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M14's Springfield vs Poltech vs Chi com

DENWA
Please let me know if there is a real difference between these manufactures.

I have heard the CHICOM are dangerous soft steel and they are out of head space.

Who is polytech and are they as good as Springfield?

Are all the parts interchangeable between these rifles.

I want a good shooter but don't want to spend a fortune either.

Any info or experiences would be great.

thanks



You are what you eat? I guess I'm a beaver!
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • nmyers
    The standard of excellence is the USGI M14 rifle; all the others are clones. NONE of them, including the Springfield Inc M1A, is made to milspec; they are, however, the closest.

    Originally, SA assembled all USGI parts to a newly made receiver. Now that USGI parts have become scarce, they make many of their own parts. These parts aren't as good, but SA offers a lifetime warranty, and they can be trusted to make good on any problems

    Polytech & Norinco rifles were imported from China about 15-20 years ago. The importer hid his identity; all rifles were sold "as is". There was never any US parts or service facility. If you have problems, you pay to fix them. They are NOT dangerous; no blowups have been reported. Many owners are satisfied with them, but many have had to spend money to replace parts. The bolt & trigger parts are often soft, and may need replacement. The receivers are hard, but replacing the bolt or barrel require skilled gunsmithing since they are not close to USGI specs.

    My feeling is that if you can get a Chicom cheap enough, say $350-400, it MAY be worth taking a chance. Why spend $700-800 for a rifle when you may have to put another $400-500 into it to make it work?

    You get what you pay for, sometimes less.

    Neal
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  • mark christian
    As always Neal's information is accurate and to the point. Some of the
    earliest Polytech rifles, imported before the 1989 ban, were of good quality but that soon dropped off. I have never seen a decent example of a Norinco M14 type. Some of the last in the country before Clinton pulled the plug on Chinese guns looked pretty crude. The soft parts issue is well known by now and if you purchase a Chinese rifle you can count on it wearing rather quickly. They are not dangerous rifles,
    but always seem to need some sort of adjustment and you'll soon become very good friends with a gunsmith.

    There are few if any parts on these Chinese rifles that will interchange with G.I. spec parts. You'll need Chinese parts and these are tough to find. Also most parts are metric and simply wont allow for the addition of Milspec parts; you can't for example replace a windage knob, you'll need a special Chinese knob with metric threads. A barrel change would be a very involved process taking up a lot of expensive time on the mill. One of these rifles would be okay for plinking but you'll never get one out of the box that will shoot as well as even a basic Springfield M1A. If you are on a tight budget I'd suggest that you simply save some more cash and wait as you won't be happy with these Chinese rifles.

    Mark T. Christian
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  • cpermd
    I disagree about the ChiCom M14S rifles.
    The above gets stated on the net a lot but is not based in fact.
    Mine shoot into 2" all day.
    The receivers,barrels and oprods work very well.
    The bolts are almost never soft.If it is you can get it heat treated for $25 and solve that problemvery quickly.I have had to do one out of 60.The receivers are never soft.There is no reason to replace a barrel or bolt or have a smith modify things.
    I do replace the trigger and sear and the rear sight.
    I have 2 Polys and a Norinco right now and they are MOA guns.
    You should get info from someone who does not profit from selling unnecessary products and work.
    cpermd
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  • DENWA
    Thanks to all but I have a question about Federal Ordinance.

    I have seen a FED ORD on GI parts I have also heard bad things about the Recivers not being square (fulton armory).

    I seen this for sale for $800 in great condition.

    whatcha think

    You are what you eat? I guess I'm a beaver!
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  • nmyers
    The Chicom receivers which, although not USGI milspec, are pretty well made and can be built into great rifles.

    Fed Ord receivers, however, are soft and out of spec. Even the early Fed Ord rifles built with USGI parts cannot be trusted; later ones with all-Chinese parts are not only junk, but are ugly, too. I don't know of any armorer willing to work on one. The bolt and op rod lugs will quickly gouge channels in the receiver, and this is not repairable.

    $800 would be a good price for a good M14 clone, but this isn't one.

    You get what you pay for, sometimes less.

    Neal
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