Ever heard of a National Ordnance m14 SA??????

02-fatboy

02-fatboy

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Ok has anyone here ever heard of a National Ordnance m14 sa? I just bought one and they seem to be pretty scarce. From what I have read they made somewhere between 3 and 12 of these rifles. So I could very well own the last one in the world?

National Ordnance has a history of making rifles with bad receivers. That being stated does anyone know if these bad receivers included the M14 sa's? I can only imagine they do????

I'm kind of afraid to fire the rifle once it arrives because I don't want it to blow up in my face. Does anyone here know anyone else who owns one? Can anyone verify if these were made from GI parts? From what I can tell the gun was built from GI parts with a bad receiver? I guess when I get the gun I might buy a new receiver for it and just keep the old one???

Any input on these rifles please update. I can't wait to see it once it arrives. I took a gamble buying it as I was unable to get up close pictures of the receiver or any other parts and the place selling it was unable to verify if it was made of GI parts or not and whether or not it was safe to fire.

So I bought the gun on a leap of faith hoping that worst case scenario I can buy a new receiver or sell it to get my money back if I really don't like it.
 
A long time back, I used to shoot NRA Highpower Rifle Matches with a guy who had an M1A type rifle made by NA.

He did OK with his rifle and had no problems, as far as I know.

You might take a look at Culver's Shooting Pages, or other M14 or
M1A sites and see what you can find out there.
 
Thanks for the input. I haven't been able to find much info on these rifles. It appears national ordnance was more popular for there m1 carbines. I believe they may have actually been bought out by federal ordnance? I thought I remembered reading that some where??? Either way I always wanted an m14 to shoot with my dad.

He carried a 1966 springfield in vietnam. He wanted an m14 like he had when he served. Because of price and legalities I decided it would be better to by an m14 sa. I thought an M1a might be cool to but he insisted the gun stated m14 on the receiver. Hopefully its safe to fire so my dad and I can enjoy shooting it together. It would be really cool if it was made of GI parts.

Based on the pictures I already know I'm going to have to change the flash suppressor and the stock. But thats minor. Freds got some really nice GI stocks for cheap less that $50 depending on what you want and I found GI flash suppressors for $75. If the receiver is safe then I will just shoot it the way it is then.
 
Best advice I can think of is have a gunsmith check it over before you fire it. Most gunsmiths (not all unfortunately) will tell you if they're qualified or not to do that type of work. It may cost a bit, but it would certainly be cheaper than having to visit a doc after something goes amiss.
 
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The later National Ordinance/Federal Ordinance rifles were built using many metric/chinese parts ex: barrel, bolt etc.While they were considered inferior and unsafe l have never seen a documented instance of a failure.The company also ventured into the 1903a3 market.That being said the Civilian Marksmanship program will not permit NO/FO 1903a`s use in the CMP games matches.I have seen them used as shooters assuming thats your intent with your Dad but would have headspace checked by a GOOD gunsmith who knows gas guns.Headspace should be 1.693 if my memory is correct.There are some good M1 smiths around who can do the job.Hard to give more info without pictures.Depending on what you paid it may be a good deal or not.Curious as to why you need to change stock/flashider and receiver?Fred's take forever to ship(months sometimes)and a GI flashider will run 125.00+ last l checked.When Springfield Armory receivers are available they run 650.00 or more and are in short supply.Other receivers LRB and others are more$.Receiver needs special tools and your already chambered barrel may not headspace.You will need a specialized set of pliers to remove the nut that retains the flashider and don`t forget the allen screw that retains the nut.You also need to make sure the flashider is aligned wouldn`t put any more into it than l absolutely had too.
 
M1A's

HAving been a service rifle competitor since the 70's, I have several M-1A's, a couple of years ago, tired of hearing all of the "horror" stories about Fed Ord & the Chinese rifles, I stripped down 6 of my rifles....4 Springfield M1A's, a Fed Ord, A Poly, and took the recvr's, trigger groups, op rods and bolts to a machine shop and had them check for hardness and using a NM recv'r and bolt as a "control" had them check dimensions and tolerances on all six examples......results? Hardness was for all practical purposes, the same across the board.....dimensions and tolerances of the Fed Ord and Chinese rifle were on par with the Springfield rack rifles that I had included.....I have shot thousands of rounds thru all of these rifles w/o mishap of any nature.....obviously my rifles are just a testimony of what I have.....but I have never seen any photo's or hard evidence of "catastrophic" failures...and I am sure if it was out there.....it would have been plastered all over the place.
 
loc n load said:
HAving been a service rifle competitor since the 70's, I have several M-1A's, a couple of years ago, tired of hearing all of the "horror" stories about Fed Ord & the Chinese rifles, I stripped down 6 of my rifles....4 Springfield M1A's, a Fed Ord, A Poly, and took the recvr's, trigger groups, op rods and bolts to a machine shop and had them check for hardness and using a NM recv'r and bolt as a "control" had them check dimensions and tolerances on all six examples......results? Hardness was for all practical purposes, the same across the board.....dimensions and tolerances of the Fed Ord and Chinese rifle were on par with the Springfield rack rifles that I had included.....I have shot thousands of rounds thru all of these rifles w/o mishap of any nature.....obviously my rifles are just a testimony of what I have.....but I have never seen any photo's or hard evidence of "catastrophic" failures...and I am sure if it was out there.....it would have been plastered all over the place.
Click to expand...

How did they test for hardness? Did this wreck or destroy the receiver? Also does magnafluxing wreck the finish or do any damage to the receiver? I might just have the receiver tested when I get the rifle if I can do so without doing any damage?
Depending on how it works out I may just leave the rifle along other than changing the Suppressor and the stock. All I can do is wait and see. I will definitely be looking at part numbers to try and figure out if its GI parts and if so of what particular make?

Thanks for all the input here. What I don't seem to understand is why National Ordnance M14's are seen as the same as Federal Ordnance? From what I have read the National Ordnance's were produced before being sold to Federal Ordnance? Any they don't appear to be one in the same even though they get linked together as though they were? Also the Federal Ordnances appear to be built of GI parts as long as they are below serial number 8000 but I have also heard people say as high as 9000? From what I can tell the National Ordnances were all built from GI parts??? Minus the receiver and from the looks of it possibly the Suppressor??? I guess I will know more when the gun arrives. Until then all I can do is guess based on some poor pictures and what I have been able to read about them.
 
Testing recv'rs

Testing for hardness does not adversely affect anything....it leaves a small (pencil lead diameter) circular mark on whatever is being tested for Rockwell Hardness....Magnafluxing is an entirely different process that tests for flaws, minute cracks, or potential problems in the material that could lead to failure.....I am not familiar with the National Ord rifle's....but as I stated I do own a Fed Ord and a Poly along with a number of S/A's......I think where a lot of these rumors got started was when the Chinese started importing these rifles and several gun writers wanted "samples" to test and Poly refused....and then the writer's decided to "trash" the rifle...this outfit is a HUGE arms mfgr in China....and it is improbable that they are going to mass market something in this day and age that would be unsafe. And since 20 plus years has passed without a plethora of these rifles "blowing up" and littering the ranges with body parts......I think it is safe to say a lot of the rumors were just that....rumors. I have had "experts" on other forums who simply dismissed the Fed Ord and Poly's as having soft recv'rs, soft bolts, soft whatever...I know that mine are not.
 
Last edited:
Magnafluxing involves a electronic magnet and dyed metal powder. The magnet, in a horseshoe shape, is turned on. Then the powder is gently sprayed between the two arms of the magnet. Any cracks will get the powder to stick in it so you have a VERY obvious line.
It leaves no marks, and any machine shop could do it in 20-30 minutes.
 
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