M14 Forum

Canteen14 · October 16th, 2011, 12:48 PM

Why is a Devine so important other than being early production?

RET DEP 04 · October 17th, 2011, 08:59 AM

Back around 1970 a guy named Elmer Ballance started making civilian versions of the M14 receiver down in a little town in Texas named Devine. I believe he made around 2700 receivers and many of those were assembled by him and the barrels received the Devine, Texas stamp. The other receivers were sold off to other builders and formed the basis for the weapons we now own. He later sold his rights to the name Springfield Armory and productions was eventually moved to Illinois, where the plant is now located.

The early rifles were made to very high standards with mostly GI parts and thus have become very collectable. If you check the search function and sift through it you will find much of the history in great detail. It is worth the effort.

Canteen14 · October 19th, 2011, 05:50 PM

Wow, that is really neat. Thanks a ton! :)

Mindfield · December 24th, 2011, 03:51 PM

I have seen this name as well and always wondered what the scoop was, glad i found this info it had me scratching my head

huntinghawk · December 24th, 2011, 03:56 PM

Technically the company was/is called Springfield Armory, Inc so not to be confused with the US Springfield Armory.

HH

Rojkoh · January 4th, 2012, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canteen14

Why is a Devine so important other than being early production?

Simple reason, in my 39 years of M1As and working on them (not to mention working on M14s).... the finest quality M1As were built by Elmer and Jack and Ilia Karnes (A.R. Sales). Sadly both went under fairly quickly, although Elmer outlasted the Karnes (and I know why).

SInce I am writing a Monster book on all this, I've found the current generation of M1A manufacturers to be completely unresponsive and I already know the Genesco Springfields... I've had to work on way to many of them and that's not in a good sense, it was fixing problems before I accurized some of them. Nornico, Poly and the Red CHinese M1As are the ones you want to stay away from. *IF* by chance you ever see a Golden State Arms M1A (they didn't build many)... STAY AWAY! the re-welded parts they shouldn't have. Forged receivers do NOT do well when they're re-welded. SOme of them were based on DEWATT M14s. They also re-welded M1 Garands and they were a nightmare. Get the Duffy book about the M1A/M14s.. while there's a lot in the book that I laugh about.. the section on what parts you do NOT want is good. I'll take apart the rest in my book.

Rojkoh · January 4th, 2012, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rojkoh

Simple reason, in my 39 years of M1As and working on them (not to mention working on M14s).... the finest quality M1As were built by Elmer and Jack and Ilia Karnes (A.R. Sales). Sadly both went under fairly quickly, although Elmer outlasted the Karnes (and I know why).

SInce I am writing a Monster book on all this, I've found the current generation of M1A manufacturers to be completely unresponsive and I already know the Genesco Springfields... I've had to work on way to many of them and that's not in a good sense, it was fixing problems before I accurized some of them. Nornico, Poly and the Red CHinese M1As are the ones you want to stay away from. *IF* by chance you ever see a Golden State Arms M1A (they didn't build many)... STAY AWAY! the re-welded parts they shouldn't have. Forged receivers do NOT do well when they're re-welded. SOme of them were based on DEWATT M14s. They also re-welded M1 Garands and they were a nightmare. Get the Duffy book about the M1A/M14s.. while there's a lot in the book that I laugh about.. the section on what parts you do NOT want is good. I'll take apart the rest in my book.

PS, my M14 experiences started in 1969 with a NM and an E2 with a selector switch.