The M14 SUCKS... Or Does It? (Part One)

The incestuous bastard child of the greatest battle implement ever devised, the M14 has gained a reputation as possibly the worst battle rifle ever produced - an uncontrollable, inaccurate, and woefully outdated weapon that was kept alive more for its political merits than its battlefield ones. What began as a project to improve the nigh flawless M1 Garand ballooned into a decade long black hole of ideologically charged arms development, that, when all was said and done, produced the shortest serving standard issue rifle in American history. But, as evidenced by its continued usage through to today, there is clearly some value to the M14 design; and maybe that bad reputation isn’t quite all it's often chalked up to be. In this first part of my M14 miniseries, we'll discuss what led to the rifle's creation, how it fared in the Lightweight Rifle trials, and why the T44 was ultimately adopted as the M14. Sources Chivers, C. J. The Gun. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2011. Ezell, Edward Clinton, Thomas M. Pegg, and W. H. B. Smith. Small Arms of the World: A Basic Manual of Small Arms. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993. Ezell, Edward Clinton. The Great Rifle Controversy: Search for the Ultimate Infantry Weapon from World War II Through Vietnam and Beyond. Stackpole Books, 1984. Orkand, Bob, and Lyman Duryea. Misfire: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam. S.l.: Stackpole Books, 2023. Stevens, R. Blake. U.S. Rifle M14: From John Garand to the M21. Cobourg, Ont, Canada: Collector Grade Publications, 1995. Thompson, Leroy. The M14 Battle Rifle. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2014. Forgotten Weapons M14 video -    • M14: America’s Worst Service Rifle - What ...   IvanPrintsGuns M14 video -    • Uneasy Twistings - Why the M14 Beat the FN...   https://smallarmsreview.com/against-a... https://gunsamerica.com/digest/the-bi... https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2... https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2... https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2... https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2... https://www.thearmorylife.com/m14-bat... https://smallarmsreview.com/t48-the-a... Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:30 A Brief Note 02:07 Improving the Garand 06:00 Understanding Springfield 09:03 NATO Tries to Find a New Cartridge 11:29 Enter the T25 15:33 The 1950 Trials 18:36 The Spare Heir 21:48 A Change of Course 25:48 The Rise and Fall of the T44 30:18 A Miraculous Comeback 33:27 The M14 is Born 37:28 Conclusions 39:29 Outro