Mr. Ted Brown @ Shooters Den
I just want to introduce one of the other main contributors or commentators to my SAGE EBR online blog/journal. He is Mr. Ted Brown from Jacksonville, Oregon. Here is his biography excerpt:
The M14 has been one of my favorite rifles for the last 30 years. Up until then, my shooting experience was mostly with the M1 Carbine and M1 Garand along with several .22's. I bought my first Carbine when I was 17 and qualified with one while serving in the Air Force. The M1 Garand came along when I decided it would be a great way to get out of work and off the base if I could get on the rifle team. I've been hooked on competitive shooting and military rifles every since!
I saw my first real M14 in 1963 at Ruidosa, NM. It was one of the places we used to shoot matches at. A few of the Army shooters were using them and a lot of them were complaining. They were also getting their clocks cleaned by those of us still shooting the Garand! My Air Force Premium Grade M1 was the ultimate match rifle as far as I was concerned. Those 5V targets were easy with a good rifle! Things sort of went down the tubes when they changed to the 10X target right after that!
The M14 of 1963 was not the match rifle it is today. In '63 they still had not fully developed the match conditioning procedures we use now. Glass bedding was minimal, gas cylinders were not unitized, and they didn't have match spring guides to smooth things up. The military, in all it's wisdom said, this is the rifle you will shoot, period. They shot it and it only got better! This is exactly what happened with the M16 in 1993.
I joined the Air National Guard in 1975. That is when I really learned about the M14. I had been coaching the Air Guard's small bore rifle team in the Chief of the Guard Bureau Matches. The Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard, a short skinny fellow named Bill Moe, asked me if I would like to have an M14? I said, you mean like you want to give me one? How could I turn it down? I showed up at his office a week later and he issued me a freshly rebuilt M14NM rifle (Springfield Armory serial number 358721), a shooting coat, glove, M49 spotting scope, and a case of LC M118 1967 ammunition. Wow!!! All I had to do was shoot on the Guards
composite rifle team... Tuff decision!
My new M14 was a beautiful rifle! It had one of those skinny NM barrels, a nice shiny walnut stock, and all the latest NM modifications. It came with a new leather M1907 sling too! I was in 7th heaven! I managed to keep that same rifle for 17 years. It went through several rebuilds and sported a medium weight Saco-Lowell barrel and a fat Bishop stock when I finally turned it in, on my retirement in 1993. At one time it was barreled with one of Gene Barnett's heavy barrels. The National Guard MTU made six of these excellent barrels available to each state team around 1981.They were made on Douglas Premium blanks in six groove with a 1:12" twist. Boy, did they love Sierra bullets! We found that they didn't much care for the M118 173 grain bullet however. Few of the six groove barrels would shoot GI bullets well. Groups with Sierra bullets were about half the size we would get with the M118.
I need to point out that the LC67 ammunition I was issued was probably some of the worst ammo I ever shot! The storage facility was not the best and extremes of heat and cold took it's toll. I pulled several of these cartridges apart and found the powder had caked in clumps. Something to keep in mind when buying surplus ammunition. Later on we were issued fresh ammo and the scores got better. Ammunition quality really peaked about 1980 when the first M852 "Special Match" came out. The military finally figured out that the civilians had a real advantage with their hand loaded ammo and Sierra 168 grain Match King bullets. That's when M852 helped level the playing field.
One serious problem we had on the team was the lack of an armorer qualified to work on National Match rifles. That's when I was forced to become the team armorer and maintain all those run down M14's. They really had to twist my arm hard, but I
knuckled under and "volunteered". I already had some experience match conditioning M1 Garands so M14's came naturally. I also got some help from the National Guard MTU. Every year, the MTU would conduct a Armorer's school at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, Arkansas. We would select a team member or the state amorer to attend. I never got to go! Seems the Army NG felt they didn't need to send anyone from the Air Guard.... Could there be some politics involved here? Anyway, I ended up learning my armorer's skills through "on the job training", which is the normal way much training is done in the ANG. I actually got more hands on training that way and I still learned to do it the Army way with ARNG manuals.
During my term as President of the Nevada State Rifle & Pistol Association I made it a point to re affiliate the Association with the Director of Civilian Marksmanship program. I don't know why it lost it's affiliation, but I knew it would benefit the members and it was an opportunity to acquire rifles from the DCM for the Association's rifle team. I sent the paperwork and several weeks later received a notice to pick up several packages from the post office.
There were five boxes! I took them back to my shop and opened them.... Wow! Ten National Match M14 rifles with slings and two magazines each! This was cool! Most were in used condition, but very serviceable. The frosting on the cake however, was
three brand new, unfired, TRW National Match M14's. Must have been a mistake, but I didn't know any better. Most of the rifles were from Springfield Armory along with the three new TRW's. All had the standard "skinny" NM barrels and glass bedded wood stocks. The selectors were all welded - some more than others....
The TRW rifles were really interesting! These were brand new, as I said, and had the original factory modifications, just as they were originally contracted for. It's hard to appreciate the extent of development in M14NM rifles without looking at the original requirements.Glass bedding is a good example. We have steel bedding epoxies, pillar bedding, lugged receivers with torqued in bedding screws, and such. In the "old days" bedding consisted of fiberglass epoxy layed in channels to support the right and
left receiver rails, the two sides of the rear horse shoe area, and the four pads of the trigger housing! That was it! No front support under the barrel ring, no full support under the horse shoe, not even epoxy to secure the stock liner.
Gas cylinders were not unitized, modified spring guides were not used, flash suppressors not reamed, and triggers were not adjusted! So much for original TRW NM rifles! On further inspection, I found the barrels exhibited a lot of machining marks in the bore. These TRW barrels were not near as nice as the SA NM barrels. It didn't make them bad, but left a lot to be desired! Now I know how much everyone wants TRW parts in their rifles. In my opinion however, TRW parts are not any better than anyone else's, with the exception of their one piece operating rod. Parts from all makers passed the same inspection process and were made to the same
specifications. TRW's manufacturing processes were better, but the end product was the same!
That's how I got started with the M14 and it's probably enough rambling for now. I wonder what Jeff C. is thinking about the Iraq situation. I believe we should let the enemy set the rules of engagement and we should play by their rules!
As an American, I always want to be fair.... :lol:
Commentary By Ted Brown
Shooters Den
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