[DoughtyOne]

I used to watch combat. As I kid I thought the M-14 was the greatest looking weapon. Then one day I'm walking though a gun show and there one was. I couldn't wait to pick it up. I asked permission and picked this sucker up. I nearly fell over. It was a very heavy weapon. I had held comparable weapons. By comparision it was by far the heaviest. All of a sudden those years of thinking I wanted to own one left me instantly.

[elbucko]

I asked permission and picked this sucker up.

Now you know one of the reasons why the So. Vietnamese soldiers had such poor early combat records. The M-14 was heavy for an average occidental, let alone the small frame of an oriental. And the rifle kicked. Teaching new recruits to learn to shoot the "14" and not close both eyes was a job.

Though the AK-47 is a pile of junk next to a Weatherby, it was perfect for jungle warfare.

[Shooter 2.5]

The M-14 was adopted in 1957 and the M-16 was adopted in 1964 giving the M-14 the shortest timespan of all the issued weapons. The Krag comes in second,1892-1903.

There can be some dispute over this since it's still in inventory and used by the Navy.

[quietolong]

In the show combat. those were M1s

[N. Theknow]

Of course it sounds like it was the M-1 you picked up since it weighed 9.1 pounds.

[Flint]

I joined the USMC in 1962. Was issued and trained with an M1 Grand. Went to infantry traning and was issued and used an M14. I prefered the M1 then and still do today.

[Frohickey]

I used to watch combat. As I kid I thought the M-14 was the greatest looking weapon. Then one day I'm walking though a gun show and there one was. I couldn't wait to pick it up. I asked permission and picked this sucker up. I nearly fell over. It was a very heavy weapon. I had held comparable weapons. By comparision it was by far the heaviest. All of a sudden those years of thinking I wanted to own one left me instantly.

Combat, the TV series, is set in WW2. They did not have M14s in WW2. They had M1 Garands (wt empty 9.5lbs), M1 Carbine (wt empty 5.5lbs), M1A1 ("Tommy Gun") (wt 30rd magazine 12.5lbs), BAR (wt 15.5lbs).

A loaded M14 weighs less than an empty M1 Garand, but does not sacrifice much in the way of energy delivered downrange.

M16/AR15s are a different type of beast.