One more little historical factiod for anyone interested. The National Match M1 Garands used from 1953-1963 and the National Match M14s used from 1962-1967 were all built to the exact same standard for all competitors at the Camp Perry National Matches, and all competitors during a given year were also provided with the same lot of National Match Ammo. This all went away in 1968 as the Army dropped funding for the matches, but it’s an interesting factiod.
The “original” NM M14s were made by Springfield Armory from 1963 and 1965-66, with TRW made the NM M14s in 1964 (the last year of production), and the NM program was transferred over to Rock Island Arsenal in 1967. All those rifles were made to the exact same standard, as the match’s were designed to purely test a shooters individual ability, with all competitors using same NM rifles and NM Ammo up thru 1967.
Here's my 1967 NM replica with some vintage match M118 ammo. (It has a 1963 NM stock with 'minimal bedding'):
When it was announced in 1967 that the military shooting teams would be ‘on their own’ beginning in 1968 due to funding constraints, the USAMU immediately went to work in experimenting with accuracy modifications in the summer of 1967, and subsequently developed their own match prepared M14s build guide, first published in 1968 (and revised periodically over the years). The USAMU build guide was the basis for the XM21 sniper rifles, the first of which were shipped to Vietnam in late 1968 for field testing. Approval was granted in spring of 1969 for up to 1600 systems to be made by RIA.
As for the other branches. I think the original USMC National Match M14 build guide is dated 1972. Not sure if NG had its own build process or used the USAMU build process, but I do know the armors went to Rock Island Arsenal for training.
So it was 1968 and later when all the divergence occurred re match M14s, with each branch using its own voodoo build processes to maximize accuracy. The so-called "medium-heavy" barrels were first approved for match use in 1976, and around that same time or shortly thereafter, the USMC began welding on lugs in the late 1970s and the Navy started doing this as well in the 1980s. (The Navy famously initially went its own way with highly accurized M1 Garands with 7.62 NATO barrels, aka “Grade A or B, Mk 2 Mod 1” rifles. The Air Force also build their AF Premium Grade match M1 rifles, initially in 30-06 but switched to 7.62 NATO caliber around 1970-71).
Fwiw, here is the last precision M14 rifle that was purpose built for the US military, the Mk 14 Mod 2. Only 250 of these were reportedly made in 2011 for the NECC. They are DMR rifles that come with both a NF 3.5-15x scope and a AN/PVS-27 night vision optic as well. Mk 316 Mod 0 is the recommended ammo, and I heard that a small number of these are still in service, or at least still used in E-DMR training course.
The “original” NM M14s were made by Springfield Armory from 1963 and 1965-66, with TRW made the NM M14s in 1964 (the last year of production), and the NM program was transferred over to Rock Island Arsenal in 1967. All those rifles were made to the exact same standard, as the match’s were designed to purely test a shooters individual ability, with all competitors using same NM rifles and NM Ammo up thru 1967.
Here's my 1967 NM replica with some vintage match M118 ammo. (It has a 1963 NM stock with 'minimal bedding'):
When it was announced in 1967 that the military shooting teams would be ‘on their own’ beginning in 1968 due to funding constraints, the USAMU immediately went to work in experimenting with accuracy modifications in the summer of 1967, and subsequently developed their own match prepared M14s build guide, first published in 1968 (and revised periodically over the years). The USAMU build guide was the basis for the XM21 sniper rifles, the first of which were shipped to Vietnam in late 1968 for field testing. Approval was granted in spring of 1969 for up to 1600 systems to be made by RIA.
As for the other branches. I think the original USMC National Match M14 build guide is dated 1972. Not sure if NG had its own build process or used the USAMU build process, but I do know the armors went to Rock Island Arsenal for training.
So it was 1968 and later when all the divergence occurred re match M14s, with each branch using its own voodoo build processes to maximize accuracy. The so-called "medium-heavy" barrels were first approved for match use in 1976, and around that same time or shortly thereafter, the USMC began welding on lugs in the late 1970s and the Navy started doing this as well in the 1980s. (The Navy famously initially went its own way with highly accurized M1 Garands with 7.62 NATO barrels, aka “Grade A or B, Mk 2 Mod 1” rifles. The Air Force also build their AF Premium Grade match M1 rifles, initially in 30-06 but switched to 7.62 NATO caliber around 1970-71).
Fwiw, here is the last precision M14 rifle that was purpose built for the US military, the Mk 14 Mod 2. Only 250 of these were reportedly made in 2011 for the NECC. They are DMR rifles that come with both a NF 3.5-15x scope and a AN/PVS-27 night vision optic as well. Mk 316 Mod 0 is the recommended ammo, and I heard that a small number of these are still in service, or at least still used in E-DMR training course.
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️Charlie112
