M14 / M1A confusion

[echo3mike]

Want to know what the fuss is over the M14 / M1A gas piston and it's housing. I'm having the bed glassed, and, at least in Scott Duff's book, the cylinder is given a real going over. What exactly is important about it's alignment?
Even removing the piston for cleaning seems to have some complications regarding alignment of the cylinder.

Also, any advice on cleaning without removal of the stock? Seems that would leave a large amount of inner workings, (op rod & spring, esp.) untouched.

Thanks in advance!
S.

 

[4V50 Gary]

How about gas pressure?

Alignment is important because it affects the amount of gas which travels through the port of the barrel and into the gas chamber which then acts upon the piston. This can affect your piston's speed, unlocking time, and lockup. It can also affect the reliability of your M14/M1A. BTW, Badger Ordnance sells a little tool which checks the alignment between the gas-cylinder and the barrel.

Going off topic, the gas-cylinder assembly should be unitized (that is, either screwed & staked or welded together so as to remove any freeplay) to produce consistent harmonics. Any looseness will vary the harmonics and affect the accuracy of the gun.

This is why fitting the gas piston to the gas-cylinder is so important. Some armorers use to experiment to see which gas piston worked better in each gun, and then mated that gas piston to the gun. It was a simple fix which improved harmonics and accuracy.

 

[Steve Smith]

Since no one has responded yet, I'll give her a whirl.

I have not "unitized" my gas cylinder yet, but from what I understand, is just lets the cas cylinder operate in a consistant manner, since there is not chance that it will be moved. I'm not sure if I'll do thins or not...is depends on how good the 'ol girl shoots I guess.

On cleaning the M1A/M14 with a glass bedded stock, that's right, you just rotate the op rod out of the way and remove the bolt...then you can clean away. Rifles that are glass bedded are typically not used "in the field" and therefore there isn't a lot of crap going inside of the stock. Besides, the op rod, spring, and guide are hardly "precision" pieces, and will take some neglect without giving up the ghost...I think most folks with the glass bed typically take their stock off once a year to clean underneath thoroughly. That way they get several years from one glass bedding. I personally have gone with a USGI synthetic stock...it should provide the same accuracy as a glass bedded stock, but I can remove it anytime I want.