[OldCorps]

I've fired every Army rife and machine gun that was in use from the 80's to the late 90's. This includes grease guns, M16's (of course), an occasional M14, M60 and M2 machine guns. Also fired some appropriated AK47s and AKMSs.

I was amazed at the accuracy of the M14. To my mind, this is really a great rifle, probably the most accurate firearm in wide distribution within the military. Were I a company commander today, I'd want a soldier in each platoon armed with a sniper version of the M14.

[Shooter 2.5]

I don't know when you got out of the military, but the M-16 is a lot better than when I was in. The Garands and the M1A's are disappearing from the High Power Matches. 600 yards max.

The M-16's are also a lot easier to maintain.

Overall though, I can't argue that a scoped M-14 is an incredible weapon for 600-900.

[sfvgt]

I have a small collection of AR-15's which includes just about every variant.........you would be very surprised with the results from an Olympic Ultramatch preban.........right out of the box I was shooting 1 inch groups at 50 yards.......with a little extra grooming, I no longer shoot at convential targets......I now shoot at quarters, knobs off of radios, pop top lids........at a distance of between 50 to 100 yards.......no bench rests or sand bags......I don't hit them all the time but I hit them enough to scare the crap out of my friends, one of who was a marine sniper.......and I do it with stock police ammo......

[clintonh8r]

I had almost no shooting experience when I entered TBS at Quantico in 1968, but I qualified "Expert" with the M14. It's a great weapon and very "shooter-friendly." I would love to have one.

[ExSoldier]

"I'd want a soldier in each platoon armed with a sniper version of the M14."

The sniper version of the M14 is the M21 originally equipped with the ART (Auto Rangefinding Telescope) 3X12 scope and it was a heavy sucker. I had my Springfield Armory M1A upgraded by ROBAR with with an action job and their NP3 coating for the internals as well as their ROGUARD (Black) on all external parts and I mounted a Harris bipod and Shepherd rangefinding scope and it STILL doesn't weigh what an M21 did. Finally, my buddy, a former SEAL sniper worked his magic at the range and helped me zero and "set" the barrel as he put it. Anyway it's a 500 meter tackdriver. Funny thing, the aiming circles on the Shepherd scope are for an 18 inch diameter and set for a specific bullet weight (I chose 168 gr Federal Boattail MATCH) and they say it's the diameter of a Deer's shoulder area....it also happens to approximate the area of a man's chest. Hmmmmm.