Comparing Early Cold War 7.62*51 Nato battle Rifles.

[SRV Ron]

Cold War training 1966.

M-14 AR. Fired one in training. You fired it sideways from the hip in short burst as it would climb like crazy. You aimed by watching where the bullets hit. They only let us use 10 rounds in the mag for training since the point of the live fire squad exercise was assaulting a trench line, cover fire, and quick changing the magazine.

For safety, we walked up to the trench line as opposed to an full run assault.

[slick24]

You might want to consider the AR10.

[Slim]

Originally Posted by slick24

You might want to consider the AR10.

I do have the DPMS LR-308 a close relative of the AR-10. I juut wnted to own one of the famous cold war classics.

[slick24]

cool, then I would say go with the m-14

[Javaman]

Originally Posted by Slim

Just wanted to compare three famous battle rifles of the early cold war years.
The M-14 vs the FN-FAL vs the H&K G-3. What were the strenghts and shortcomings of each. What are your opinions and experiences of each. Part of the motivation for this thread is to pick one to add to the collection.

All things considered I think the best collector value for now and in the future is the Beretta BM-59 (Garand with 20 rd Mag) or a more vintage M1A.

The new and newer M1A's are too common to appreciate much from their already substantial asking prices.

[Slim]

Well finally got a walnut stocked springfield M1A standard. Had to drive 4 hours one way to get it. It is a delight to own . In addition to the standard springfield manual it came with significant additional literature including an army manual. Now I need recommendations on a good shooting sling. Would prefer leather as it would go better with the walnut stock but will setttle for any quality product.

[llkinak]

I think Turner Saddlery makes some pretty nice leather military slings.

[skiplc]

Originally Posted by llkinak

I think Turner Saddlery makes some pretty nice leather military slings.

They certainly do. A friend has their M1907 sling on his Garand and it is a letter perfect replacement for the original.

[majormack]

Originally Posted by SRV Ron

M-14. Once zeroed in, I could easily pick off a silhouette target at 400 meters. The heavy stock could break a jaw without being shattered in the process. Easy to perry a fixed bayonet from an enemy soldier. Recoil was not bad for firing the standard 7.62 ammo which was also shared by the M-60 machine gun.

It was, of course, quite heavy and not good in close quarters such as room to room combat.

My M-14 was an Harrington and Richardson. Mine was worn slick, almost no finish at all. It had been issued to a bunch of marines before it came to me. I liked shooting it. Recoil was minimal, but it was large and pretty heavy and so was its ammo.

My grunt classmates got to VN armed with the M-14. No marines that I spoke with were a fan of the early M-16s.

The only issue that i had with the rifle was that the gas cylinder plug, which screwed into the front of the gas cylinder, kept coming loose, no matter how hard to tried to tighten it. If I had taken it to combat I'd have put some lock tight on it, or something. Hopefully they'd have issued me another rifle.

Years later I was overseas and the squadron pilots were ordered to re-qualify with the M-16, which most of us had never held, being M-14 trained marines. I'll never forget it. We went to the range wearing our flight suits and p**cutters. A lance corporal handed me the weapon as if I knew what I was supposted to do with it. Of course I was clueless and the rifle didn't work anything like the old M-14.

I'll never forget the incredulous look on the young marine's face when I told him I knew nothing about the rifle. He was thinking, "What? A Marine officer who doesn't know how to handle the M-16!?" Well that was the case. I was a little embarrassed too. The grunts, of course knew everything about the new black gun, but I was a flyer after all.

[majormack]

Originally Posted by Javaman

All things considered I think the best collector value for now and in the future is the Beretta BM-59 (Garand with 20 rd Mag) or a more vintage M1A.

The new and newer M1A's are too common to appreciate much from their already substantial asking prices.

I think you can buy two old M1s for what one MIA will cost you.

[Pruitt]

At the last Houston Gun Show I attended, they had some nice looking M-1's for around $900 to a $1000. Depending on what you want on your M-1A, you can spend from $1500 to over $2000 easily. I got mine before last X-Mas and paid around $1500 counting tax! The big shows have more "collectibles" to look at.

I bought an M-1 Carbine for around $400 bucks, last year. It was used but the barrel and wood looked good. It may have at least three different companies parts inside, but I bought it to shoot not as an investment.

I am hoping the Korean Government gets approval to sell its arsenal M-1 Garands here! That will drop the prices down far enough for me to get one guilt free!

Pruitt