Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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it seems the russians (and british) learned some of the lessons of ww2 better than we did. we got the air superiority and the nuclear weapons parts, but they got the intermediate caliber assault rifle thing. maybe something about almost losing inclines you to re-evaluate your priorities and methods. i think the garand and its younger sibling the m14 were superb battle rifles. unfortunately, the world was moving to the sturmgewehr.
Last edited by lurker on Wed Jul 17, 2019 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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right now i'm trying to get the sight lined up. going to have to buy some bits and take it to the range and shoot the rifle off a bag. if i order in the next day or so i should be able to go to the range next week.

eta wednesday 31st FINALLY got the rear sight off, what a chore. i think someone messed it up, bad, so i'm going to order the complete assembly from someone (NOT sarco, though they're cheaper) and rebuild it. from multiple sources i've seen, GI garand and m14 rear sight parts are interchangeable.
Last edited by lurker on Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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ordered stuff from sarco today, manual, sling, lower screw, GI cleaning kit, scope mount (yes, at some point we may talk about scopes).also got the rear sight functioning.
hoping it arrives by the weekend.
meanwhile i'm planning to go to the range on thursday to sight it in. weather is expected to be glorious, high near 80, chance of rain near 0%.
also planning to order some evil 20-round magazines in .308. i'm looking specifically at thermolds. i've seen a 3-pack for under $40. now, there's some lore about thermolds on the internet. they were issued with the m16 to canadian troops where it earned the sobriquet "thermelts" because they allegedly got soft and squishy under the heat of full-auto. i have several, along with several orelites, which are also polymer and were issued in israel, and they've always been flawless in my semi-auto AR.
you just can't believe everything you see and hear, can you? now if you'll excuse me, i must be on my way.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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Thermold was one of the earlier polymer AR mags, and for its era was probably the best. Most civilians will never have any issues with the Thermold magazines. However, they're not well regarded in military service. But let's remember, NOTHING abuses equipment like soldiers. They could break a crow bar in a sandbox!!
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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ordered up 4 thermold 20-rounders today 12 bucks each.(and some 7.63x25 for the c-96. the pewpewyou would have been much cheaper than the fiocchi, but oh, well)
FrontSight wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:41 pm Thermold was one of the earlier polymer AR mags,
oddly, i never heard any complaints about the orelites. bought six of each (thermold and orelite) the first time one of my usgi steel mags malfed. one of the benefits of working down the street from tapco in the 90s.
Last edited by lurker on Fri Jul 26, 2019 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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received 4 thermold 20-round mags(and c96 ammo) from budsguns. haven't tried them yet, they arrived after the range trip, but very happy with budsguns, $12 apiece.
sarco is still thinking about putting my order together. not so happy with sarco.
thermold polymer (l), checkmate steel (r)
LUGO1577.JPG
Last edited by lurker on Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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Sarco is slow. I haven't ordered from them in quite awhile, but I'm surprised that they even take web orders TBH. They are more of a "fax it in" kind of company. With the resulting delays in shipping.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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supposedly the order went to the warehouse pretty quickly. 4 days ago. where it has sat. they have things you pretty much can't get anywhere else, and the prices are low, so i'll probbly continue to shop there, but i'll become more selective about it.
yesterday i got an email from them, offering free shipping on orders over $40. since they haven't shipped yet, i think i qualify for it.
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Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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no correspondence from them, so today i sent them the following...
"just curious, it's been a week and no update. everything ok on your end? and since you haven't shipped, do i get the free shipping offer on internet orders over $40?
thank you very much,
xxxx xxxxx, order 244215

as best as i can tell from the lee emerson document (which appears exhaustive) "m14 rifle history and development", my rifle was imported in fall of '93. it has the bayo-lugless faux flash hider, which i would of course like to fix or replace, but then we run up on the # of evil features question, of which i am unable to make much sense, but i begin to suspect that much of the parts-swapping that goes on with these is more an effort to get the chinese parts count down than a commentary on quality. if i were to swap it for a US-made part, apparently the threads are a mismatch (chinese used metric, we used inch) although the inch part can apparently be forced on, wrecking the muzzle threads. so i'd be inclined to forgo the bayo lug and simply "fix" it by cutting slots in the flash-hider, which sounds like too much trouble to bother with. it amazes me that someone thought that a rifle with a flash hider and bayonet lug is somehow more dangerous than a rifle without. has anyone, ever, fixed bayonet during a mass shooting?

eta: the flash hider should not be a problem to swap because the castellated nut that holds it on can be removed and used with a different flash hider.
Last edited by lurker on Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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Marlene wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:14 pm Looks good. Interesting that they include the stock cut for the happy switch. Maybe that means it’s a surplus m14 stock
that would be nice, but i see sarco sells a chinese stock which per the picture has the cutout. finally got the rear sight off, i think someone really messed it up, will replace.
LUGO1572.JPG
right now i'm not happy with sarco and will pay a little more, elsewhere.

eta: both of my packages, from sarco and kbi, arrived early today. i'll review the contents over the next couple days in "hardware/gear".

the underlying principle here is that if you replace any threaded item, you'll also have to replace anything it threads onto.
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Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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the deeper i go, the deeper it gets.
the screw on the buttstock appears to be original to the rifle. the reason the washer is there is because someone tightened it on until the head pulled through the buttplate (wtf?)distorting the threads in the process. so arguably i need a new buttplate too. naturally, it's metric, so the new screw won't work, unless i also replace the sling swivel it threads into. so to get an inappropriate washer off my rifle, i'm going to have to get another 30 or $40 in stuff. so everything included i'll have spent another maybe $200 on it, bringing it up over $1000. this thing is turning into a money pit, but then project guns do that, and it's still cheap for an m14, and i'm learning, so annoying and unnecessary as it is, that's ok. i could have spent my money restoring a classic car.
for example: someone used pliers on the gas plug instead of the proper wrench. no big deal, everything still functions, but they messed up the finish. so the plug screws into the gas plug lock, no big deal except that thatscrews onto the barrel, which screws onto the .... so i'm just not going to go there, leave it be.
om, mane, padme, om.
eta: technically incorrect. the gas cylinder lock threads onto the barrel. the gas plug screws into the gas cylinder. so i could replace the plug and cylinder as a pair, and/or the lock and barrel (and FH nut) together.
Last edited by lurker on Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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parts on order. i'm using KBI for the sight and trying numrich for the buttplate and sling swivel this time. ETA: all parts have shipped.

for some reason i expected an m14, even a chinese one, to be valued and taken care of. wrong. at my age, i should know better. i'm so gullible. now i'm beginning to wonder what other surprises lie in wait. and i'd like to have a word with the previous owner. a slap upside the head should convey my meaning.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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tried out the bore-sighter today, sights are close to right on. the old sights were plainly junk, wouldn't adjust properly, wouldn't hold zero. much better now.

also went through the receipts, under $150 spent actually fixing things: sight, buttplate, boresighter, screw, etc. the rest is accessories, gi cleaning kit, scope mount, magazines, sling, ammo, stuff i would buy for any new-to-me rifle regardless of condition.

bolts... well, a stripped usgi bolt lists for anywhere between 160 and 230. add another 100 for complete, assembled. then there's availability, i finally found one stripped for 190. we'll check headspace first, see how immediate the need is, meanwhile keep looking.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: polytech m14/s any good?

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tonight i pulled the buttplate off the stock, in anticipation of the replacement parts i expect tomorrow. naturally, the top screw is wrong too. but looking closely at the wood under the plate, what do i see but letters and numbers! "W-W", and under that, a number, "11010263" as best as i can tell. but the "W-W" is the real prize, Winchester-Western, a subset of Winchester Repeating Arms, one of the contractors who made m14 stocks. aka: "Big Red". judging from that and the cutouts for the selector switch, and despite the total lack of cartouches, this was, in fact, a USGI stock, though never accepted by uncle sam. how it got on poly we'll never know. good call, marlene!
Last edited by lurker on Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

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