Hi ,
I was given a M-14S .
It`s got a wooden stock with what looks like a
plastic handguard on top, fake muzzel break.
On the left side of the receiver it`s stamped
M-14S 308
IOE OR IDE USA SFLO MICH.
POLYTECH  CHINA   03090
I just wanted to know What I have here?????
Thanks.

You have a Chinese made Polytech M-14s.  There were two different Chinese M-14s.  Norinco and Polytech.  The Polytechs seem to be better finished.  Your rifle has a FORGED receiver.  They are excellent recievers, and USGI dimensioned in every way.  The Chinese parts on them are slightly odd sized though.  This can result in parts incompatibility with some USGI parts.  The parts can also be low quality, resulting in other problems.  Many guns show no problems at all.  It seems as though the recievers were made to high standards, but the parts put on them were pretty loose in the QC department.

Get your headspace checked by someone who knows how to check headspace for a military rifle.  it's different for a military rifle than a .308 win civillian one.  This seems to be the major problem with them.  If your's is good, shoot the crap out of it.  If it's bad, you can get it fixed pretty easy and there are many ways to go.  You can find out what they are by doing a search, or you can just ask if your headspace is bad.  If it's good though, that's all you need.  Enjoy the gun.

Ross

Thanks Ross,
Tell me more about the headspaceing on the
M 14 s Polytech please.
Local M1A/M14 Smiths are hard to come by.
Thanks.

The M14-S has been replaced pretty much with the M-305,things to watch for on the M-14S are:

1. Soft Bolts
2. Firing pins may not be to specs or the hole for the firing pin may be off either one which can cause the rifle to slam fire due to the firing pin being lodged in the hole (mine did this)
3. Very poor quality wood
4. As mentioned some parts are not USGI spec.

The M-305 has corrected most of these problems but you would be wise to get the rifle inspected,like I mentioned mine did slamfire and was NIB when I got it.I junked mine and sold the receiver off as it was the only thing on it that was worth keeping
These things are quite common in Canada (M14S and  M-305)as they are easier to get than the M1A and M14.

Check here for comments and to post questions about the Norinco/Polytech M14 style rifles

www.canadiangunnutz.com

Unforunately the M-305 isn't available in the states.  Odds are it won't be either.  Too bad too, as it would make for a low-cost alternative.

Some M-14s' have soft parts and the headspace "grows" pretty fast.  It results is some having excessive headspace rather quickly.  Others last forever.  It's all luck it seems, as there's no rhyme or reason to the condition, other than poor quality control on parts.

The reason to have it checked by someone who knows military rifles is that the M-14s is a military chamber, and on miiltary chambers the headspace is looser than on civillian chambers.  So a civillian headspace guage you use on a Rem 700 for example may give you a bad headspace reading, when the headspace is actually still good in a military gun.  This mis-diagnosis may be the cause of many of the poor headspace ledgends on the Chinese guns.  Much of it they have earned though.

You can get headspace gauges yourself, and they are easy to use, if you can find no one.  Just make sure you're checking with the right gauge.  There are many field expedient ways people will tell you to use.  I personally don't like them for a variety of reasons.  They simply aren't accurate, and with headspace I like to be accurate.  Gauges are cheap enough and not much more than it would cost you to find a smith, get there, and pay him to check it.

Ross