Not quite Milsurp, but

Playing with my Bula parts kit. I put the trigger assembly together last night. Goes together like a Garand assembly.

http://i.imgur.com/RueMMPt.jpg

Did yours come with a bolt stop? If not...use the sandpaper/drill trick to 'machine' the roll pin down to get it to fit a little easier. It's truly a MF'r to do without, and it's supposedly easier than you'd think to snap on of the ears where it mounts, rendering the receiver useless.

Take your pin, put it an 1/8" into the drill chuck and tighten. Take 100 grit and run the pin through it for 20 or 30 seconds and viola...your pin should go in nice but still have enough tension to do its job.

Oh, and don't forget to put in your spring first :D and put a small punch or similar in from the other side to line things up before you start pushing the pin through.
 
I haven't touched the Bolt Stop yet, leaving that 'till last because I'm afraid of just what you mentioned.

hah! That's exactly why I did it first! It's really not that bad if you use the sand paper trick...and I have a teeny tiny snap on roll pin punch that makes it a cakewalk if you want to borrow it.

for the record...I've only completed the one Bula build so far. I'm having accuracy issues still, and have only achieved about 1.5moa at best...but it's very inconsistent. There's something funky going on with it and I just haven't figured it out yet...but I'm getting the feeling it's something stupid I'm not yet seeing. I'm definitely not a gunsmith, but I have SO much fun building rifles.
 
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hah! That's exactly why I did it first! It's really not that bad if you use the sand paper trick...and I have a teeny tiny snap on roll pin punch that makes it a cakewalk if you want to borrow it.

for the record...I've only completed the one Bula build so far. I'm having accuracy issues still, and have only achieved about 1.5moa at best...but it's very inconsistent. There's something funky going on with it and I just haven't figured it out yet...but I'm getting the feeling it's something stupid I'm not yet seeing. I'm definitely not a gunsmith, but I have SO much fun building rifles.

1.5 heck your already ahead of the requirements for the NM rifles of days gone by. The barrel may need a few rounds down the tube to settle in. How's the stock fit. I know they use a liner on these but how is the fit. Even for the liner. I can see potential in my minds eye for issues. Good luck and keep the reports flowing. I have another M1 that has not been touched for "accuracy". I might try to do a video of what I find wrong and the corrections. I need a new camera with a remote or some suit. Also blue tooth or something to the monitor?
I'm a little put off by the trouble you guys are having fitting these together. Not what I expect at the price point. Now if these where sold down into the mil spec AR price point I might accept that.
Both ret Armorers I know who where in for the arrival and departure of the M14 said it was the most finicky and expensive platform to keep running. One gent showed us some old papers he had basically saying disregard all accuracy requirements and just get them back in the field.
Now I have seen some M1a that shoot very well. My friend got his dad's NM. His uncle is a high master shooter and with out much effort plunks down and shoots 1-1.5" groups with ease. He also shot 3 10 shot groups with one group being .78.
My friend is not a good shooters and his uncle had possession rights to the rifle as to keep it from being abused or not cared for by my friend which is a possibility to happen. Although he seems to be getting better with age.
I also know someone with a very early SAI M1a that shoots well. Consistent anyway. Bangs out 3 moa is often with the German 762 stuff.
 
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Use a length of trimmer line or wire to hold the bolt stop/spring in place while inserting the roll pin. I use a feeler gauge on the receiver aft of the bolt stop to protect the finish.
F905yVh.jpg


Assembling the M14 isn't like tossing together an AR. They are different generations of design and can require some fitting. The originals had proprietary tools for assembly and converting one from a battle rifle to a target rifle takes some work.

Take a look at the difference between a standard M14 and the XM25 version.

The XM25 was fitted with;

McMillan stock with proprietary inletting 'Brookfield Cut'.
Brookfield Precision Tool (BPT)steel stock liner bedded into the stock.
Barnett MW barrel.
BPT recoil spring guide.
Unitized gas cylinder (welded) with self cleaning port added.
TiN coated piston.
Trigger work.
Bedded forward sling swivel/bipod lug anchor.
BPT scope mount.
The op rod guide was tightly fit and not allowed to 'float'.

The parts are expensive to manufacture and there is a relatively small market so you won't see hammer forged M14 receivers or other parts in the price range of AR parts.

With that, there are plenty of people who nail their own M14s together into accurate target rifles.
 
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Dinner date with my wife, but started on the .308 Garand before that. Broke it down to free float the front handguard and that was a wrap for the night. Nice to hear stuff is fitting nicely on the Bula- I may start this weekend once I set the .308 aside for the screw & glue job to set up.
 
What are y'all thinking for brakes/comps? I was looking at the sei Uscg. Pricey...

Flash hider. Yeah, the SEI seems like the best one, and yes it's pricey. Since I want to shoot this in CMP Modern Military, I need to use something that's as issued configuration. If I were building a chassis based rifle, I'd go with the SEI or something similar (and cheaper).

Waiting for someone to tell me I can't have a flash hider in Mass... [popcorn]
 
Use a length of trimmer line or wire to hold the bolt stop/spring in place while inserting the roll pin. I use a feeler gauge on the receiver aft of the bolt stop to protect the finish.
F905yVh.jpg


Assembling the M14 isn't like tossing together an AR. They are different generations of design and can require some fitting. The originals had proprietary tools for assembly and converting one from a battle rifle to a target rifle takes some work.

Take a look at the difference between a standard M14 and the XM25 version.

The XM25 was fitted with;

McMillan stock with proprietary inletting 'Brookfield Cut'.
Brookfield Precision Tool (BPT)steel stock liner bedded into the stock.
Barnett MW barrel.
BPT recoil spring guide.
Unitized gas cylinder (welded) with self cleaning port added.
TiN coated piston.
Trigger work.
Bedded forward sling swivel/bipod lug anchor.
BPT scope mount.
The op rod guide was tightly fit and not allowed to 'float'.

The parts are expensive to manufacture and there is a relatively small market so you won't see hammer forged M14 receivers or other parts in the price range of AR parts.

With that, there are plenty of people who nail their own M14s together into accurate target rifles.

I brought the blue prints for a M1 receiver to a machinist I used to use before they moved to Texas.
He said if he was a bit larger opperation he could do them. His only problem was sourcing the hammer forged receiver as that's what everyone would want. He said there's really nothing "hard" in
machine work these days. It's just a matter of money. Will you make any, that's the hard part.
 
I brought the blue prints for a M1 receiver to a machinist I used to use before they moved to Texas.
He said if he was a bit larger opperation he could do them. His only problem was sourcing the hammer forged receiver as that's what everyone would want. He said there's really nothing "hard" in
machine work these days. It's just a matter of money. Will you make any, that's the hard part.

"hard" is relative. Anyone with a modicum of skill could make one starting with a handfull of iron ore. To produce them within spec and sell them with a sufficient margin is another matter.

Economy of scale... got to pay for that $1M machining center somehow.
 
"hard" is relative. Anyone with a modicum of skill could make one starting with a handfull of iron ore. To produce them within spec and sell them with a sufficient margin is another matter.

Economy of scale... got to pay for that $1M machining center somehow.


Yes indeed... this guy just bought 2 new machines. The size of a midsize box van. While there getting a few things fixed on some parts I watch the guy load some blanks in. About 6 minutes later parts where coming out the other end. Weird looking valve system with what looked like lots of ports. On the lines of a transmission valve body.
Sucks this guy went off to Texas. Was the only walk in service machine shop close to me.
I always found it interesting to walk in to this shop and see his 80+ year old dad tooling on the old school machines. Then look across the shop and see the guy looking through the glass watching the machine.
 
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Yes indeed... this guy just bought 2 new machines. The size of a midsize box van. While there getting a few things fixed on some parts I watch the guy load some blanks in. About 6 minutes later parts where coming out the other end. Weird looking valve system with what looked like lots of ports. On the lines of a transmission valve body.
Sucks this guy went off to Texas. Was the only walk in service machine shop close to me.
I always found it interesting to walk in to this shop and see his 80+ year old dad tooling on the old school machines. Then look across the shop and see the guy looking through the glass watching the machine.

I like having my own little 'shop of horrors' in my basement. Some day I'll get bored enough to finish rebuilding my cnc mill.
 
I like having my own little 'shop of horrors' in my basement. Some day I'll get bored enough to finish rebuilding my cnc mill.

The old man was great. He also had a old machine out back for all the one off stuff. Guy was so easy to work with. I asked him about a few of the machines.
They all came out of the shop he started at when he was 24 as he said. "They where bought used then, so they are mostly older than me. "
I would not mind a small mill of sorts but I don't even have room for a "proper" work bench.
 
The barreled receiver assembly is built, for the most part. Got the bolt catch installed without any issues, used the drill trick combined with a short piece of stiff wire. My parts kit did not come with a Clip Guide, and I still have to harvest a nice rear sight assembly off of one of my unused Garands or see what my parts bin has. My Winchester M1 came with a nice set of what appear to be freshly re-parked windage and elevation knobs which would look great on the M14.

I just got a look a friend's win . The op rod sights and front sight look like fresh cmp special parts.
Actually look a little out of place. The light gray stock metal looks really out of place on this rifle and stock. The stock is typical lifeless boyds.
 
I did notice the grey stock metal looks out of place.... and yes, the rear sights I referenced are the "CMP Grey" color. You're right, probably from the CMP Special Parts Bin. I'm wondering what sights they took off my Winny.. Lockbars perhaps? The rear sight base, aperture and cover all have the same color/wear as the receiver. Anyone's guess.

Might not have had any. These might be from the larger batch of barreled actions and woodless garands rumored about several years ago.
Orest did say they had a large number of receiver serial #s but no idea of what condition or state the numbered receivers where in.
My friend decided to order a field grade then decide between the 2.
 
Onto fitting the Boyds stock, sold by Fulton. I could spend all night on this. The trigger inletting needs extensive work.

Really....from boyds...no!
I could have used some help from Norm Abrams and a few of his routers doing my C stock and last CMP new wood stock. Then again what do you expect for $100 stock. I'm always glad to have them a little heavy or thick than to loose.
 
Flash hider. Yeah, the SEI seems like the best one, and yes it's pricey. Since I want to shoot this in CMP Modern Military, I need to use something that's as issued configuration. If I were building a chassis based rifle, I'd go with the SEI or something similar (and cheaper).

Waiting for someone to tell me I can't have a flash hider in Mass... [popcorn]

I'm not a fan of SEI for past shenanigans, so would prefer to find "something similar" for the m14 by another maker that effectively works to reduce recoil, flip, rise. I've only used a standard flash hider so am not familiar with what's good out there.
 
I've been slowly working on this Boyd's stock and my conclusion is... it's a POS.

Finally got the trigger guard to lock down after some careful wood trimming and there is no draw pressure on the front band.

May keep poking around but considering cutting my loses and finding a nice USGI stock.

What...no. well it's the best new production stock you can get for $100
 
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