View Full Version : M1A / M-14 manipulations
Heres a question a friend and I were talkin about just today.
When you swap out your empty mag with a fresh one while still scanning down range for targets, do you let go with your strong hand to grip the mag and depress the release with your thumb, then rock out the mag. This is while supporting the rifle with your weak hand with the rifle still pulled in to your shoulder? Or, do you try to support the rifle with the strong and do the mag change with the weak?
Sorry if this is confusing sounding, Im just trying to get an idea about the manipulation of the rifle and its controls. Thanks for the help so far.
-Jesse
I pretty much do my changes the same way when possible. Strong hand maintains control of the weapon and off hand peforms the mag change. I hit the extended mag release (M1A/M14) and if it doesn't fall free then I give it a tug and then reload.
Heres a question a friend and I were talkin about just today.
When you swap out your empty mag with a fresh one while still scanning down range for targets, do you let go with your strong hand to grip the mag and depress the release with your thumb, then rock out the mag. This is while supporting the rifle with your weak hand with the rifle still pulled in to your shoulder? Or, do you try to support the rifle with the strong and do the mag change with the weak?
Sorry if this is confusing sounding, Im just trying to get an idea about the manipulation of the rifle and its controls. Thanks for the help so far.
-Jesse
Vom Kriege
12-03-08, 09:27
IMHO the Smith extended bolt release is mandatory. It makes mag changes more like the AR (rock the mag back in (which is not like the AR) but then you slap the side of the receiver with your weak hand to close the bolt rather than having to switch hands and pull the op rod back)
You don't have to change hands to work the op rod. Seat the mag with your support hand and then reach under the rifle with your support hand release the op rod with your support hand thumb or slightly rotate the rifle to the center of the body and come over the top with the support hand hand catching the op rod with the palm heel of the support hand.
This video will give you an idea of how to do the first option (even though it is with an AK):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz5LPaMhlOc
I pretty much do my changes the same way when possible. Strong hand maintains control of the weapon and off hand peforms the mag change. I hit the extended mag release (M1A/M14) and if it doesn't fall free then I give it a tug and then reload.
What/which extended mag release are you using? Just wondering how well they really work.
Spooky
I dont know if doin the mag change like on that AK is possible with the M1a, the mag release isnt that far below the line of the trigger guard. Ill have to see how much longer the extended mag release is, it might just be enough to get it done. Thanks guys.
-Jesse
Spooky,
Ask and ye shall receive. Here it is from Sadlak.
http://www.sadlak.com/pdf/Tactical_Mag_Latch_2008_0801.pdf
What/which extended mag release are you using? Just wondering how well they really work.
Spooky
Vom Kriege
12-07-08, 16:16
I dont know if doin the mag change like on that AK is possible with the M1a, the mag release isnt that far below the line of the trigger guard. Ill have to see how much longer the extended mag release is, it might just be enough to get it done. Thanks guys.
-Jesse
My point in posting the video was how the op handle could be manipulated without changing hands.
Spooky,
Ask and ye shall receive. Here it is from Sadlak.
http://www.sadlak.com/pdf/Tactical_Mag_Latch_2008_0801.pdf
Thanks! That's what I figured.
Any thoughts on it? Well executed? Does it help with reloads?
I've got a stock M1A and I love it the way it is. I have thought about the extended mag release and also the Smith bolt release as mods but minor overall changes...
Spooky
All manipulations are done with weak hand... I've installed Smith extended bolt releases on my M1as so they work exactly like the bolt releases on ARs.
I need to work on my mag changes though, because there is a wasted motion and it bugs me... Taking the weak hand off the forend, engage mag release and rock empty mag out, then grab new mag and rock it in. That extra motion in engaging the mag release is irksome but not too bad.
I love the M1a platform. :)
Sorry for the late post. At FrontSight, they taught to keep the rifle shouldered with weak hand, change mags with strong hand. I found that it's much easier for me to use the weak side hand for reloads in conjunction with the Smith Enterprise Extended Bolt Stop/Release. I found this much easier than reaching around with the weak hand to release the bolt or using the strong hand because there's less leverage to rock in mags.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=22187&title=M14/M1A%20BOLT%20STOP
With that part, the bolt can be easily and quickly released with the weak hand similar to ARs. One trick they taught for an emergency reload was to take a loaded mag and with the side of it, engage it on the mag release lever and fling the empty mag out in one motion, and then insert the loaded mag into the empty magwell. This can be done fairly quickly but requires a bit of practice.
Techniques are like everything else. One size doesn't fit all. Personally I use my off hand to do my reloads just like I do with other weapons, that's just me. I have never had issues releasing the bolt catch on an M14. With the mags I always default to ripping them out since they do not always drop free at least in my experience.
Sorry for the late post. At FrontSight, they taught to keep the rifle shouldered with weak hand, change mags with strong hand. I found that it's much easier for me to use the weak side hand for reloads in conjunction with the Smith Enterprise Extended Bolt Stop/Release. I found this much easier than reaching around with the weak hand to release the bolt or using the strong hand because there's less leverage to rock in mags.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=22187&title=M14/M1A%20BOLT%20STOP
With that part, the bolt can be easily and quickly released with the weak hand similar to ARs. One trick they taught for an emergency reload was to take a loaded mag and with the side of it, engage it on the mag release lever and fling the empty mag out in one motion, and then insert the loaded mag into the empty magwell. This can be done fairly quickly but requires a bit of practice.
The bolt release was designed as a bolt lock/catch and never intended for releasing the bolt. That's why it's so dinky and not optimized to being used as a bolt catch.
The Army taught you to reload with either hand. You started with the right when using the mags on the right of your LBE and used your left when you switched to the mags on the left side of your web gear. When you used your left hand, you reached over the top of the receiver and ran the bolt.
The empty mags were withdrawn first, secured (not in the ammo pouch, but either down your shirt or in a sandbag tied to your LBE (Yeah, I'm not kidding. This field expedient "drop pouch" is actually in the FM, so someone had some vision.) Then you retrieved the loaded mag and inserted it. You used the bolt to chamber the round. Whatever mags you had, were what you had. Being that they are steel and big, you didn't carry oodles of mags like you can with the M16 series, and the Army wasn't too interested in giving you extra mags anyway back then, so you had to really keep track of them to reload them later.
When you think about the context of the times, this method all made sense. Anyone already in the Army, or in Reserve/NG units that had M1's would already be used to using the oprod, and their right hand to reload. New recruits would be trained how to do it, so it didn't matter about them. Also the Army was just starting to let people shoot left-handed. Until the post-war era, the Army made everyone shoot right handed regardless. It was all a logical progression of the way they had done things with the M1/BAR.
If you look at Vietnam combat footage, sometimes you'll see a GI or Marine changing mags on his M16 with his right hand, even though he's shooting right handed. Actually pulling the old mag out, while activating the mag button with his thumb, and then putting a new on in. A reversion to prior training that was deeper ingrained due to more time running the M14, than a short course on the M16 while shipping out.
Like the AK, which was designed to be manipulated right handed, just like the SMG, and keep the conscripts' firing hand away from the trigger, even when using the safety. The design of the M14 isn't exactly as user friendly as we're used to looking at the back-end. So the historically "correct" way of using the rifle might not be the most efficient today.
With mine, I find myself using the right hand to do my mag changes. To be honest I don't do enough training with the M14, so I tend to want to take care of the "fiddly part" of the mag change with my right hand, as I'm right handed. It's easier and faster overall. My left hand is more than capable of holding the rifle, and the darn thing is heavy and long enough that the left hand seems to be better suited to that duty.
Wearing a chest rig goes along way to not needing to reach for ammo on the left side, and there's only so many of those relatively heavy mags you're going to carry anyway, so a chest rig works out.
In the end I think it's like the AK in that you're adapting a design to work in a different way than was originally conceived, so there's going to be some variations. All of which should be tried and what works best for you adopted.
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