First are a couple of parts used in building up National Match M14s. At the top is the standard and match gas cylinder and handguard band, while below that is the standard and match operating spring guide.
The unitized gas cylinder/band lets the barrel float free, and prevents changes in sling tension from shifting the point of impact of the rounds. The match spring guide is machined from solid round stock, rather than just stamped out of sheet metal. It's purpose is to allow smoother coiling of the action spring, making for more consistent operation. Four flutes machined into the guide, and a polished surface, cut down on friction.
These two items are not really major, but I feel better knowing I put these two simple mods in.
Something more visible is the Urban-ERT sling for the rifle. They make a wide range of slings for carrying and quick deployment of just about any weapon you can think of. For weapons of more "conventional" design, they make sling adapters that provide the equivalent of side-mounted sling swivels.
The front adapter has to be removed to take the weapon down for cleaning. I really like the way the sling works, but I'm investigating a couple of ways of mounting a short section of Picatinny rail on the side of the forend, where I could then clamp on a regular sling swivel. That's part of my next shipment from Brownell's.
Meanwhile, I've done research on good, cheap (or at least less expensive) M14 magazines.
The last GI M14 magazines were made in 1999 for the Navy by Checkmate Industries. They're still out there, but a lot of places are asking $50 for one. But careful shopping, such as .44Mag.com gets genuine CMI mags at $25-$30.
All GI magazines are marked on the back. Here are two CMIs flanking a generic M14 magazine:
While the parkerizing is rougher on the CMIs than earlier GI mags, they still meet military specs, which is something that a lot of the generic ones don't. The Taiwanese blued M14 magazines are good, being made on original American tooling, but those are hard to find, too. Supposedly, CMI makes unmarked OEM magazines for Springfield Armory, too. The construction methods, and rough parkerizing on my unmarked 10-round magazine matches the marked CMI. Generally, there are more, and more visible, spot welds on GI-spec magazines compared to generics.
Not all generic M14 mags are junk, except for the chicom ripoffs. Here's a $40 generic on the left, compared to a $30 CMI on the right.
M14 magazines, at least the good ones, aren't exactly easy to find, especially at reasonable prices. But the military is rediscovering the M14, and GI magazines are out there if you shop wisely.