Fortunately, my mistakes awere confined to one brigade of the 101st, so it was more like $350K, most of which would have gone to Sage, Smith Enterprises, Sadlak, Leupold, and Trijicon.Originally Posted by RevolverRob
Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of government waste, but I really should have known better.
Hopefully some of the optics eventually found their way onto something useful.
Hell, your spending was about a minute of spending those guys in other branches spend on toilet seats and at least you were able to field equipment that was serviceable if not optimal!
I am curious - what you found were the things that prevented the M14 of being a good DMR? Was it the general accuracy, difficulty in mounting optics, ruggedness, reliability, weight?
Yes.
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I've never had to carry one very far - then again I chose a branch where my weapon carried me
I'm not going to lie here - I like girls with a little junk in the trunk and I LIKE THE M14!
Growing up I really really wanted one and my first expensive rifle I ever purchased was an M1A. I don't have the experience with it that many here do, but I've been shooting them long enough and have chased the rabbit of trying to make it a suitable DMR type rifle enough to know it's limitations. I never was issued one but I did have a chance to spend some time with Army M21s and NM rifles while in the National Guard.
My general feel for the M14 is that it is a rifle that suffers from too much talk. When I was just getting seriously into guns and the M16A2 was the new kid on the block the M14 was some sort of legend capable of extreme accuracy and amazing stopping power. Like the Jedi who were killed to make way for the Empire, the M14 was a noble and accurate commie killer that was sacrificed at the alter of "modern warfare" fought by armchair Generals who had stock in Mattel.
That went to the M14 is the biggest POS that has ever been created and the M1 is a 10X better rifle that it will ever be. Just saying you like the M14 will give you a "taint" among the cool kids of the internet and label you as a boomer that watches Paul Harrell videos.
The truth is always in the middle. I think many of the shortcomings that people site are valid, but I also scratch my head when they don't seem to think they are shortcomings on the M14's contemporaries. The M14 is heavy - but it is lighter than the FAL and G3. The M14 is not a good platform for optics - neither is the FAL and while the G3 can be made into a DMR it is a pretty expensive, heavy, and convoluted proposition. The 7.62 NATO is too much round for general rifle issue - yep same round as the FAL and G3 use. The M14 is uncontrollable on full Auto - yep but it's not like the other contemporaries are that much more and the military realized that issued the E2 for use as a SAW and the extra weight of the FAL and G3 may account for the M14 being less controllable in FA.
Really what I find likable about the rifle (other than it being a pleasant rifle to shoot and very elegant) is the fact that it represents the end of an era in rifles. From a gun geek point of view it is like being able to pet a dinosaur. Had it come out in the 1940s it would have been groundbreaking but it came out after that giant meteor had already hit off the Yucatan.
As MistWolf has already mentioned - the Mini14 is really just a upgunned M1 Carbine gas system in a small sized M14 form factor, bolt, and trigger group.Especially old Marines.God bless those old guys.
Now if you like the M1A/M-14, just buy a Ruger Mini. Same gas piston system and receiver in a 5.56 carbine. Mine runs great.
But I like them too......
Last edited by Suvorov; 04-03-2020 at 12:53 PM.
Pretty much all of that!
Excessive weight and poor ergonomics were a big part of it, and the Sage stock doesn't help with that. I don't think the optic mounting was optimum in terms of eye relief and cheek weld for most users. Accuracy wasn't great even after removing the wood stocks. The only thing it would do better than an M4 with Mk-262 was get through car windshields, but that's not a big concern when vehicle-mounted M2's and M240's are nearby, as was usually the case in places where cars were likely to go. If a dismounted squad took one along, it became a liability to the operator in a CQB situation, so the M14's stayed in the arms room most of the time.
One causative factor in all of this is that our predeployment funds would only be turned on only a month or two prior to deployment, so there wasn't time to order up samples and test different configurations before making purchasing decisions. We had to go "all in" and hope that we chose correctly.
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