Armory Sponsor
Posted: 3/28/2008 4:22:55 PM EDT
I made what I thought was a low bid on a Polytech M14S on Gunbroker.com. Well.....a couple days later I get an e-mail telling me I won the auction !!! Boy was I suprised. So here are a few photos of my newly acquired M14S. Price was $710 plus shipping and transfer fee. I am having trouble getting CMI mags to lock into the rifle. Any ideas ???  
|
. Sir...I know you aren't being a smartass. Yes...I am putting in right. The mag that came with it goes in just fine. On another forum someone told me that CMI mags are a little wider than older USGI mags. Older USGI mags are suppose to work fine. Now maybe you guys can explain something else to me. I have been told the bolt needs to be replaced with a USGI bolt. Others say no!! Just shoot it and have fun. Any idea who is right. Thanks........ |
Glad you didn't take it the wrong way. You might have to look up in the magwell and see if there is wood material getting in the way. The stock on the gun is much nicer than any I have seen on a Polytech so it might be a different brand and is causing some fit problems in the magwell area. As far as bolts go there are two minds on it like you have noticed. The majority of the owners just check and continue to check headspace and run it forever with the stock bolt (Such as myself). Other aren't worried but switch with a new USGI bolt anyways that they bought themselves (or have the company provide) or have the stock bolt heat treated correctly per spec, and have one of the companies that do this job do the switch out and headspace. Others swear that you have to have a new bolt, that it is dangerous to not do it. The story comes from some of the early bolts not being the correct grade of steel and not being heat treated right. That part is true, but not being spec. has, to the best of my knowledge, not caused that big of a problem. Others may have facts that differ. |
|
The soft bolt story IMHO comes the fact that polytechs are chambered for NATO ammo not 308. SAMMI specks are different, and they are different ammo. Company's that make their money changing bolts love to spread this rumor. I have never heard "FIRST HAND" of a polytech going boom! It is always my cousins, uncle who was a SEAL in the big war. As far as the mag problem go's, if the mags locks in, and are just hard to insert it may be a case of thick/rough finish on the mags.This can be corrected with lube and or a emery cloth. |
Congratulations on your score !! You should be able to shoot NATO ball ammo without issue, but you may want to check the head space from time to time. If you want a USGI bolt conversion I suggest you contact Ron Smith at Smith Enterprise, Inc. Ron knows the Chinese M14 better than the Chinese, he has performed 4 bolt conversions for me and the results are outstanding  . |
| I have a Norinco M14S (heel stamped) that I've shot 2-3 thousand rounds through and it's still shooting just fine. I had the headspace checked 6 months ago and all was still within spec. The gunsmith said there was nothing wrong with that gun/bolt. I've had it since around 1995 (ish). |
Yup, I had the same reaction. I have a Poly. Sometime back I called SEI to get an estimate on switching out the bolt. WOW! |
| you know i am having troubles getting my cmi's into my rifle as well. I just picked up these cmi's from 44mag a few weeks ago and they act like they are too wide. You can't rock and click these in. They have to be shoved and then slap the heel of the mag pretty hard for them to lock in. Our mags might be out of spec |
My new CMI mags lock into my Springfield Armory rifle just fine. They have to be slapped hard to lock into the Polytech. I am going to try the T-57 mags from Midway in the Polytech and see how it goes. |
Different is saying some cmi mags are wider above the Y-Y axis on the TDP tech drawings. I need to investigate further. |
Armory Sponsor