Dad carried one in the Marines in '69, still talks about what a great rifle it is.

Carried both. M14 EBR and M4. Both great rifles, especially today's rifles. Back when M16 first debuted and probably until this latest version came out , I'm not sure I would've given any M16 model a nod.

M14 is a heck of a battle rifle. Reason it's still in use.

I'd have to dis agree with this.

You can disagree all you want but accuracy still tops the list In my opinion. The way things are depicted In todays fire fights you would be out of ammo In a half an hour.

I had the M14 and it was a great firearm, you could bury it in the mud and shake it off and start firing, the M16 got some people killed when they would jam up when needed. Give me the M14 anyday.

The basic training brigade I was in was the first to use the M-14 at Fort Knox . One of the extra duties we did there was collect truck loads of M 1's and load them on box cars to be decommissioned . Did the same thing when I was at Fort Belvior . I can still remember those piles of M-1's stacked in those rail cars . We got brand new M-14's at Fort Knox . One of many reasons I liked them was they are more left hand friendly .

Stop watching movies.

Neav, believe me, we’re still doing the accuracy thing.
General, we STILL get the good things last. Lol.

My question is, "Why do they accurize an M14/M21 and use it in the Olympics?

My brother-in-law shot for the Army in the competition with an M21. He was deadly with the 1911 he used also.

To go duck hunting with him on a marsh wasn't fair to those of us.

Volume and sustained high rates of fire have always had a place in military doctrine interspersed with accurate rifle fire . Very little of rifle use involves burst or auto . Almost none really.

So whatever point you thought you were making , it was done in error.

Military snipers continue to push the envelope today.Records are broken every couple years.

No I'm not saying accuracy isn't. What I'm saying is accuracy is still taught and ROE have gotten so crazy that the whole spray and pray deal is pretty user unfreindly.

Come to think of it ,in the accuracy deparment , i remember reading about how back when we first pused into Iraq the marines there where taking so many head shots they did an internal investigation to see if they where executing people. I mean if anything the Corps are still deadly accurate if not precise.

A lot of the early M-16 problems came from pencil pushers that though they knew better then Eugene Stoner did about gun design, the biggest flaw was removing the chrome lining from the original design then sending that design to a wet environment.

That was with the are they carry now. The m14 was soon reintroduced after that. Not a vet here. However my two cents on the caliber is this. The heavier round and if I recall longer length led to much better sectional drnsity. Which leads to better b.c. that being said. The m14 has its place as a very accurate battle rifle. For starters good luck jamming the bugger. However I would like it more if it was a 30-06

Still extremely accurate putting a very heavy bullet down range. The other .22 call bullet is so deadly because it ricochets off every bone it hits. Unless its a solid face to face hit.

My civilian .02cents

Actual field experience proves out the arm chair experts.

When was the 14 ever used in the Olympics? Only events I can think of would have been running boar or Biathlon and I don't think the 14 was used in either. I doubt if a semi auto would have been legal either, but I don't know.

It was Army military Olympics he shot in. It may have been at Camp Perry.

I can't ask him because he has since passed.

There use to be a 300m rifle event in the Olympics but it was dropped in the 70s, still an ISSF event. No semi autos though, bolt actions that looked just like the smallbore guns they still use today for 50m competition.

Spot on old man! The M-14 is a heck of a rifle. The original M-16A1 did not have a forward bolt assist and many good men died with the M-16 broke open trying to clear a jam or get the bolt to lock up into battery. I have an M-1A and love it. The "overdrive" switch would be fun but after shooting a couple of lighter recoiling full auto's I can't see where it would be controllable. I did get to shoot a grease gun and an M2 carbine and they were a HOOT to play with.