Sep 17 2007
Norinco M14 Gun Pron
My Norinco M14 is easily one of my favorite rifles. Purchased before they became readily available up here (from Marstar) I paid $500 for mine in used condition. It came with a cloth sling and a standard “Chu” wood stock which was unfit for firewood. I wasted no time acquiring a USGI stock for it, added a bipod and picked up a B-Square QD scope mount for the rifle (pics here)
(Click for larger image)
The B-Square mount was a problem from day one, even with loctite it would loosen off rendering the scope entirely useless. The B-Square mount was replaced with an ARMS18 mount (although mine is the older version with short segments of rail at the front and back). Money from this point was spent on accurizing the rifle rather than the asthetics (for the most part).
The Norinco trigger group was replaced with a USGI TRW trigger group, the “solid” flash suppressor was replaced with a current manufacture NM SA version (as was the rear sight). The Op Rod was replaced with a Rooster33 NM OpRod, the gas system was shimmed and the OpRod guide was locked down. The stock was repainted OD and the sole remaining area for upgrade remains the optics, which is presently a Tasco variable magnification scope that is not holding up to the beating the rifle is delivering.
Yet another fine rifle, to be sure.
Lesson learned on the Tascos, I last windage after 50 rounds.
They’d probably work well on a .22 or air rifle.
It’s kind of funny, two of your best rifles, get the least range time.
You might want to have the receiver heat treated.
Norinco M-14s have forged receivers ( good ), but they didn’t heat treat them properly … You will see accuracy degrade as the receiver stretches and headspace loosens up.
Once heat treated, a Norinco receiver is superior to a cast Springfield receiver.
+1 on the b-square advice … the damned things are crap. if you are putting a scout scope on a military rifle, use an S&K instead.
I’ve heard it from many mouths that some of the Norinco M-14s have soft bolts, too, so you might want to get a US bolt for it as well.
Piet: Ayup, a cruel irony, can’t afford to drag my favorites to the range.
-sigh-
Kirstopher: Actually we’ve had quite a few of these Norincos imported up here, and it seems the metalurgical issues were limited to the early Norinco/Polytech imports, the newer ones don’t seem to have the same QC problems.
I’m no expert, but those wiser than me over at CanadianGunNutz.com have beaten some up pretty good, and tested a bunch and the verdict was those currently being imported are far better than the older originals.
Trust me, I’ve done some serious reading on the Norcs when I first picked it up (even bought a precision mic for my brass to watch the headspacing as online stuff had the bolts as being “soft”) but have seen no problems with mine (except for the finish, the Norincos always seem to have a “cheaper” finish.)
Appreciate the heads-up however (particularly since the Norcs are so hard to date, it’d be difficult to tell which was a new one and which was an older one).
Hmmm … wouldn’t surprise me.
Norinco inported M-14 clones into the US for only about a year before “assault rifle” imports from China were banned for strictly political reasons.
If they have dealt with their hardness issue, then the Norinco receivers would be superior to cast Springfield Armory receivers, and maybe a bit inferior to original TRW receivers.
I saw one of these Chicom Norico rifles in a local gun shop, selling for about $800 and change. If I had the money it would’ve been mine. But, as fate has it, I don’t, damn car payment.
Kristopher: Don’t get me wrong, I’m not plugging the Norincos, they are cheap knock-offs of quality firearms. The price (up here anyway) is certainly right at about $400 for a Norc M1A, and the finish is usually substandard, but the rifles seem to function just fine.
The other argument is do you really want to support these guys by buying their product? I’ll admit I’d give it a second thought if I was buying the rifle today, but I bought it some time ago and have become rather attached to it.
Michael: $800? Wow… I dunno, for $800 I think I’d build one. I’ve sunk about $1000 total into mine so far between furniture, parts and accessories (damn scope mount was $200 alone).