M14 Forum

GR00VYJERRY

I know you are suppose to have the heel of the receiver tight against the stock (from everything I have read). I switched out my regular stock for a vltor stock which is a modified GI stock and part of the heel is touching the stock and part is not. Here is a pic for reference.



and the other side



If you look close there are red lines indicating where the heel actually starts touching the stock. It is reall hard to get a good pic of them. the part that is not touching is very thin. Not a big gap at all. I could not fit an index card under it just for a frame of reference. Let me know what you think. Thanks

GR00VYJERRY

Everything after the redline is not touching the stock just by a little.

Sailormilan2

That is normal for USGI stocks. The stock is relived to allow the heel to fit flat without having the middle portion of the receiver high center.

GR00VYJERRY

So it is normal to have the very back part not touching a bit?

Charlene32

every stock i have ever fitted to my M1A has had that little space between the heel and receiver. it is very normal. in fact, it might worry me a little if it wasn't there. hahaha.

p.s.
i like Vltor stocks. post pics of the whole gun. i noticed you got the one with the selector cut-out. you are the only one i know that got that model(selector cut) besides myself. wise choice IMO, because the Vltors with the "filled in" selector holes tend to crack in that area.

GR00VYJERRY

Yeah I found that out the hard way. Original came wioth selector filled and it cracked after 200 rounds. So I sent it back and I asked for this one. Great Customer service BTW. Thanks for the replies. Sometime today or tomorrow I will get the pics up.

Gus Fisher

NO, it is NOT NORMAL for the last 1 to 1 1/8" of the receiver heel of either an M1 Garand or M14 to not touch the stock. Not only is it not normal when it doesn't touch, it precludes the trigger guard from effectively clamping the receiver heel down. That can cause Timing/functioning problems on M1 Garands and accuracy problems with M14's. The receiver heel TWISTS with a surprising amount of force when the bolt comes back and smacks it every time you fire either rifle.

The reason that many/most semi Auto M14 receivers DONT fully contact the last 1" to 1 1/8" of the receiver heel is the receiver heels, or some other part of the receiver, was/is the commercial receivers are not made to spec. On REAL G.I. Garands and M14 receivers, they do contact well back there unless the wood stocks have been crushed down from enough firing.

You can fix this either by shimming the stock or glass bedding for the receiver heel, though glass bedding is the best way.

Now this is important, folks. IF you only glass bed the receiver heel, then you DO NOT clamp down the trigger guard while the bedding is curing.

What you DO is press the receiver down over the bedding and stock as you would when reassembling a rifle. Put the trigger housing in place to ensure everything lines up properly and tightly wrap tape around the front of the trigger guard and around the stock and receiver - this to hold the rifle together. AGAIN, DO NOT clamp the trigger guard down. If you clamp the trigger guard down, the surface of the bedding under the heel of the receiver will be TOO LOW when you clamp the trigger guard down after the bedding cures.

Gus Fisher

Now on M1 Garand and most M14 stocks, there was clearance where the receiver heel did not touch the stock from the rear of the receiver legs to that last 1" to 1 1/8" of the receiver heel, where the receiver heel is supposed to contact the stock solidly.

This was done deliberately on Garands when they found the receiver heel touching between these points could and would occasionally cause feeding problems. So when the M14 came along, it was done the same way on standard stocks and even on NM rifle bedding for over a decade. Then we and other service NM Armorers actually bedded the whole receiver heel on NM M14's and found it did not cause malfunctions like it did with Garands. IOW, the entire receiver heel on an M14 may contact under the entire receiver heel, but it does not have to do so as long as the last 1" to 1 1/8" of the receiver heel does solidly contact the stock.

GR00VYJERRY

How does one go about bedding the last bit of the stock?

GR00VYJERRY

When you say wrap tape aroudn the fron of the trigger guard are you meaning by where the trigger is? After you are done should you sand it lightly to paint again so it looks like one with the stock?

Sailormilan2

Sorry, not normal. The last 1" or so at the heel should contact fully. My bad, I missed where you had the red line.
Here is a pic of a Garand stock, which is very similar to an M1A/M14 stock. You can see full contact at the heel, but from about 1" forward there is no contact. That is what I was referring to.

RAMMAC

Use a straight edge of some type and lay it across the top of the heel area of the stock and check it for flatness, it isn't unusual for the aftermarket stocks to not be flat and it only takes a little bump here or there to separate the stock and the receiver. If the problem is a little high spot then you can probably just knock it off with some careful sanding but if you have to remove too much material you will have follow Gus' instructions and bed the top of the stock. Taking too much off will change the required spacing between the trigger group and the receiver and that can cause operating problems.

GR00VYJERRY

It doesn't have a "bump." It more looks like the stock maybe was sanded too much when it was received and the back part is starting to ro slope downward to early. Am correct in thinking that I rough up the stock a bit put some bedding where the heel of the receiver goes and do what Gus said?

RAMMAC

Check with the pros like Gus but I think they will recommend taking a little stock material off and drilling random holes where you want to put the bedding material.

bigblock

No. This is a reciever defect and swaping stocks for a better fitting one helps. This is called having a high heel.