The Firearm Blog

The last gun Garand worked on before retirement was the T-31 Bullpup. From the Springfield Armory website ...

U.S. RIFLE GARAND T31 "BULLPUP" .30 (T65E1) SN# 2 Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. - Limited prototype experimental select-fire weapon shoulder weapon; never went into production. Lightweight, selective full and semiautomatic rifle with an in-line stock in an attempt to reduce recoil. Cyclic rate of fire 600 rpm. Weapon weighs approximately 8.7 lbs. without accessories. Handguard cooled by circulating fresh air. German FG42 rear sight. Rubber stock and handguard. This was the last model worked on by John Garand.

What is especially interesting about this gun is the recoil system. The tube that surrounds the barrel is not a handguard but gas tube (I use the term lightly). A small around of gas deflected by the muzzle brake would enter the tube causing a shockwave to ripple down the tube towards the receiver end where it would actuate a piston. The system did not work very well because the tube would accumulate 3 grains of dirt for every shot fired!

Garand retired before the second version of the rifle was complete and so the project was terminated. The legacy of this rifle can be seen in the magazine design which was adopted for the M14 rifle.

[ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the info. ]

Good example of encouraging a new shooter.

Unless you are with your wife, girlfriend or sweetheart, I suggest using a word other than "Sexy" Video by the owner of M1ARifles.com.

Later this year TROY will be selling a Modular Chassis Systems for the Mini 14. The orginal TROY Modular Chassis Systems is an excellent, albeit expensive, stock for the M14 / M1A. It makes perfect sense to scale it down for the Mini 14 which was a very similar external appearance to the M14, which it was modeled on.

The MCS comes with front and rear TROY BattleSights, an M4 style stock and M4 pistol grip. The weight of the stock is 3.4 lbs and will be available in black or “flat dark earth”.

The price will be $845.

More info here.

Military.com has an interesting article on the M14:

The growing need to equip these new marksmen with accurized rifles prompted the Army to reconsider the role of the venerable M-14 rifle for the war on terror. Back in Desert Storm, armorers from the 10th Special Forces group took M-14s equipped with a match barrels and fitted a gas piston on them for optimal performance, re-designating it the M-25. They replaced the stock with a McMillan M1A fiberglass one, developed a scope mount and added a Bausch & Lomb 10×40mm fixed-power optic or a Leupold Mark 4.

Hat Tip: Murdoc @ GunPundit

I read about Short Rifle Stock Systems (SRSS) new M14/M1A bullpup stock, the BullDog 762, at Defense Review. I suppose the designers said to themselves “just about about everything has a bullpup conversion, why not the M14?”

The stock comes in a synthetic model (SRSS-1421SM, $749) and an aluminum model (SRSS-1421BA, $999) and is available in Black, Olive Drab, Tan and Aluminum finish.

From the FAQ:

What does the SRSS kit consist of?

The SRSS stock system comes with main beam (stock) panels = Cheek rest and right panel, optics rail and all hardware, allen wrenches to mount scope rail which replaces the M14 /M1A hand guard. Simple tools like a screwdriver is all you need to install your M1A or the M-14 into the SRSS. OPTICS are not included. See our site for Optics available.

Do I need to machine any part of my rifle?

No. You will need to remove the hand guard and install the optics rail and you will need to remove the rear sight assembly, just hang on to it you may want to put it all back together or leave the SRSS together and build another M1A.

Can you describe the trigger action ? I understand that one of the weakness of bullpup stocks is their softness or lack of tactile feedback of the trigger when pulled.

Our trigger was designed to eliminate all the problems that bullpup’s have. The trigger/transfer rod is submerged in the stock and to some degree floats and is carried by the rear/original trigger. The safety is just above the pistol grip for your right hand and can be turned off and on by the right thumb. Our trigger rod adds 1/2 pound to whatever your trigger pressure is on your rifle. It feels like your original two stage trigger.

Later this year or next year SRSS will be offering this stock system for other rifles. My guess is that a Mini-14 model will be offered.

Fitted with the SRSS Mini Paladin Muzzle Brake ($200)

UPDATE: Daniel E. Watters, who is very knowledgeable, points out in the comments that there have been other bullpup stocks for the M14.
More photos after the jump. Continue Reading »

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.