M14 (Rifle)

M

Mauser GDog

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The mother of all .30 service rifles, the M14 is an Old Dog eager to learn new tricks. My favorite rifles to shoot (albeit mine are Chinese made :oops:), my M14's, well technically M305's, are near and dear to my heart.



I've added a 3rd 18.5" version to this collection, and all of them are back to iron sights, they way Earle Harvey of Springfield Armory intended them to be. There is not a prettier sight (zing!) than this perfect sight picture...ready to be squeezed!



Whether it's a service rifle match or a week at the deer camp, the old girl is right at home.





Some of my favorite M14 pictures.






Below, the E2 model. I was lucky enough to just get my hands on one of these stocks for part of my most recent project.
 
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The M14 was the rifle I learned to shoot with in Boot Camp, but I preferred the M16 for hunting humans. To carry 400 rounds of .30 cal. ammo in Vietnam would have been a real pain, just ask anyone who ever had to carry M60 ammo.
 
What was that in terms of actual weight?
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Rifle____Cartridge______Cartridge Weight____Weight of Loaded Magazine_____10kg/22lb Ammo Load
M14..........7.62x51mm................25.5g..........................20 rounds @ 0.68kg.......................14 mags / 280 rounds

M16..........5.56x45mm................11.5g..........................20 rounds @ 0.3kg.......................33 mags / 660 rounds

Fighting between the big-round and small-round groups reached a peak in the early 1960s, when test after test showed the .223 Remington cartridge fired from the AR-15 allowed an 8-soldier unit to outgun an 11-soldier unit armed with M14s. U.S. troops were able to carry more than twice as much 5.56×45mm ammunition as 7.62×51mm for the same weight, which allowed them an advantage against a typical N.V.A. unit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62×51mm_NATO


Typically we carried 6-7 loaded mags with the rest of the ammo load in bandoliers (worn over the shoulder/across the chest)
Typical combat load was 400-500 rounds
 
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Thanks Bootie, I deleted everything originally posted when I thought this was only for firearms found in the CM series, thanks for reinstating it for anyone interested.

I carried 300 rounds in a rucksack, and 50 rounds in a chest rig during service rifle matches, and my god it threw me around badly. I was never so happy to fire 200+ rounds just to get rid of them! I can't imagine having to lug that ammo around in combat.

Still love the rifles though, and their modern day role as DMR's is a perfect compliment to the M4's.
 
The typical combat load of the NVA we ran into, was 2 mags of 60 rounds period. That may well have been because my AO was used for infiltration south (Ho Chi Minh Trail), and usually not for pitched battles.
 
Meat Grinder said:

The M14 was, IMO, an interesting transition weapon between the M1 Garand and the M 16 rifle which still sees service today in many variant forms, yet all share the same 5.56 NATO round.
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Well, not to nit pick, but those 3x rifles all fire a different caliber. ;)
 
Mauser GDog said:
Well, not to nit pick, but those 3x rifles all fire a different caliber. ;)
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Yea......my sentence was poorly worded. What I meant was that variations of current U.S assault rifles have the Vietnam era M16 as their origin and share the same 5.56mm cartridge.

The M14 was an interesting transition between the M1 Garand and the M16.
 
Absolutely, wonder how many Few Good Men here have these rifles? :)
Someday I'd like to add a Springfield M1A to my locker!
 
A U.S. soldier with an M14 watches as supplies are dropped in Vietnam, 1967.
fkOBlHc.jpg
 
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