctly, military ball ammo is designed to wound, not to kill, with the thought that it takes more soldiers out of action to look after the wounded. Expanding and lead ammunition was banned because of the horrific wounds it inflicted - for those that lived.
The trench sweeper. I have learned a lot on this thread.
They could be. That's why the ATF got antsy about them. The Army liked the M1 Garand action, and they could simplify logistics when they eliminanated the BAR from the automatic riflemen, hence the M14 with the new NATO round.
I think that the armorer in many units removed that external selector switch. I did infantry advanced individual training in early 1970. IIRC, they gave us a few days of familiarization at the range with the M14, only semi. My first unit in Vietnam was a security platoon that still had them, without that external selector switch.
IMHO, it's the closest thing to the right medicine for the problem presented in this article. With a few modern upgrades, metallurgy and materials it could be even better.
Very nice picture. What an incredible weapon, and does that soldier have a T patch? 36ths makes it even better!!
Our home boys!!
>FWIW, I suspect the ranges also depend on what part of Afghanistan you are in, but 500+ meters is a LONNGGG way for an Afghan to try shooting.<
That’s a dumb thing to say, especially since you are “Retired military.”
Back when, you would cook up a target load by gradually reducing the powder load, and bullet weights and tracking the group sizes until they started to grow, again.
Example: My father-in-law used to shoot NRA target .45s out in California. He used to collect all the LC match brass that the service shooters would leave behind. He cooked up a load that was 3.5 grains of Bullseye and (I think), a 230gr. semi-wadcutter. The load barely has enough steam to work the action on his 1911, and the case would frequently trickle off your gun hand and fall at your feet.
He had a stray dog come around his property, that was covered with mange and ticks, and he used his pistol, with his target loads, on the trusting dog at about 5 feet. The bullet bounced off the dog's skull, and he hit the dog twice more as it ran. (Imagine hitting a running dog with a hand gun, twice, at 25 yards. He was that good.) He was very shaken, that he had blundered so badly. The dog went under the farm truck and was cowering and whimpering when I went out there with a pump gun and ended it. Later I had to remind him that he was shooting one of his target loads.
I suppose it's because of the millions of rounds that the CMP gave away or sold after WW2.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.