Chinese Norinco M14 308cal

[1911crazy]

Well I seen a local dealer offering one of these at a very affordable price($799).  So affordable its under $400 with some trades.  Since she is a norinco m14 and i had the 308 nato field headspace gauge on hand already when i got home right away i checked it out and she passed the headspace test.  Now i have a shooter on my hands.   I can't wait to put some heat in the barrel.  Luckily i had some room on my plastic plus the trade in's helped out too. (doing some safe cleaning soon)  I don't have a clue about these yet and i'm interested in getting some orginal m14 G.I. parts to stock up on them incase i do the fulton armory upgrade maybe myself.  But from the ones i talked with they have there's still in the orginal condition and there still ticking.  This tells me there getting maybe a bad rap and there a good gun. I mainly grabbed it because of the steel forged receiver and the chrome lined bore. There suppose to be one of the best m14 platforms for doing builds.  I hope its accurate too. I know they reharden the forged receiver up to the eary 50's rockwell and they install all the G.I parts.   We will see soon.

Any thoughts or ideas???

[Bugflipper]

Fulton has deemed the receiver issue to be a myth. They are forged and hardened from 5100 steel according to them. Many accounts of 25,000 rounds plus going through stock chinese receivers with no problem. A little advise for your rifle is to buy this book. It covers the norinco and polytec better than any other. http://www.amazon.com/M14-Complete-Assembly-Guide/dp/1888722169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1308172800&sr=8-1 And is written by Walt Kuleck of fulton armory.

[1911crazy]

Thanks i ordered the book today.  I would like to do a complete disassembly, a GI cleaning and inspection on it and lube it with moly. I been reading great things about these rifles and the myth's thats said about them.  So far more good news than bad about them.  I guess i got another awesome chinese norinco product to play with. It sounds like another forged steel quality norinco product.

[SHOOTALL]

I have seen several but never shot one . I have shot their 1911 and it was good. At one time Bill Wilson would use a Norinco 45 frame and slide to make a custom gun. Said the holes were in the rright places and the metal was good . I hear the parts on the new Springfields come from Norinco or other venders in China but don't know for sure.

[Bugflipper]

I guess the made in China syndrome has plagued them as being trash by the M14 purists. Same thing goes for the polytec and norinco Aks. They were deemed as trash but 30 years later are deemed to be the best ever imported  by the AK experts.

The last several years have shown the chinese m14 can win in competition. I think it was 4 years ago a bone stock all chinese norinco won at Perry. A lot of fellows are running a chinese receiver on an all GI parts gun.
Good luck with your new rifle. Hopefully it will be a good shooter.

[mauserand9mm]

It's been a long time since I've seen one of these but I recall they shot very well (on par with the M14). The only thing was that they had horrible clubby wooden stocks at that time but this was easily fixed with an M14 stock.

The flash hider also lacked the bayonet lug (as did the Sprinfield M1As) but could be replaced with the GI version I guess. There was a "stabiliser" that was made for the M14 for those that spent more time on auto - it was in fact a type of brake. It slipped over the original flash hider and tightened onto the bayonet lug. It helps with normal fire too. I used to shoot competition with an M14 and we used to shoot prone with a biped alot. Without the stabiliser the rifl would tend to jump and wander to the left, with the stabiliser it just sat there and allowed fast repeat shots.

[keith44]

I've never owned nor have I ever fired a Norinco rifle.  I do have a 9mm single stack mag semi auto Norinco handgun.  I do not recall the model # but it is 9mm parabellum.  I bought this gun in the late 80's or early 90's and the only complaint I ever had with it is the tendency it has to rust.  Or rather had, I parkerized it.  Accutate enough for what ever you'd want it for, out to 30 paces.  I must assume the rifle will be as well suited for it's task as well.

[Airsporter]

As I remember, despite misinformation from years ago, the receivers are fine.  Probably closest to thing to the actual M14.  Its the bolts that were a problem.  A bit on the soft side, which may eventually lead to excess headspace.  And the barrel, while good, may not be compatable with a US GI bolt.  When rebuilding I think most just use the receiver.         

Since you have a headspace gauge, I would shoot it and enjoy.  Check headspace and deal with it if it becomes an issue.  Fulton Armory knows these rifles well if/when the time comes.

BTW, as I understand it, our brothers to the north in Canada can still buy these cheap.

http://www.marstar.ca/gf-norinco/M-14S.shtm

[1911crazy]

While cleaning it in very small letters/numbers is 308cal.  I checked the headspace with the 308win field gauge and it passed too. One swipe with the bore brush and she is looking back at me its so shiney(chrone lining). I'm not sure if the sights are worth the national match upgrade.  I may shoot it and let it sit till the winter to wrk on it.

I can't find any excessive wear on it at all.  The bolt looks great. Down the road if problems occur it may go to fulton for a make over. Or i may get a fulton armory m14 but thats my only purchase like this for my lifetime.  I like the oow BAR too.  I know owning the american made military stuff may get expensive.  I really don't want a fancy car....

[mauserand9mm]

The chromed bores are an excellent idea. I only ever used patches (with solvent) on a pull through and it always cleaned up any 2 or 3 patches on my M14. Oh yeah, vinegar will remove the carbon "burn" mark on the chromed gas piston - once again cleaned after each shooting session.

[1911crazy]

The gas piston looks like new its that clean.  I lubed it lightly with moly and assembled it.  I didn't see anywear in the moving metal parts inside the receiver.  The gas sytem and ejection parts look like new.  It makes me think they just ran the bolt by hand and didn't fire it that much. I just see the wear mark from the roller on the bolt on the receiver thats it. Just the finish is gone so there is really no wear. The whole gun is lubed with moly now and the trigger is smooth and (sear) feels awesome too. A little moly on the sear can make the worst trigger feel good.

[rdmallory]

CMP Still has M14 parts kits in stock if you need anything.


DOug

[1911crazy]

I have one repair which seems to be common on the m1a's & m14's the op rod guide is a tad loose.  I have the option to use loctite or knurl the barrel so its a tighter fix.  The lubing the op rod and guide with moly will reduce the chances of this problem from happening aqain.  I think its either not fitted properly when there manufactured or using the wrong lube causes the op rod to bind.  I see that oil is used many times inplace of using a grease in the semi-auto's. A new op rod guide is only $11.  So with my investment i'm up to $382.  I'm still under $400.  After she is all tweeked in i'm sure she is worth $1,200.   CZY

[jcn59]

I had one ten years or so ago.  The chinese stock wasn't nice enough to make a fence post out of it.   Fagen was going out of business and I got the complete stock, black lam. for 65 bucks.  I went through most of the accurizing trick stuff.  With a scope I could get about 2.5 minutes out of it.  Never had any problems with it after 4-500 rounds.  Nice enough rifle at about $700. then.

[1911crazy]

It had the brown ugly plastic stock and now I painted it with the epoxy aluma hyde II spray paint from Brownells in Black matte.  The stock looks awesome now.  I put the national match recoil spring guide and the heavy duty spring from wolf.  I found out it has a USGI trigger already installed in it.  It headspaces at the 1.637" but its snug so its good to shoot now. The chrome bore looks back at me its so shiney.  I'm going to sight it in and put it away.
 
I fixed the loose op rod guide block with 620 loctite for cylinderical parts bonding.  I used the orginal roll pin to help align it.  Once the loctite hardened I banged out the orginal roll pin and re reamed it to 1/8" then loctited the new pin inplace too.  The block took a beating with just the 620 loctite holding it so i'm sure its a good fix.  The op rod was assembled with moly on it too so now i't won't ever bind or make the guide block come loose again.
 
Thread locker loctite is for locking threads as were the 620 loctite is for bonding cylinderical mating parts.   I've used the 620 loctite on tapered shafts with sheaves and never had a problem.  It can take up to .015" gap.  My guide block maybe had .0005" to ,.001" max if that.

[1911crazy]

I've never owned nor have I ever fired a Norinco rifle.  I do have a 9mm single stack mag semi auto Norinco handgun.  I do not recall the model # but it is 9mm parabellum.  I bought this gun in the late 80's or early 90's and the only complaint I ever had with it is the tendency it has to rust.  Or rather had, I parkerized it.  Accutate enough for what ever you'd want it for, out to 30 paces.  I must assume the rifle will be as well suited for it's task as well.

Is your 9mm pistol a tokarev??   These chinese norinco tokarev's came in 9mm luger and in 7,62x25 Tok too.  I have two brand new unshot chinese norinco tok's in there orginal boxes one in 9mm luger and one in 7,62x25 tok.  I have another chinese norc tok in 9mm luger also which i hope to shoot soon.

[1911crazy]

I had one ten years or so ago.  The chinese stock wasn't nice enough to make a fence post out of it.   Fagen was going out of business and I got the complete stock, black lam. for 65 bucks.  I went through most of the accurizing trick stuff.  With a scope I could get about 2.5 minutes out of it.  Never had any problems with it after 4-500 rounds.  Nice enough rifle at about $700. then.

I'm going to benchrest it with the surplus south african 308 FMJ 147gr  ball ammo first.  I know already this ammo has been accurate in all my other 308's so far.  If the norc m14 can't shoot 1 1/2" groups at 100yds i know its not the ammo.  I have some of my reloads too there 145gr FMJBT.   CZY