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M14 in Auto Because I Hate Myself

Since this years’ theme for my trip to Battlefield: Vegas was early Cold War I had to shoot the big 3 rifles in the realm of 7.62 x 51mm. Namely the M14, G3 and FAL. I know there were others but those are the real iconic select fire battle rifles of the era.

Truth be told, I didn’t particularly want to shoot the M14 and it was so short lived in US service (as standard issue) for good reason. The Garand was great for its’ time but trying to make it select fire was never a good idea and the M14 suffered a lot of issues due to lacklustre standards of manufacture. The open-top design was also great for WW2 era guns that loaded from clips from above, but there’s no need for that much of the bolt to be exposed to dirt and grime in a rifle that feeds from magazines that load in from underneath.

I’m sure most of you will have seen Forgotten Weapons video on this rifle that went out not too long ago and as you will note again here the rate of fire is high and the recoil is harsh even for a 308. There is a lot of reciprocating mass and the length of travel for the bolt and op rod is short, meaning all that steel has almost no time to slow down before hitting its’ rearward point of travel and imparting that energy in to the firers’ shoulder.

Battlefield actually had a policy of firing the M14 from a bi-pod and while personally I could have done without I didn’t mind it being there truth be told as this gun is just a bit of a monster when you twist the selector switch.

2 Comments

  1. Eric Kammerer

    Do you remember what model bipod was used on that MORE? Long time ago I know.

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