Happy Birthday, M14 Rifle!

[82Rigger]

On May 1, 1957 the Rifle, U.S. Cal 7.62 M14 was adopted by the armed forces as "A" standard, replacing the .30 cal M1 Garand.

[MORTARDUDE]

and the M16 in AIT...I qualified Sharpshooter with the M14 and
Expert with the M16..( I did a ton of hunting before I went in the Army, not much since ). I enjoyed shooting both. What did you guys qualify with and what was your rating ?

Larry

[Andy]

There was a version of the M-14 that I think I remember had a pistol grip and could be fired on full auto, I loved that thing. The weight of the 14 did not bother me and it seemed so much better than the original M-16. To bad they didn't keep the 14 until all the bugs were worked out of the 16.
How did we score? Expert on the M-60, a little less with both the 14 and 16.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[Keith_Hixson]

I qualified Expert on both M-14 and M-16.

M-14 in Basic. Really loved that rifle. Sweet shooting.

While at Devens the word came down that all in Military had to qualify on the M-16. All the NCO's went to range to qualify. I was handed a M-16 and given instructions. Ranger Master said he had sighted in all the rifles. Given a clip to practice. Then told to qualify. Qualified expert! The first and last time I fired a M-16. Never did clean the rifle or have one assigned to me. Also qualified on the Winchester Model 12 shotgun. Went to the guard house for guard duty. They needed someone qualified on the Model 12, none qualified. The 1st LT asked if anyone knew how to fire a Model 12. I told them I had grown up pheasant hunting with a model 12 on the farm. He handed me the short barreled model 12 and said "You are now qualified on the Model 12." Never did know what rating I qualified . Never showed up on any my official paperwork. But I did feel fully qualified on the Model 12 I had fired 100's rounds through one.

Keith

[phuloi]

M14 qualifying in basic was a real hit and miss day for me.I think I`ve told the story of having pneumonia in both lungs and begging the 1st shirt to let me go to the rifle range immediately after begging the doc to let me out of the hospital so I wouldn`t be recycled...Anyhow,"Granny`s Drawers" were fling at a blistering pace on my target until word got to the pit that I was out of the hospital and trying to qualify.After that it was all Bullseyes,and they offset enough to get me a marksman rating and out of basic.We were issued the M-16 around Christmas,`66 and I think I qualified expert.I`d have to look at DD214 to be sure.Excepting for the weight,I wished for the 14 back when first in-country.

[usmcsgt65]

Didn't know today was the M-14 b-day. I said it before, "I like that rifle". It had good knock down, stay down power, and it could reach out and touch somebody with it.

[Jerry D]

Well, Being in the Airforce we only saw the M-16 on the day we qualified and using Airforce standards I just Qualified, the closest i ever got was in 93' I missed expert by 1 bullet..

[splummer]

I thought the M-14 would be a good deer hunting rifle, but I had trouble qualifing with it in basic. I think I must have been nervous about being recycled if I wouldn't qualifie. I made sharp shooter with the M-16, but when I got to Nam in Jan 1968 we still had M-14's. A few of them had a switch on the side to change over to fully automatic. I have some pictures of that rifle, but never fired it. [I must have been too busy ducking.] We got M-16's in May or June and there were a few times I needed to fire it.

[frisco-kid]

with the M-14 in Basic, and the M-16 in AIT. Qualified Sharpshooter with the M-60. Not bad for a City kid. Last week, at Cu Chi, showed the Commies that I was still a dangerous man with a weapon . All 4 of us took some shots with an AK-47. $30 for a 30 round clip. I knocked down 3 of the 4 targets. Impressed them so much, they gave a free Cu Chi Tunnel baseball cap.

[Keith_Hixson]

Tom,

You got good because you breathed that fresh Montana air for so. . . . long!

Keith