Anybody have a Poly Tech M-14 S?

Nope, but in 96, and 92 and 88, and 14, there is ONE place where my rifle commands a premium, and that is in Long Range. I can run loads in my Norinco that'll bust an SA casting! BTW Sparky......how many "stock" parts do you think are in ANY competition rifle? How long do you think ANY part in a comp rifle lasts? Yes, right now, there are only a handful of Chink parts left on the rifle (basically, the Upper Handguard, the rear sling loop, and the butt-plate screws). But when it started, most of the rifle was Chinese, and it out-shot me by a considerable margin. Over time, as parts wore or "better", newer parts became available, the Chink parts were consigned to the "spares" status., and I'd use'um in a heartbeat if I needed to. On to the next issue, what part of, "The rifle is NOT for sale!" did you fail to understand, not for $2800, not for ten-times that! I want the rifle more than I want the money! Oh, and Sparky......like my Grandpa always told me, "It ain't braggin' if you can do it!"

[QUOTE=swampyankee;391178]. No one was paying $2800 in 1996 for a match 14 unless there was a ton of work to be done on it like replaceing every part. QUOTE]

So what you are saying is that in 1996, someone would ONLY pay $ 2800 for a Norinco, IF it needed "a ton of work" or needed all the parts replaced. If that's the case, why wouldn't Johns match conditioned Polytech be worth considerable more than $ 2500.00 ??

"Nope, but in 96, and 92 and 88, and 14, there is ONE place where my rifle commands a premium, and that is in Long Range. I can run loads in my Norinco that'll bust an SA casting! BTW Sparky......how many "stock" parts do you think are in ANY competition rifle? "

First if you are running any loads that can blow a rifle ,you need reloading lessons, nothing to do with a receiver quality.
Second replacing original G.I. parts with parts that are more in match spec. is one thing. Replacing them because they are soft or will strip or the wood is pallet board is another thing. If you said that you like there forged receiver, I could understand, but claiming it was a great quality rifle is another. Even you admit you have replaced just about every part. You tried to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. You like your rifle and that's good enough.

John is exactly right! Go out and buy the absolute best M1A you can find. My $700 Poly, with iron sights, and bedded into a $40 GI stock will shoot at least as well.

How is John right? The first thing you state is that you bedded and replaced the stock with G.I. Sounds more like you proved my point.

Back in the 1990's you could buy brandnew USGI M14 walnut stocks still in the bag for $19.....recoil springs were stupid cheap. Chinese M14 rifles were pissing-off some of the M14 gurus of the time...I mean really?...Those darn Chinese were selling M14 rifles cheap! Had to be junk

That's back when a company or two existed that swore on a stack of bibles that Chinese M14 rifles needed every part re-heat treated...and the gun refinished....Later it's just 'soft/out of spec' bolts. Lots of voo-doo BS floating around regarding Chi-com M14 rifles.

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Originally Posted by swampyankee

"Nope, but in 96, and 92 and 88, and 14, there is ONE place where my rifle commands a premium, and that is in Long Range. I can run loads in my Norinco that'll bust an SA casting! BTW Sparky......how many "stock" parts do you think are in ANY competition rifle? "

First if you are running any loads that can blow a rifle ,you need reloading lessons, nothing to do with a receiver quality.
Second replacing original G.I. parts with parts that are more in match spec. is one thing. Replacing them because they are soft or will strip or the wood is pallet board is another thing. If you said that you like there forged receiver, I could understand, but claiming it was a great quality rifle is another. Even you admit you have replaced just about every part. You tried to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. You like your rifle and that's good enough.

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You seem to be having this central conceptual problem about "liking" a competition rifle....I don't give a $hit about what ANY competition rifle intrinsically is, but rather what it does! I don't own/build them to develop any "emotional" attachments any more than I get emotionally attached to a 1/2" drive socket set. I am interested in one thing.....how they perform. In competition shooting, equipment CANNOT add to the developed skill of the shooter.....it can only subtract. That equipment that subtracts the least is what you strive for. What shoots good, IS good! M1/M14 competition rifles go through parts like a wolf goes through rabbits. Like any race car, you trade longevity for performance, and while you CAN make one shoot extremely well, the cost is that precision-modified parts drop from that position VERY quickly. When I was seriously campaigning an M1/M14 in Service Rifle, I carried the better part of a complete rifle to the range in spare parts.....a fully tuned weight-checked trigger group, a unified gas cylinder/lower band, a complete headspaced bolt and freshly profiled op-rod (and over the years I used every one of those pieces at least once at the range), and there is the constant "futzing" that the rifle required between matches, like skim-bedding etc. One of the absolute joys of shifting to the AR platform is getting rid of all that heavy, expensive baggage...AR's are like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going and going and going without stuff taking a dump! So, short version: the Chinese parts that I built into the rifle originally didn't fail any sooner or more catastrophically than the USGI parts that I replaced them with. And when you consider that the entire rifle only cost me $250 NIB, it's the best firearms deal I've ever made!

As for your first comment: it's quite likely that I've been running a loading bench longer than you've been alive, and all your rather nasty comment proves is that you've never fired Long Range Service Rifle.......consider what's required to deliver a bullet out of a .308 case accurately and supersonically to a target 1000 yds away with a USGI-length barrel? In that competition venue, you do those things or you go home and sit under the porch....because you sure as hell won't be running with the "Big Dawgs" otherwise!

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Originally Posted by swampyankee

How is John right? The first thing you state is that you bedded and replaced the stock with G.I. Sounds more like you proved my point.

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You are confusing what you HAVE to do, with what you CHOOSE to do! FWIW, in my very first year of competition Service Rifle, I had a DCM "loaner" M14 (so I could "qualify" for my "one in a lifetime" M1 Garand)......yes, the "real deal" with a welded selector switch (a TRW that I wanted to keep like a wolf wants a sheep)). Like every other competition M14, the stock was bedded by the Army/DCM.....which sends "your point" right out the window...if the rifle was "perfect" as it sat by your logic, why did they have to bed the rifle and modify half the parts in it so a duffer like me could toss 150 shots-for-record in the general direction of a target (which I wasn't required to even hit!). QED: I have a Winchester Mod. 70 in 7mm-08 that shoots passingly close to sub-1 MOA.....but only after I pillar-bedded the action, floated the barrel, and replaced the trigger. Before I did that work it only printed about 2.5 MOA....does that make a NIB Winchester Mod. 70 Classic a POS out of the box? No! 2.5 MOA is perfectly adequate for hunting deer in PA and WV....I'm just one of those weird hairpins that figure "too much" accuracy in a firearm is like having "too much" money in the bank....all I can get ain't enoug!

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Originally Posted by Stephan

Back in the 1990's you could buy brandnew USGI M14 walnut stocks still in the bag for $19.....recoil springs were stupid cheap. Chinese M14 rifles were pissing-off some of the M14 gurus of the time...I mean really?...Those darn Chinese were selling M14 rifles cheap! Had to be junk

That's back when a company or two existed that swore on a stack of bibles that Chinese M14 rifles needed every part re-heat treated...and the gun refinished....Later it's just 'soft/out of spec' bolts. Lots of voo-doo BS floating around regarding Chi-com M14 rifles.

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And the FACT (as confirmed by Charles Petty!) that every one of those "hit-pieces" were bought and payed for by the "Fratelli-Reese Gang", the owners of Springfield Armory Inc. had absolutely nothing to do with any of it! The Chinese M14's meant complete ruin and bankruptcy for "The Gang", so they were willing to "play dirty", and spend significant money, so they did!

John you have no idea of who I am or what I've done or how I shoot. You are so busy patting yourself on the back that you don't realize there are a lot of other shooters that shoot competition including long range service. Which you think is a big deal.
You are the one who called me names in your post, not I.
I still state, if by your own words you load high enough to blow a rifle ,you are an unsafe reloader.
I bet John if you buy a Volkswagon and change the suspension and motor and brakes and wheels and interior, you will have a car just like a Porsche. at least in your world.
One more last thing and I'm done. Your norinco is a piece of junk it has NO resale value and you know it.