.243win M-14

[hillbilly]

fellas, I have just ordered a norinco M-305 which is a clone of the springfield M-14 and was planning to use it as an occasional varminter in conjunction with my remington 700 ADL 22-250. About an hour ago I had a brain-storm after reading an advertisement for DSA inc. that offers their SA58 in .308, .260, and .243, and as i plan to use this rifle for wolves and coyotes and knowing the effectiveness of the 243 win on these animals, and the fact that the M-14 is 308win and the 243 is based on the 308win, is it possible or even worthwhile to have it so re-chambered. If so if anyone out there could give me a ball-park price on the project and an idea of the difficulty of this.

[John Traveler]

Hi again, HillBilly!

Where are you in Alberta?  I've traveled all over Canada and know most of Edmonton, Calgary, Medicine Hat, and Wainwright well.

As for you question of the practicality of converting your Norinco .308 Winchester to .243 Winchester, YES, it is possible, BUT with the following problems:

1.  Magazine and action will feed and chamber .243 Win no problem.

2.  You can't just "rechamber" from .308 to .343.  You have to replace the barrel to get a .243 caliber and chambering.  Springfield Armory used to offer the M1A in .308 or .243 Winchester calibers.  I dunno if they still do.

3.  The Norinco action is not exactly dimensionally identical with the Springfield Armory and G.I. receiver parts.  A replacement barrel and bolt will probably have to be hand-fitted.  Expensive because of the gas port and special machine cuts needed to fit the M14 action, muzzle brake, operating rod guide, etc.

4.  The .243 Win is a fine coyote round, but in a semi auto, my experience is limited to BAR's and Remington 742 rifles.  You probably have to do considerable "tuning" to make your M14 shoot well.

HTH
John

[redial]

Hi Hillbilly

It certainly CAN be done, but whether it'll be worth what it'll cost is up to you. A custom barrel is only the beginning of the project.

I have nothing nice to say about Chinese M14's, so I won't.

FWIW, some years ago when I was employed at Fulton Armory, a customer wanted an M1A rebarreled to 22-250. We had Krieger make up a custom one-of-a-kind barrel and it worked famously. Cost him a bloody fortune, but he knew that going in.

Springfield used to offer the M1A in .243 and .358 as well as the standard .308 but whose barrels they used I have no idea. I have seen .243 M1A's recently on one of the auction sites so they are around, albeit scarcely.

HTH

Redial