This site says the M14 rifle is obsolete!
It is being issued in ever-increasing numbers in Afghanistan. Many of the returning vet's I see have used it and have been impressed. So, GA Tech has a little fact-checking to do...

Hey I'm MIA ???. FSB - A Shau Valley (1969 operations) !! ???.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc TH:
This site says the M14 rifle is obsolete!
It is being issued in ever-increasing numbers in Afghanistan. Many of the returning vet's I see have used it and have been impressed. So, GA Tech has a little fact-checking to do...

Far from obsolete! It is a "substitute standard" issued for special purposes.

As a single-shooter, the M-14 is just fine. However, the original plan was that the weapon would give full-auto firepower to every rifleman. As an automatic weapon, the thing is a total waste. The recoil will make a second shot way high and subsequent shots nowhere close.
I had never handled one before I got to the Nam and there, I was given one of the things. No big deal, thought I, I had fired an '06 a lot and any farm boy is just born to be able to handle a rifle well. Firepower is good, so I thought. I had time to fiddle with it but not actually fire it when I experienced my first night-penetration fire fight. The thing climbed up maybe 40 degrees on a 3-round burst and the only way I could hold it down on auto was to turn it sideways and hold it down with my left hand, which got burned, by the way. When the clip ran out, I fell flat on my face, I lost my glasses and my helmet had rotated sideways, and I had dirt in my mouth and eyes and I was mighty scared. My combat efficiency was not too high, either. At that point, I was sure missing my semi-auto 22 back home. I weighed all of 140 pounds then but I would have had to weigh about 300 lbs to control it. But, because God protects fools, drunks, and sailors, I survived that fight but I used an M-16 after that. On a later tour, I drew a scoped M-14, but it didn't fire full auto, I'll tell you that.
Uncle Sam should have put a clip on the M-1. The M-14 gave us a less powerful round and an impossible to control automatic weapon. The M-1 was the best, the M-14 is junk.

interesting observation!

quote:

Originally posted by buckeyeshooter:
interesting observation!

Indeed an "interesting observation" made by one who obviously has no training with the rifle, particularly in FA mode. Another interesting note is the reference that the M14 was supposed to be a general issue FA rifle to every rifleman. It wasn't. His last 3 sentences says it all, he's a troll, (or perhaps just a foolish, drunk sailor) who's watched to many "back in the nam" movies.

Larry Gibson

BTW; I did in fact carry and use an M14 in Vietnam. I also qualified Expert with the M14E1 at Fort Ord on the same course of fire for the BAR. But then what does and old soldier like me know anyways......

GO LARRY
The M-14 is an M-1 Garand with all the bugs worked out.

quote:

Originally posted by SS:
GO LARRY
The M-14 is an M-1 Garand with all the bugs worked out.

SS, While I think the M14 is the better battle rifle, besides having only 8 rounds [and in WWII the Garand was far superior to the bolt rifles being used], what bugs are in the Garand?

I have shot a lot of rounds from various Garands, some of them in fairly bad condition, and in bad weather to boot. Never a malfunction.