The Firearm Blog

Gun Blobber, a new gun blogger, has posted videos of an M1A firing in slow motion

Wow. Some guy has been at work with a high-speed camera and a couple of M1A’s. He was looking to settle a dispute as to whether the action starts cycling before or after the bullet has exited the barrel:

Go check out his blog here.

I didn’t know they used shot line adapters. When I saw the photo I thought he was using a suppressor.

PACIFIC OCEAN (March 24, 2008) Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Aan J. Doscher, assigned to the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), fires an M-14 with a shot line adapter toward the Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) during a refueling-at-sea. Harpers Ferry is assigned to the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua J. Wahl (Released)

Full sized photo here.

Hat Tip: Navy.mil via. MP.net

I cam across this interesting M14 made by Harrington & Richardson on gunbroker. It features a folding stock and a lightened receiver. The rifle was made in 1961 for military trials into a folding stock rifle for use by paratroopers, vehicle drivers, and tank crews.

The price: $29,995.00 (it is a class III)

Click to expand the photos.

H2O MAN, a reader of this blog, has lots of photos of his M14 collection at his website.

I came across a PDF, with no date or author, about the history of the Chinese M14 clones. It is a very interesting read!

UPDATE: H2O MAN in the comments below let me know that the text comes from “M14 Rifle History and Development” by Lee Emerson. Thanks H2O MAN.

A persistent rumor states that M14 rifles produced by the People’s Republic of China were reverse engineered from enemy captured M14 rifles in Viet Nam. China North Industries Corporation, known as Norinco, is reported to have produced M14 rifles by the early 1970s. The story continues that 100,000 Chinese M14 rifles were produced for an armed revolution in the Philippines. In preparing for this work, the author interviewed a very reliable source with extensive firsthand knowledge of Chinese and Taiwanese production and export of small arms was interviewed for this work. This gentleman wishes not to be identified. He is referred to as Other Source # 12.

Chapter 6 contains the History of the Chinese M14 Clones. The PDF can be downloaded here.