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Originally Posted by MAB32
They are having immense troubles with every scope they mount to them. They complain that they will not consistently hold zero.
What would you guys do?
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Mr. MAB:
Don't tell us -- a M-14 scope mount that won't hold zero? Imagine that! He, he, he.
I had the opportunity to work with some fellows who had six or eight Super Match M-14s made into what Rick and I know as the 'M-25'. These rifles were used in combat recently. I believe they used the ARMS mounts Rick mentioned and the rifles were made very well by an exceptional armorer I know. The mounts were lock tited into place and within about a hundred rounds of M-118 LR and M-80 ball, every single one had loosened up and lost zero. It was almost impossible to do a thing aside from welding the mount onto the receiver to have confidence that the mount wouldn't come loose. That is the nature of mounts and M-14s from my experience.
BTW -- I recall one of these rifles that would not hold worth a damn with either M-118 or M-852 but would shoot M-80 ball like it was the best match grade ammo you could get. No reason known to man why that particular 14 didn't shoot worth a damn with the 'match grade' stuff but shot M-80 to a minute constantly. That is the nature of the M-14 -- you won't know what you have until you shoot it.
There are reasons why the Army finally got rid of the M-14 as a service rifle and for snipers. In terms of the snipers, you just mentioned one reason. The other is trying to get them to shoot consistently well and the fact that they will shit the bed in terms of holding accuracy without any real reason.
Personally, I would have great confidence in a new M-14 as a service rifle. I wouldn't have that confidence with one in a sniper configuration unless it was significantly altered from its original design and that would probably bring a host of new problems to its design that I wouldn't want to face.
It was fun shooting when it still reigned as the best service rifle for competitive shooting but it disappeared from the firing line as fast as it disappeared from general issue to the Army. And for the same reasons.
Unfortunately, I just don't know of any 'out of the box' gas operated 7.62 that will shoot to the degree of accuracy demanded by precision shooters. All of them seem to need a 'guru' who has spent many years with that particular design in order to make them into something dependable.
My advice -- don't use a M-14 for the job you are describing. It does put more kinetic energy into something but you have to hit that something first.
Gene