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Posted: 10/15/2008 6:26:27 AM EDT
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Gents, What's the verdict on LRB M14's (factory built by LRB)? Your thoughts... Sakic #19 
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 LRB M14s, Smith Enterprise Barrel, GI Stock & Internals...basically by Jon Wolfe. It compares very favorably with my SAI Supermatch, is lighter and better finished. Shoots my handloads about the same, if not better which says a lot about the "GI" profile Smith Enterprisebarrel since the Suprmatch has a Douglas HB on it. If you want a one-off custom, LRB is tops. If you want an occasional, factory-boxed shooter, the SAI's are a decent value for the money. But if you enjoy the platform, do it right the first time and save up for the LRB, imho. |
1+ Well said. |
| I love my LRB but it was not built by LRB. The receivers are very nice and I wish I had another one. I'm pretty sure that LRBs are built with USGI parts except the barrel. Its the closest thing to a true M14 and its American made. The quality on the LRB is 1000x better than my Springfield. My Springfield won't even fit in the same stock as my LRB because it hits the dummy switch on the stock. I love my Springfield but if I had the money I'd get me an LRB and never look back. I know H20 Man is all about the Chinese receivers but I had to get rid of mine cause I hated the Made in China on the receiver. I also thought I read in Differents book that some China receivers are brittle cause of the heat treating. |
Was your rifle the only item you got rid of because you hated that it had a "made in China" stamp? Brittle receivers? |
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Well the rifle is a US Military rifle, it seemed wrong to say made in China on it. The rifle was a polytech and I bought it before I knew much about them. I started reading on the rifles to see what the scoop was on them. I read about the bolts and other issues, mainly little ones like some parts not interchanging. I began reading and I saw the Chinese receivers can be brittle. It just seemed like every part on the rifle could be a gamble so I got rid of it. I'll see if I can find the info for you. *Edit* Differents website is down right now. |
No need to search for the info, I know for a fact that there are very few issues with Chinese M14s. Sure, they have metric threads, their sights may not be crisp, their stocks aren't like USGI and they are head spaced for NATO rounds, but they are still the best value in the M14 world and they are an excellent choice for building that dream M14 on. I'm starting my 5th dream build a Chinese receiver  I'm not giving you a hard time and I do like the LRB M14SA, but I felt the need to clear up some less than clear information concerning the Norinco and Poly Tech M14. |
| i'm not arguing with you either. I paid $900 for my Poly and I just didn't like the thought that if I got a GI bolt installed, and replaced some of the other parts I could be close to $1500 for a rifle with Made in China. Sometimes LRB's can be found for a few 100 more. If I could get a Chinese rifle like the lucky guy on here that found one for $400 it I'd do it. I just see some guys pay 8-900 for a rifle and then only using the receiver for a build seems a bit much. I'd rather have the American made, comparable rifle, at that price. Thats just me. |
Very Nice looking Piece there. |
I'd love to own one.
| One other thing I might suggest is looking at a used rifle as you can save a ton of money. When i was searching for an LRB rifle I was looking at just getting a complete ready to go Barreled action and adding my own non USGI trigger group and a stock to save a little cash just to get started. This was going to cost me well over 2K+ to put together a rifle like this. I bought a used LRB that was built and tuned by Ted Brown with all USGI parts ready to go for 2K. There was one for sale on this forum just the other day for $1800. Needless to say it didn't last long. |
You've got some great M14 setup's H2O and I think we all know Smith can do some excellent work, but not all of us consider Chinese rifles our dream rifles. Now of course SAI has alot of their parts made a Taiwan too, so it's far from a perfect world, but an LRB is really closer to usgi and a dream M14 to me.
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| I just thought I'd post. I'm not a computer whiz so I don't know how to copy and paste from a PDF file. On page 196 of Differents site he lists that the incorrect kind of steel was used on Chinese receivers. He said it "lacks toughness and ductility needed for the M14 type rifle." Thats what made me give up on my Poly as it seemed as though the receiver might of been questionable too. I know you've had great luck with them though H2O man |
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