New Lease on Life for the Beloved M-14

Military.com ^ | November 13, 2008 | Eric R. Poole

[Blood of Tyrants]

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated how critically important snipers are to a fight marked by urban canyons and high-mountain caves. Problem is, those highly-trained sharpshooters are in short supply, and the need for accurate, long-range fire has outpaced the services' ability to field one-shot killers.

So both the Army and Marine Corps began a program to seed infantry squads with so-called "designated marksmen" -- call them "snipers-lite."

The growing need to equip these new marksmen with accurized rifles prompted the Army to reconsider the role of the venerable M-14 rifle for the war on terror. Back in Desert Storm, armorers from the 10th Special Forces group took M-14s equipped with a match barrels and fitted a gas piston on them for optimal performance, re-designating it the M-25. They replaced the stock with a McMillan M1A fiberglass one, developed a scope mount and added a Bausch & Lomb 10x40mm fixed-power optic or a Leupold Mark 4.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Interesting how a 50 year old rifle is now the hottest thing in the Army and Marine Corps.

[OneWingedShark]

>Interesting how a 50 year old rifle is now the hottest thing in the Army and Marine Corps.

Indeed, and yet the DOD keeps pumping money into the M-16 family...

[EagleUSA]

They need the ballistics of the 7.62mm (.308 Win) round. The little 5.56mm is no good for long range sniping.

[Chinstrap61a]

It was great weapon in Vietnam and it still is.

I carried mine well into 1967 and had possibly had the last one in the 1st Marine Division. I had to strip machinegun belts to fill my magazines.

When I got hit, my Lieutenant said "I'm sorry that you're hurt, Rick - but can I have your M-14?". Still have my rifle card for that puppy.

[soroptimist]

Shame no one used one on McNamara when he pushed the M-16 into a bunch of kids hands in Nam.

A comment like this is out of bounds.

[Lysandru]

Yes, but what about the M110?

[KoRn]

"They need the ballistics of the 7.62mm (.308 Win) round. The little 5.56mm is no good for long range sniping."

So very true. The 5.56 is best used against paper targets while plinking on a Saturday afternoon with your Bushmaster. If you want to go to war, take a .308.

The 5.56 is good at some things, but sucks if you need to penetrate THROUGH something to KILL a target, especially outside of 200 meters.

[redstateconfidential]

The M14 SOCOM 11 is called the "Black Rifle of Death" in certain circles.Too bad I don't have $1900 layin around.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep, the Aussies carried the L1A1 version of the FAL. Reliable as hell but nowhere hear the accuracy of the M14. I, and other FAL enthusiasts have worked to make a FAL into a sniper rifle. I make custom heavy barrels for them using Israeli gas blocks allowing me to make the barrel as thick as 0.858". Another fellow made custom buttstocks and grips for them.

Here is the one I made using a Remington 700 barrel, free floating front handguard, bipod, and custom buttstock.

[Frantzie]

My apologizes but how many young men died because a less than adequate weapon was procured by someone who did not have a clue. if it comes down to politicians and our kids in uniform - I support our soldiers every time.

Nixon to his credit had a real soldier in Creighton Abarams who probably could have salavaged JFK/LBJ’s war.

I went to the military.com web site to read the article and comments but soldiers and ex-soldiers who have shot M-16 and M-14s and our kids are still paying for McNamara’s actions.

[randomhero97]

Found a SOCOM II locally for $1592 and change.

[Parley Baer]

Hehehe. During the posible riots after the election my M1A was one of my primary rifles just in case. The other was my M1 Garand.

[AAABEST]

I’m not sure why they don’t simply issue them the Remington 700 (M24).

It shoots 7.62, it’s already used by the military and it’s a far more accurate than the M14.

[Frantzie]

Sweet! What a beauty.

I have a Bushmaster carbine purchased pre Y2K and still sitting in the case. I know pistols better and need some training. I am a bit paranoid about getting a stove pipe so it sits in the case. :-(

I heard AKs because of the low costs slop/relibility are like my Ruger 9 mm in they never jam.

I was looking at DSA’s STGs and FALs and such. They have gone up a bit. Looks like they may some nice ones.

[yarddog]

I recall reading here on FR a few years back where the Army was destroying M-14’s. Good thing they didn’t get them all.

[Frantzie]

i scanned the article and I am no gun expert. It looks like they wanted to have a gun with more ammo and they reqorked the barrels to make it more accurate. They said they wanted “sniper lite.” I guess they want a gun with ammo for a firefight plus a scope to reach out to touch someone to send them to see Allah.

[Frantzie]

Unreal. Sound like the govt. There used to be a program where the public could buy one surplus rifle. M1 Garand???

[Frantzie]

SEALS have been using it too. their rifle of choice?

[Blood of Tyrants]

For stalking and sniping, the Rem 700 is the better choice.

Because of the ability to put more rounds on target in the same amount of time, the M14 is the better choice. Plus the Rem 700 would have to be reloaded one cartridge at a time. Something you don’t want to do while people are shooting at you.