The rifle came with a dummy flash hider; all the slots were solid.  I replaced the Chinese flash hider with a real flash hider that did not have a bayonet lug.  This was a simple matter of loosening the castle nut set screw, unscrewing the castle nut, placing castle nut in the new flash hider, then screwing the castle nut and new flash hider onto the barrel.  I locked the castle nut in place with the castle nut set screw.  In spite of Gunblue490’s video, I purchased the castle nut wrench with the new flash hider.

Replacing and Camouflaging the Stock

I replaced the wood stock with a surplus fiberglass stock.  This removed some weight from the rifle.  Notice the stock has a cutout for the M14 selector switch, which my M1A does not have.

I didn’t like the looks of the plain brown stock, so I used Brownells’ Aluma-Hyde paint to camouflage the stock and handguard.  I used matte black, flat dark earth, coyote brown, desert tan, and O. D. green.  I cut some stencils out of masking tape, laid them on the stock and handguard, and spray painted through the stencil.  You can see the result is an old-fashioned camo pattern.

I added a bipod and web sling to the rifle.  I don’t remember where I purchased the bipod, or the manufacturer because this was years ago, and there are no markings anywhere on the bipod.

Installing and Leveling a Scope

Along with the fiberglass stock I purchased a scope mount, but again, I don’t remember from where I purchased it or the brand.  It looks suspiciously like a Springfield Armory scope mount, but I can’t verify that.  The mount came with a replacement stripper clip guide with a hole drilled and tapped for the rear screw.  I replaced the stripper clip guide on the rifle with the new guide and installed the mount.  This mount is tall enough that I can still use the open sights below the mount.

I purchased a BSA 6-24 x 40 Mill Dot Scope and mounted it with scope rings onto the scope mount.  This scope has parallax adjustment and turrets that can be zeroed.  The scope mount and scope added some significant weight to the rifle.  I looked online and apparently this scope is no longer available.  I found a used one on eBay for $70.00 just for reference.

I placed the rifle in a padded vise with the ocular lens facing the wall and hung a plumb bob from the top butt plate mounting screw.  I rotated the rifle in the vise until the plumb bob string bisected the bottom butt plate mounting screw.  I’m assuming that the action is parallel with the stock.

I hung another plumb bob from a nail in the wall in my shop and shined a bright flashlight through the objective lens of the scope so the reticle was projected onto the wall next to the plumb bob string.  I rotated the scope so the projected vertical reticle was parallel to the plumb bob string, then tightened the ring screws to 18 foot-pounds.  The scope is now level.  In the above figure, the scope needs to be rotated so the vertical reticle line is parallel to the plumb line on the wall.  Even though I used a bright flashlight, I had to turn the lights off in my shop to see the reticle image.

I’ve never had much luck using spirit levels to level a scope.  For me, the problem is getting the rifle level, and spirit levels don’t seem to be accurate enough, or they are designed for bolt-action rifles.  This rifle has no level, flat spots on it.  The flashlight method always works, assuming the action is level with the stock.

Fire-Lapping the Barrel
The accuracy of this rifle was very poor; I could barely hit a nine-inch paper plate at 100 yards with the scope.  Maybe this was why the original owner sold it.  I figured the Chinese barrel was rough built and could probably be improved by fire lapping.  If I messed up the barrel, I could always replace it. 

I purchased a .308 NECO fire-lapping kit, which included 4 grits of lapping compound, 220, 400, 800, and 1200, two steel plates to impregnate the bullets, and soft lead .308 bullets.  The soft bullets are for slugging the barrel.  I used copper-jacketed bullets which were more aggressive. 

For rifle barrels, NECO recommends firing five rounds of each grit, cleaning the barrel, then slugging it to gauge the progress.  I prefer their other recommendation of shooting ten rounds of each grit and cleaning the barrel after every five rounds.  It is important to thoroughly clean the rifle barrel after every five shots to remove the powder residue and fouling.  Otherwise, I would be lapping the fouling and not the barrel.

I spread a thin layer of compound on the steel plate provided in the NECO kit and rolled three bullets at a time between it and the other steel plate from the kit thereby impregnating the bullets.  I wiped off the excess compound from each bullet and separated them by grit in preparation for loading.

A properly impregnated bullet has a gray ring around the bearing surface.  This surface provides the lapping action as the bullet travels down the bore.  I had some military surplus, .308 Win brass and loaded each round with a light load of 5-grains of Red Dot, which produced a low velocity load.  I normally destroy the cases after using them for fire lapping.  If I was to reload these cases, residual lapping compound could contaminate the bullet, which would damage the barrel.  If I planned to fire lap more than one gun of the same caliber, I could re-use the cases, but I would have to keep them separated by grit.  Ok, off to the range.  As mentioned before, I thoroughly cleaned the barrel after every five shots with the rifle.

So, what about the results, and just how effective is fire lapping for improving accuracy?  First, a fire lapped barrel is much easier to clean.  Because pits and burrs are removed, there is nothing to hold fouling.  In most cases, a fire lapped barrel will come clean after only two or three solvent-soaked patches.  Fire lapping also tapers the barrel from chamber throat to muzzle to make it more accurate.

After fire lapping the barrel and cleaning up the muzzle with a brass muzzle lap, I was consistently shooting 2-inch walnut husks at 100 yards.  On paper, I was printing sub minute-of-angle groups.  “Your results may vary”, as the disclaimers say, but I was quite stunned by the results.  I would not fire lap a custom-made barrel because those are usually hand-lapped at the factory.  NECO recommends that the 220-grit lapping compound should not be used in good quality factory barrels.  I did use the 220-grit on this Chinese M1A barrel because I could see it was very rough inside.

The downside of fire lapping is it increases the length of the chamber throat thereby reducing the life of the barrel.  I don’t plan on shooting thousands of rounds through this rifle, and I am very pleased with the results.

I purchased this rifle in 2001 and made the above changes in 2003.  Now, some 20 years later, it’s time to make some additional improvements.

Replacing the Bolt

Some of the Chinese Polytech bolts are known to have improper heat treating which can affect headspace.  I never had any problems with my Polytech bolt, but just to be sure, I purchased a reclaimed USGI HRT bolt from LRB Arms originally manufactured by Textile Machine Works for the Harrington & Richardson Arms Co. (HRT)  A reclaimed M14 bolt is an original USGI bolt that was demilitarized by spot welding the face and sometimes also the rear to make it unserviceable.  LRB Arms carefully removes the weld and machines the firing pin channel and hole so the bolts can be made serviceable once again.  These bolts are carefully tested by LRB to be fully safe and functional.

In the above figure you can see the milled bolt face.  The bolt was stripped, but it did have the roller.  The rear of the bolt had not been touched; it was original.

I checked headspace with the new bolt using .308 Winchester gauges.  The bolt closed on the go gauge but would not close on the no go or field gauge meaning the bolt and chamber were properly head spaced.  Notice in the above photo the bolt is not completely closed.  The gauge lengths are:

·         GO: 1.630 in.

·         NO-GO: 1.634 in.

·         FIELD: 1.638 in.

Verifying Bolt Lug Contact
Tonyben3 has a YouTube video on how to verify bolt lug contact and how to lap the bolt lugs to the receiver.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZjVJb0tRk&t=654s  It’s amazing what you can learn from the Internet.

First, I had to make a lapping tool.  I resized a military .308 Winchester case, cut it in half, and inserted a spring.  I didn’t use the hammer spring like in the video; I used a spring from my stock of springs.  I filled the case neck with epoxy to prevent the spring from pushing through.

I marked the bolt lugs with a blue marker, inserted the unpopulated bolt into the action, then closed the bolt on the lapping tool.  I used a 3/16” punch inserted into the extractor pivot hole to rotate the bolt about 1/8”, then removed the bolt and checked the wear marks on the bolt lugs.  Both the HRT and Polytech bolts were only contacting the right recoil lug.

Following Tonyben3’s video, I applied some 400-grit lapping compound to the front edge of the receiver where the right recoil lug made contact.  I closed the bolt on the lapping tool and used the 3/16” punch to rotate the bolt.  After about 50 cycles of turning the bolt, I removed the bolt from the receiver, cleaned off the lapping compound, then measured headspace with the no-go gauge.  I continued the lap/measure cycle until the left recoil lug was just touching the receiver.  The bolt still would not close on the no-go gauge.

I removed the extractor, extractor spring and plunger, ejector and ejector spring and firing pin from the Polytech bolt, but I had the worst time installing them in the new bolt.  I wrestled for half a day, lost the extractor but had a spare, found it two days later, lost the ejector but found it again!  There is a bolt assembly tool available, but I didn’t want to spend the money.

I fabricated my own bolt assembly tool by cutting the head off a .30-36 case and removing 1/4 of the case rim with a Dremel cutoff wheel.  Notice the nice clean cut in the above photo!  (I should have used my mill!)  I used this tool in my vise to keep the ejector compressed so I could press the extractor in place.  The steps I followed to reassemble the new bolt were:

1.    Insert the ejector and spring in the bolt.

2.    Press the ejector against a finishing nail in a piece of wood so I could insert a 3/16” punch in the extractor pivot hole.

3.    Pull the punch back through the bolt until I could insert the firing pin.  I kept my thumb over the ejector in case I pulled the pin out too far.  (Don’t ask how I learned this!)

4.    Insert the extractor plunger and spring.

5.    Place the assembly tool and bolt in a vise so the tool compresses the ejector.  Notice the firing pin end of the bolt is padded with leather.

6.    Remove the punch.

7.    Insert the extractor and press to seat it.  I had to use a small screwdriver to compress the extractor plunger so I could press the extractor in place.

After assembling the HRT bolt, I lubricated the bolt with grease following Tonyben3’s YouTube video.  I fabricated a bolt roller lubricator on my lathe out of a piece of scrap brass rod and lubricated the roller by filling the cavity in the lubricator about 1/2 full of grease and pressing it on the bolt roller.

Shimming the Gas Cylinder

(Photo courtesy of Badger Ridge Industries)

I found two different opinions on YouTube for shimming the gas cylinder.  Gunblue490 says to install shims so the front band and gas tube are barely loose to accommodate the barrel heating up.  TonyBen3 says to install shims so the front band and gas tube are just barely tight.  A loose or sloppy gas tube can affect accuracy.  I purchased a M14/M1A Gas System shim pack from Badger Ridge Industries.  These shims are installed on the barrel behind the barrel band.  The gas system had to be completely removed from the rifle, which gave me an opportunity to clean it.  I tried to install 0.013” of shims but I couldn’t turn the gas cylinder lock far enough.  The 0.007” shim left the band and gas cylinder barely loose, the 0.010” shim left the band and gas cylinder barely tight.  I went with the 0.010” shim.

Glass Bedding the Stock
I followed Gunblue490’s YouTube video titled How to Glass Bed an M1A or Garand ~ In Just 25 Minutes!  It took me much longer than 25 minutes!  I used JB Weld which takes 24 hours to cure, so I had to wait between each application of epoxy.

wel in the recoil lug recesses and filled the gaps with JB Weld.  I used Minwax Paste Finishing Wax as my release agent.  I couldn’t get the dowel flush with the recoil lugs, so I recessed it from the outside edge and filled the gap with epoxy.  I used waxed flat craft sticks to make the epoxy flush and held the sticks in place with a clamp.  After the epoxy cured, I trimmed it with an Exacto knife.  I filled the connector lock holes and bolt stop gap with plumber’s putty.

I used a Dremel tool and 1/8” round burr to cut channels in the fiberglass stock as seen in the video.  I thoroughly waxed the receiver and inside of the stock where I didn’t want epoxy to adhere.

I placed JB Weld on the areas of the stock where the edges of the receiver and recoil lugs touched and held the action down with electrical tape as shown in the video.  I turned the rifle over and removed the excess epoxy that was squeezed out.  I used about 1/3 of each tube, but really didn’t need that much.  Still, it’s better to have some left over than to not have enough.  I allowed the epoxy to cure for two days before removing the barreled receiver from the stock.

After I removed the action from the stock, I removed any excess epoxy.  You can clearly see a ledge in the above photo.  JB Weld is thin and will run if not allowed to cure for 20-minutes or so before applying.  This was my second attempt at bedding and there are things I would do differently next time, e.g. completely remove that ledge of epoxy from underneath the action.  I used a small grinding bit and my Dremel tool to remove the ledge.  I cleaned off the wax from the receiver with alcohol and a toothbrush, removed the plumber’s putty, then lubricated and reassembled the rifle.  The action is nice and tight in the stock which should improve accuracy.

Checking for Bolt Roller Contact on the Receiver

TonyBen3 has another YouTube video on how to check and correct for bolt roller receiver contact.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wArG8l7mjk8&t=44s  As it turned out, the Chinese Polytech receiver was undercut below the bolt roller so the roller wouldn’t impact the receiver.  So, this is one problem this rifle should never encounter.

Adding a M1907 Sling

I purchased a M1907 sling from OpticsPlanet.com.  I chose the unstained, natural version so I could oil it myself like soldiers did when the original slings were first issued.  I have made M1907 slings in the past, refer to my article Making an M1907-Style Rifle Sling but it was cheaper just to buy one.

 poured neatsfoot oil into a plastic container and ran the two strips and keepers through the oil.  I wiped off the excess oil and hung them up to dry.

After the leather dried I rubbed in Fiebing’s Aussie Leather Conditioner I purchased from the Tandy Leather Company.  This contains beeswax which will help to protect the leather.

I removed the bipod and installed the sling following the instructions in my article Making an M1907-Style Rifle Sling.  I like the looks of the M1907 sling on my military rifles.  This sling also serves to steady the rifle in the prone, sitting, and kneeling shooting positions.

Installing a National Match Operating Rod Spring Guide

The US GI spring guide can allow the op rod spring to buckle which can cause inaccuracy.  In the photo above you can see the op rod spring is starting to buckle under recoil.

I purchased a national match operating rod spring guide from LRB Arms.  The national match op rod spring guide allows the spring to contract without buckling which may improve accuracy.

I replaced the standard op rod spring guide with the national match op rod spring guide.  Now the spring does not buckle when compressed.

Installing a Cheek Riser
I needed to install a cheek riser so my eye would reach the scope but still get a good cheek weld on the rifle.  The strap-on soft cheek risers were too flimsy, and I didn’t want to drill holes in my stock to attach a hard cheek riser.

I found a company on the Internet called Tac Pro and purchased their adjustable M14/M1A cheek rest.  The Kydex base straps onto the buttstock, and the adjustable cheek riser attaches to the base.  The base has rubber inserts to prevent it from moving.

The three straps make the installation rock solid.  I didn’t like the fact that the rear strap fit over the butt plate.  I would not be able to fold out that section, nor access the storage in the butt stock without loosening the strap.  I tried putting the strap under the fold-out section, but the three layers of Velcro wouldn’t allow the fold-out section to close.  I thought about filing a cutout in the fiberglass stock under the butt plate but decided to leave it alone. 

I wanted to camouflage the cheek riser like I did the stock.  Many years ago, I found a camouflage pattern generator by Van Der Lee that is a plug-in for my Paint Shop Pro program.  This plug-in allows me to create various camouflage patterns.  Once I find a pattern I like, I create stencils by printing just the color and cutting out that color.

I traced the outline of the top and bottom parts of the cheek rest and scanned them into my computer.  I used the camouflage plug-in to create a camouflage pattern for each part.  I printed out each individual color, then cut out those colors from the pattern.

I laid strips of blue painter’s tape onto a sheet of wax paper, then traced the holes from the pattern onto the painter’s tape.  I cut out the holes from the painter’s tape, removed the wax paper, then laid the adhesive stencil onto the part.

I taped brown paper on the inside of each part so I wouldn’t get paint on the rubber inserts.  I put blue painter’s tape on the screws and installed them so paint wouldn’t get in the threads or in the screw heads. 

I sprayed both parts with gray self-etching primer and allowed it to dry for 12 hours.  This is the base color for the camouflage pattern.  I applied each adhesive stencil for the color I wanted to paint.  After the paint dried, I removed the stencil, applied the adhesive stencil for the next color, then painted that color.  Again, after the paint dried, I removed the second stencil, and performed the same process for the third color.

After the third color dried, I sprayed the part with matt clear coat.  After the clear coat dried, I removed the brown paper from inside, removed the protective tape from the screw heads, reassembled the cheek rest, and installed it onto the stock.  The camouflage pattern matches the stock, and I can now get a firm cheek hold when using the scope.  If I want to use the regular sights, I adjust the cheek riser to its lowest setting.

The above photo shows the completed M14S/M1A.  Since I’ve made changes to the stock, op rod spring guide, and gas block, I expect the rifle will shoot differently than before the changes; hopefully it will shoot better.

Bore Sighting

I have a Bushnell universal laser bore sighter that fits into the end of the muzzle.  I never liked the lasers that fit into the chamber because I could never get a clean dot; there was too much interference from reflections in the bore.  The photo above shows the EZshoot bore sighter available from Amazon.com which is similar to the Bushnell model.  This is an inexpensive, valuable tool if you plan to mount a scope or change iron sights.  Bore sighting should get your first shots on paper, then you can fine adjust your scope/sights with actual shots at the range.  I bore sight in my house at 24-feet (8-yards).  Because I’m inside, I don’t have to contend with wind, bright sunlight, or long distances.  (I just have to contend with cats that want to chase the laser dot!)  This rifle will not allow me to bore sight using the traditional method of sighting through the barrel to a target, then adjusting the sights to match.  I can’t look through the barrel of the M1A because the receiver is in the way.

I used Sierra Bullets Infinity Suite v6 to calculate the trajectory of my favorite .308 load with Sierra 168-grain hollow-point boat-tail Match King bullets at 2,700 FPS.  Sighted-in for 100-yards the bullet would be 2.12-inches low at 8-yards.  So, this means I need to adjust my scope so the laser dot is 2.12-inches below the scope’s crosshairs.

Standing 24-feet in front of my target, I adjusted the scope until I saw the image as depicted in the drawing above.  Again, this should get me on paper at 100-yards.  The figure above is a drawn representation of the actual image.

Alternative Bore Sight Method

I purchased a Bushnell magnetic bore sighter from MidwayUSA that attaches to the muzzle with a magnet.  This allows me to adjust the height of the bore sight to match the height of the scope above the muzzle.

First, I made sure the horizontal and vertical adjustments on the scope were both in the middle of travel.  I attached the magnetic bore sight to the muzzle of the rifle and adjusted the height to match the height of the scope.  I rotated the bore sight until the horizontal and vertical lines were parallel with the horizontal and vertical reticle lines on the scope.

I adjusted the windage and elevation knobs on the scope until they were centered on the bore sight image.  Then I dialed 17 clicks up which relates to 2 1/8-inches.  Each click of this scope is 1/8 MOA, or 1/8-inch at 100 yards.  Since I needed to be 2 1/8 inches high this should get me on paper at 100-yards.

Range Time
I have three loads I want to try:

1.    Sierra 168-grain hollow point boat tail Match King handload @ 2,700 FPS

2.    Lake City 1968 150-grain boat tail FMJ surplus

3.    Winchester 147-grain boat tail FMJ handload @ 2,700 FPS

Many years ago, I purchased 1,000 Winchester 147-grain boat tail FMJ bullets.  I use these to load .30-06 for my Springfield ’03-A3 and my M1 Garand.  I want to find an accurate load for the M1A .308 Winchester using those bullets as well.  At the time of this writing, Sierra 168-grain Match King hollow point boat tail bullets were costing anywhere between $0.47 to $0.55 per bullet!  I found these to be very accurate in this rifle, and if I can’t get the 147-grain bullets to work, I’ll purchase more of the Sierra Match King bullets.  As mentioned before, I don’t plan on shooting thousands of rounds through this rifle, just occasional trips to the range to shoot targets.