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Armscor m14 receiver quality

  • Thread starter fausto
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fausto

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Anibody here ever put one together?
How do they hold up?
Would like to hear your opinions cause i'm thinking of investing in one, thanks in advance guys.
 
A few questions: How are you planning to use the rifle? Regular competition, heavy use, such as in NRA highpower or CMP leg matches, or just occasionally? Are you planning to do the work yourself?

In general, the consensus for the long haul, is you cannot beat the Springfield Armory receiver. Almost all of the top M14/M1A 'smiths prefer workin on SA receivers because sometime the off-brands can be out of spec dimensionally, and is not worth the time to rework (it can be done though). A couple examples would include the rear sight, and the bolt. On a SA, its almost drop in, but on other brands sometimes it requires lots of fitting. If you are doing the work yourself this may not be an issue. If you aren't shooting alot, it may not be an issue either. When I was competing, my SA M1A was rebarreled 5x, the bolt was changed 3x, and the rear sight 2x. A rifle is a machine like anything else, and stuff wears out. If you're paying for smithwork, it becomes clear you dont want to pay extra to refit standard parts, or to cut special threads on the barrel because it doesn't quite clock right. Another biggie to watch for is the machining of the rear sight base. If things are out of square, the sight spindle will wear eccentrically, and the sight will not come out of the well "straight" when you crank in elevation.

Anyway, this response is general, not aimed at Armscor. Just my experience, and what my 'smiths have told me. In competitiion, most brands I've seen can shoot (but at what cost, and for how long).
 
Thaks, well the rifle in question will not be for competition, at least that is not my plan, I will probably go through 500 rds a year just punching steel plates, I have a Federal Ordinance M14 (semi only)and the locking shoulders for the bolt only make contact on one side,wille the other side has about 0.02" clearance, ever since I noticed that I lost the warm and fussy fealing for shooting it, it is built with all GI parts except for the receiver and I am at the point were selling mine and paying the diference for a complete SA M1A is almost the same as buying the SA receiver and using the GI parts from my rifle.
Is there any advantages to keeping the GI prts, barrel and all?
Thanks for the tips on what to expect from using receivers other than SA but I would still like to hear from someone that actually built an Armscor and what was there experience
 
I would go with a namebrand match barrel, your choice of chrome moly or stainless, standard or heavy weight, main reason being the superior bore finish. The GI barrel can shoot just as well, but it's SOOOO much easier to clean a Krieger barrel than a GI, plus it has a longer service life.

An off-the-shelf SA rifle may not have all GI parts. A good example is my 1989 vintage SA M1A had a repro trigger group. When it finally gave up I replaced it with all GI, and it's never been better.

Although GI parts are superior, building up piecemeal is probably unncessary. It helps if you or your gunsmith has the experience to spot out-of-spec parts (I don't). Regarding the bolt lockup on your FedOrd, I wouldn't shoot it, but I wouldn't give up on it either. All it will take is picking through a couple ammo cans full of GI bolts, and finding one that fits, a simple excercise for a well stocked 'smith.
 
I'm not looking to replace anithing but the reciver at this stage because the only fix that I have seen for a very common problem on the FedOrd receiver is adding more metal on the bolt to fited properly and then reheat treat and x-ray for defects but, if I can solve my dilema by replaicing the FedOrd receiver with a better one for just a litle more that would be preferable.
thanks for your insight.
Any body used an Armscorp???????????????????????
 
Sorry for the late reply but I don't frequent the gunsmithing forum here too often.

The Armscorp USA receivers are of very good quality. They are made from 8620 investment castings like the Springfeild Armory, rather than being machined from 8620 forged billets such as the GI, the original Smith Enterprises or Entreprise Arms receivers. Armscorp receivers hold all mil specs but are of the "improved" design, where the rail for the bolt roller is 1/16" wider and cut so that the roller does not slam back at the end of its rearward travel. Armscorp was the first company to offer single and double lugged receivers to allow improved bedding and better accuracy.

If I were building a rifle to shoot just for fun, an Armscorp receiver would do very well. Armscorp receivers would also serve well as a basis for a competition rifle, although for heavy, serious competition work I prefer Entreprise Arms receivers. However, if you only shoot 500 rounds per year, the receiver should give you very good service with no fuss or problems and all your GI parts should drop right in.

As far as buying a SA M1A, the things are "loaded" with cast parts rather than forged GI parts as mendoje1 found with his trgger group. GI M14 parts are drying up and SA is using commercially cast parts to fill the gap which are made to SA's commercial specs not mil-spec. The newer the M1A the more cast reproduction parts are in it.

Armscorp is still making excellent rifles on their receivers with GI parts. But they cost more than a SA M1A.

Just a thought, but since your current rifle is just a plinker, it could likely be fixed by either having the bolt fit to the receiver or swapping out the bolt to one that fits better.

HTH.
smile.gif
 
No worry's about the timing of the reply, as you can see I am not here every day either.Can I asume that you have built a m14 before?
If you have, are you in Kalifornia?
I would like to know what the biggest chalenge to putting one together is and ask afew more questions if it is not too much to trouble.
Thanks.
 
You may assume correctly. However, I'm not a "gunsmith" in the comercial sense. I do it partly out of neccesity because I have been greatly disappointed by the work of (some)gunsmiths whom I have paid to do custom work and partly I suppose as a hobby because I like having done things myself. I found it greatly disheartening to turn over a nice, or new, gun to a "gunsmith" and receive the gun back with poor quality work or senseless damage due to rushing and poor methods. It could be said that I'm too picky, I feel that if I'm paying for it the work should be perfect or darn close. I've met few gunsmiths that meet my expectations, therefore I chose to do most all my own gun work. However through competitive shooting I've come to know a few people whom I would trust to work on my guns.

As far as the M14 rifle, I've built 3 competition rifles for myself and I have made repairs, and completely disassembled several others.

I'm in North Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Putting an M-14 service type rifle together is not difficult, if you wanted to build a super accurate competition rifle... that's a whole different story. But if we're just talking about swapping a receiver on a service rifle with GI parts that's not to big an undertaking. To start you will need to become familiar with the workings and parts of the rifle. Be patient, look to see how a part interacts with others before taking it out. If you are not accustomed to dealing with the internals of firearms the worst thing you can do is take the thing apart in a hurry.

To build-up from a bare receiver you'll need a few specialized tools like a headspace gauge and gas cylinder wrench in addition to the normal gunsmithing tools (mostly pin punches and roll pin punches). The biggest challenge to building the rifle will be mounting the barrel to the receiver and setting the headspace properly. A receiver vise block for tightening the barrel on the receiver is nice to have but not necessary, one can be made from 2x4s. Alternately, if you know a gunsmith you trust you could farm out mounting the barrel and setting the headspace. The rest is cake. These rifles were made to be simple with few and very robust parts.

There are also some very good books on the M14, two you should consider are the 'GI M14 Technical Manual TM 9-1005-223-35' and more importantly 'US .30 Caliber Service Rifle Shop Manual', by Jerry Kuhnhausen. The shop manual has repair, assembly and disassembly procedures and lots of technical drawings.

If you have any questions I'll try to help you out.

Good luck.
 








 
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