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Posted: 10/14/2016 5:16:31 PM EDT
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I have a chance to get some USGI M14 magazines on a trade and I don't know anything about them - what they are worth, which ones are good, etc.
3 of them have a marking of "OM" on the front and the others all say "restricted to military and LE use" All of the magazines have been used, but not extremely beat up. They seem to function fine I have a couple of questions regarding these: 1. Is it okay for me to get the restricted mags? If so, can I sell them later on? I live in GA where pretty much everything gun related is legal. 2. How much are these worth? Thank you. |
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I have a chance to get some USGI M14 magazines on a trade and I don't know anything about them - what they are worth, which ones are good, etc. 3 of them have a marking of "OM" on the front and the others all say "restricted to military and LE use" All of the magazines have been used, but not extremely beat up. They seem to function fine I have a couple of questions regarding these: 1. Is it okay for me to get the restricted mags? If so, can I sell them later on? I live in GA where pretty much everything gun related is legal. 2. How much are these worth? Thank you. OM are Olin Mathieson produced for Winchester during Vietnam era, and depending on condition are worth $20-$60. The restricted marked mags would likely be Checkmate Industries built Springfield Armory factory mags for ban states, from AWB days. New Checkmate mags are $23-$30 depending on sales. OEM Springfield Armory marked mags are priced higher but are just Checkmate mags. If you have no State restrictions on mag capacity then you can buy the restricted marked mags. |
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IMO, stick with the vintage USGI magazines from the 60's and 70's. CMI mags are good, and they work but, they are still not as good, or reliable, or as valuable as the original USGI issued mags from that early era. OM, (Olin Mathieson) KMT, (Killeen Machine Tool) UHC, (Union Hardware Co.) BRW, (Borg Warner) H&R- (Harrington & Richardson) (usually marked with a "W" because they were made by a sub-contractor for H&R- Westinghouse Electric) and, as rare as hens teeth- SA (the Springfield Arsenal) are the best M14 mags ever produced. |
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OM are Olin Mathieson produced for Winchester during Vietnam era, and depending on condition are worth $20-$60. The restricted marked mags would likely be Checkmate Industries built Springfield Armory factory mags for ban states, from AWB days. New Checkmate mags are $23-$30 depending on sales. OEM Springfield Armory marked mags are priced higher but are just Checkmate mags. If you have no State restrictions on mag capacity then you can buy the restricted marked mags. Quoted:
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I have a chance to get some USGI M14 magazines on a trade and I don't know anything about them - what they are worth, which ones are good, etc. 3 of them have a marking of "OM" on the front and the others all say "restricted to military and LE use" All of the magazines have been used, but not extremely beat up. They seem to function fine I have a couple of questions regarding these: 1. Is it okay for me to get the restricted mags? If so, can I sell them later on? I live in GA where pretty much everything gun related is legal. 2. How much are these worth? Thank you. OM are Olin Mathieson produced for Winchester during Vietnam era, and depending on condition are worth $20-$60. The restricted marked mags would likely be Checkmate Industries built Springfield Armory factory mags for ban states, from AWB days. New Checkmate mags are $23-$30 depending on sales. OEM Springfield Armory marked mags are priced higher but are just Checkmate mags. If you have no State restrictions on mag capacity then you can buy the restricted marked mags. Thanks for the info, I ended up getting the mags. I didn't look close the first time, the ones with the LE/Mil markings are Checkmates with a date of 1996. Since I don't have anything to use them in (yet). I'm going to sell a few off to fund other stuff. |
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Thanks for the info, I ended up getting the mags. I didn't look close the first time, the ones with the LE/Mil markings are Checkmates with a date of 1996. Since I don't have anything to use them in (yet). I'm going to sell a few off to fund other stuff. Quoted:
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I have a chance to get some USGI M14 magazines on a trade and I don't know anything about them - what they are worth, which ones are good, etc. 3 of them have a marking of "OM" on the front and the others all say "restricted to military and LE use" All of the magazines have been used, but not extremely beat up. They seem to function fine I have a couple of questions regarding these: 1. Is it okay for me to get the restricted mags? If so, can I sell them later on? I live in GA where pretty much everything gun related is legal. 2. How much are these worth? Thank you. OM are Olin Mathieson produced for Winchester during Vietnam era, and depending on condition are worth $20-$60. The restricted marked mags would likely be Checkmate Industries built Springfield Armory factory mags for ban states, from AWB days. New Checkmate mags are $23-$30 depending on sales. OEM Springfield Armory marked mags are priced higher but are just Checkmate mags. If you have no State restrictions on mag capacity then you can buy the restricted marked mags. Thanks for the info, I ended up getting the mags. I didn't look close the first time, the ones with the LE/Mil markings are Checkmates with a date of 1996. Since I don't have anything to use them in (yet). I'm going to sell a few off to fund other stuff. No problem, the Checkmates are first year ban mags then and Checkmate only produced those mags for LE/Mil at the time. I find Checkmates run fine in most M14 types once the park wears a little internally. |
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Checkmate mags are the premier magazines for the M14 rifle. They are still currently USGI, and as already mentioned, they make the magazines for Springfield Armory who just sells them for twice the price.
Olin Mathieson IS Winchester, not a subcontractor for Winchester. 
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Checkmate mags are the premier magazines for the M14 rifle. They are still currently USGI, and as already mentioned, they make the magazines for Springfield Armory who just sells them for twice the price. Olin Mathieson IS Winchester, not a subcontractor for Winchester. Olin Mathieson was the parent company for Winchester but there are Winchester marked mags too including Winchester mags marked with an "M" which is thought to be an inverted "W" stamp. There are counterfeit Winchester W marked mags with 9 coil springs and the wrong number of welds but the real Winchesters are marked WRA or W with a line overscoring the W and have a horizontal slash through second V of the W. |
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Quoted: Olin Mathieson was the parent company for Winchester but there are Winchester marked mags too including Winchester mags marked with an "M" which is thought to be an inverted "W" stamp. There are counterfeit Winchester W marked mags with 9 coil springs and the wrong number of welds but the real Winchesters are marked WRA or W with a line overscoring the W and have a horizontal slash through second V of the W. |
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I'm going to have to disagree there. I spent a year hunting down every single OM/Winchester part new in wrapper to build the M14 in my avatar. There is no such thing as a WRA marked magazine. OM marked mags are Winchester magazines. W marked magazines are Westinghouse, who is a subcontractor. "W" markings on USGI wrappers and tubes do not represent Winchester. "66118", "OM", or "Olin Mathieson" are used or printed on all Winchester parts. I can't recall, not to say they don't exist, any M14 parts marked WRA. Now the M1 Garand is a different story. You'll find WRA all over those. Here's a screen shot of just 20 of the 30+ Winchester parts used to build my M14. Detailed pictures can be seen here: http://m14forum.com/reference/180945-winchester-olin-mathieson-parts.html <a href="http://s148.photobucket.com/user/ranger619_bucket/media/Mobile%20Uploads/12B0C7AA-3774-4759-8601-E0915E4DA0FE_zpswwylh9yu.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s21/ranger619_bucket/Mobile%20Uploads/12B0C7AA-3774-4759-8601-E0915E4DA0FE_zpswwylh9yu.jpg</a> Quoted:
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Checkmate mags are the premier magazines for the M14 rifle. They are still currently USGI, and as already mentioned, they make the magazines for Springfield Armory who just sells them for twice the price. Olin Mathieson IS Winchester, not a subcontractor for Winchester. Olin Mathieson was the parent company for Winchester but there are Winchester marked mags too including Winchester mags marked with an "M" which is thought to be an inverted "W" stamp. There are counterfeit Winchester W marked mags with 9 coil springs and the wrong number of welds but the real Winchesters are marked WRA or W with a line overscoring the W and have a horizontal slash through second V of the W. I'm going to have to disagree there. I spent a year hunting down every single OM/Winchester part new in wrapper to build the M14 in my avatar. There is no such thing as a WRA marked magazine. OM marked mags are Winchester magazines. W marked magazines are Westinghouse, who is a subcontractor. "W" markings on USGI wrappers and tubes do not represent Winchester. "66118", "OM", or "Olin Mathieson" are used or printed on all Winchester parts. I can't recall, not to say they don't exist, any M14 parts marked WRA. Now the M1 Garand is a different story. You'll find WRA all over those. Here's a screen shot of just 20 of the 30+ Winchester parts used to build my M14. Detailed pictures can be seen here: http://m14forum.com/reference/180945-winchester-olin-mathieson-parts.html <a href="http://s148.photobucket.com/user/ranger619_bucket/media/Mobile%20Uploads/12B0C7AA-3774-4759-8601-E0915E4DA0FE_zpswwylh9yu.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s21/ranger619_bucket/Mobile%20Uploads/12B0C7AA-3774-4759-8601-E0915E4DA0FE_zpswwylh9yu.jpg</a> I concede to your superior knowledge sir!
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The stamping that you think is a "W" with a line through the second "V" of the "W" is actually an inverted character. IF you turn the mag upside down you will see that it is a stylized logo. Stamped upside down on the back of the mag. The left side with the slash is an "A" combined with the right side makes an AM for American Metal Stamping Co., a sub-contractor for M14 mags back in the day. Quoted:
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Olin Mathieson was the parent company for Winchester but there are Winchester marked mags too including Winchester mags marked with an "M" which is thought to be an inverted "W" stamp. There are counterfeit Winchester W marked mags with 9 coil springs and the wrong number of welds but the real Winchesters are marked WRA or W with a line overscoring the W and have a horizontal slash through second V of the W. Ah, my mistake, some magazine guides still refer to those as Winchester or possible Winchester manufacture. |
Unless you're "collecting" new in packaging M14 magazines the only criteria is functionality. Magazine forgeries are common, including the packaging but if they work who cares? Just don't over pay for them, they're expendable. I doubt too many of us have genuine M14 rifles anyway. 
-- Chuck |
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Unless you're "collecting" new in packaging M14 magazines the only criteria is functionality. Magazine forgeries are common, including the packaging but if they work who cares? Just don't over pay for them, they're expendable. I doubt too many of us have genuine M14 rifles anyway.
-- Chuck True, and even most of the forgeries were done using CMI magazines as the base, so 100% functional. |
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Sorry, I hope I wasn't coming off as arrogant or know-it-all-ish. Just throwing the info out there, that's all, and I've been proven wrong before so no worries! Quoted:
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I concede to your superior knowledge sir! Sorry, I hope I wasn't coming off as arrogant or know-it-all-ish. Just throwing the info out there, that's all, and I've been proven wrong before so no worries! No problem man, I know you're well researched. 
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No problem man, I know you're well researched. Quoted:
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I concede to your superior knowledge sir! Sorry, I hope I wasn't coming off as arrogant or know-it-all-ish. Just throwing the info out there, that's all, and I've been proven wrong before so no worries! No problem man, I know you're well researched. Yeah!...wow. 
Nice knowledge bomb!
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