Uh it is your gun, and you can do what you want with it but ... You might want to listen to your peers and profit from their previous mistakes and triumphs brother!
(1) You will get MUCH better accuracy if you pitch that bipod in the ditch! (hey or put it up on the Equipement Exchange!)
You don't want to have anything attached to the bbl or the gas system as that WILL affect accuracy! (Longhorn 789 for the same reason the G.I. M-14 bipod is not any improvement as it was meant for sustained automatic (machinegun fire) for the m-14E2 Squad Automatic Rifle / BAR replacement rather than accuracy like the M-21 or M-25 or Nimrod Sniper Rifles!
Mount a harris or other bipod on the forearm of the rifle, never on the gas system or bbl!
(2) You should ask and listen for your friends here, as the experience of the difficulties we have overcome can save you a lot of pain and Oh Why Oh Why Oh Why...s
I sure would have throughly degreased the rifle prior to painting it. Otherwise your paint will either never set up and harden or worse yet will flake off since it has no grip on the oily surface of the metal!
I just got my second Polytech (yes I like them THAT much) The more accurate One is getting set up as a Israeli Nimrod Scoped Sniper Rifle Clone and the second is going to be G.I. Rack Grade Service Rifle for the rough stuff!
They can be excellent rifles, but give them some help and they will do the same for you!
Good Shooting Partner!
BIGGER_HAMMER B.T.W. - One of the BIGGEST improvements on the Chicom M-14s is to ditch the sorry factory stock and switch to a U.S.G.I. Sythetic Stock (can find them all day for under $50 with all the metal and buttplate - the G.I. stock is a better fit and won't compress out like the Cheapo Commie Chu Wood (I guess it is called that because it is SO soft that it gets chewed up by any little thing!)