Federal Ordnance Corp., of El Monte, CA, designed and built their own M14 receivers and built rifles around them, using 100% USGI parts which they bought from the military and from the original 4 M14 manufacturers.
Someplace after Serial Number 8500 or 9000, depending on who you believe, and before Serial Number 21000, they started making and using a slightly different receiver and Chinese parts, apparently because they couldn't get any more USGI parts. Yeah, I know, that's a pretty wide range of uncertainty, but it's the best info I've ever been able to find. If anyone has more accurate serial numbers for when the change to Chinese parts happened, please say so.
I always thought that all of Fed Ord's M14s were semi autos. However, I have recently seen a Fed Ord M14 whose receiver appears to have features one would expect to find only on a select fire M14, and not on any semi auto only M14.
Specifically, it has the groove cut into the underside of the front of the receiver rail, the operating rod dismount notch is in the middle of the rail, not at the rear (I measured the actual distance from the rear of the rail to the op rod dismount notch on both this and on a known select fire M14 - they were the same), and while there is no selector lug, there is a suspicious looking patch of "raw" metal exactly where the lug ought to be, as there would be if some idiot had cut off the lug and filed/sanded it smooth.
What is more, The receivers on all of the other (semi auto) Fed Ord M14s I have ever seen or read about have been stamped:
US RIFLE
7.62MM M14SA.
However, this receiver was stamped:
US RIFLE
7.62MM M14A
Could it be that Federal Ordnance, like Smith Enterprises and Springfield Armory, made a few select fire M14s before the law changed in 1986 (or was it 1984?), and that the difference in model designation was that the semi autos were labeled M14SA while the select fires were labeled M14A?
Does anyone out there know for absolutely certain whether or not Federal Ordnance ever made any select fire M14s? And does anyone know of a sure fire way to determine if this was in fact originally a select fire M14? Short of turning it in to ATF, that is.
The guy who has it ( he thought he was buying a semi auto) figures on turning it in if it is a machinegun and if there's no way to get it registered in his name, but he wants to make darned sure it is legally a machinegun before he does that.
ATF people have occasionally been known to be a bit overenthusiastic in saying what is and what isn't a machinegun, which is why people have sometimes actually been able to get their firearms back through the courts. But once they have this rifle he'll never get it back, no matter what it really is. He's a disabled vet living on a fixed income and there's no way he could ever finance the cost of challenging an ATF seizure in the courts. I've done some research for him, and it looks like the courts very seldom even award attorney's fees to a citizen who wins a confiscation case, let alone any damages. If the guy wins, all he usually gets is his firearm and a pretty large legal bill that he has to pay out of his own pocket.
But he also can't afford to just lose what was, to him, the fortune he paid for the rifle (It was actually a pretty good deal, even for a semi - about $1,000, including shipping!). So he needs to know for sure what he has. Personally, I told him I think it was originally select fire, and some jerk chopped the selector lug off, perhaps thinking that this would make it a non-machinegun (NOT!!!).
But I also told him I'm not an expert, and that I had also never heard of Federal Ordnance having made any select fire M14s. Did they? Does anyone know for certain? Any and all accurate information will be greatly appreciated.
Someplace after Serial Number 8500 or 9000, depending on who you believe, and before Serial Number 21000, they started making and using a slightly different receiver and Chinese parts, apparently because they couldn't get any more USGI parts. Yeah, I know, that's a pretty wide range of uncertainty, but it's the best info I've ever been able to find. If anyone has more accurate serial numbers for when the change to Chinese parts happened, please say so.
I always thought that all of Fed Ord's M14s were semi autos. However, I have recently seen a Fed Ord M14 whose receiver appears to have features one would expect to find only on a select fire M14, and not on any semi auto only M14.
Specifically, it has the groove cut into the underside of the front of the receiver rail, the operating rod dismount notch is in the middle of the rail, not at the rear (I measured the actual distance from the rear of the rail to the op rod dismount notch on both this and on a known select fire M14 - they were the same), and while there is no selector lug, there is a suspicious looking patch of "raw" metal exactly where the lug ought to be, as there would be if some idiot had cut off the lug and filed/sanded it smooth.
What is more, The receivers on all of the other (semi auto) Fed Ord M14s I have ever seen or read about have been stamped:
US RIFLE
7.62MM M14SA.
However, this receiver was stamped:
US RIFLE
7.62MM M14A
Could it be that Federal Ordnance, like Smith Enterprises and Springfield Armory, made a few select fire M14s before the law changed in 1986 (or was it 1984?), and that the difference in model designation was that the semi autos were labeled M14SA while the select fires were labeled M14A?
Does anyone out there know for absolutely certain whether or not Federal Ordnance ever made any select fire M14s? And does anyone know of a sure fire way to determine if this was in fact originally a select fire M14? Short of turning it in to ATF, that is.
The guy who has it ( he thought he was buying a semi auto) figures on turning it in if it is a machinegun and if there's no way to get it registered in his name, but he wants to make darned sure it is legally a machinegun before he does that.
ATF people have occasionally been known to be a bit overenthusiastic in saying what is and what isn't a machinegun, which is why people have sometimes actually been able to get their firearms back through the courts. But once they have this rifle he'll never get it back, no matter what it really is. He's a disabled vet living on a fixed income and there's no way he could ever finance the cost of challenging an ATF seizure in the courts. I've done some research for him, and it looks like the courts very seldom even award attorney's fees to a citizen who wins a confiscation case, let alone any damages. If the guy wins, all he usually gets is his firearm and a pretty large legal bill that he has to pay out of his own pocket.
But he also can't afford to just lose what was, to him, the fortune he paid for the rifle (It was actually a pretty good deal, even for a semi - about $1,000, including shipping!). So he needs to know for sure what he has. Personally, I told him I think it was originally select fire, and some jerk chopped the selector lug off, perhaps thinking that this would make it a non-machinegun (NOT!!!).
But I also told him I'm not an expert, and that I had also never heard of Federal Ordnance having made any select fire M14s. Did they? Does anyone know for certain? Any and all accurate information will be greatly appreciated.