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Help - defective trigger safety

6K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  M1A's r BEST 
#1 ·
I just received a rifle from LRB and I was looking forward to shooting it for the first time tomorrow. I have waited a long tome to splurge on a rifle of this quality. I inspected the rifle and I discovered I could not slide the safety from the fire position into the safety position (it is stuck in the fire postion). I pulled out the trigger group (what a chore, it was in there tight) and I looked at the safety mechanism. I can slide it back half way but it will not slide back all the way and engage. I am not very experienced with the internal workings of the M14. Does this sound like a problem where I need to send my trigger group back to LRB? I have waited a long time for the rifle and now I will have an even longer delay because I received this defective trigger group. Can anyone shed any insight?

Thanks,
Greg
 
#2 ·
I was finally able to get the safety to engage with both thumbs and a towel to apply enough force without leaving a deep indentation in my thumb. To release the safety does not take very much force but engaging it is very difficult. Hopefully it will loosen up with time.

I do not have a lot of experience with M14 rifles, and I have not owned one for more than 11 years.

My rifle functions smoothly (and has beautiful fit and finish), but I noticed my op rod feels loose ands has a lot of play. I was wondering if that is normal.
 
#4 ·
The hammer has to be cocked first or you can damage the safety.

Some are easy to flip on/off and some are stiffer.

You can pull it out of the rifle, the hammer and lip the safety on/off while watching TV to exercise it towards smoothness.
 
#5 ·
I was working on a rifle and the safety could not be engaged. Found that the hammer plunger/spring housing was in backwards.(The one with the hammer spring.) Look at the plunger/spring housing and if you can see the spring through the housing, it is in 180 degrees out. The cut side of the plunger/spring housing should face the safety.

Best regards

grunt0321
 
#6 ·
Thanks everyone for your responses. I definitely had the hammer cocked when I engaged the safety. The safety is just very difficult to engage.

Thanks for the advice grunt0321. The rifle was a complete build from LRB. I have not worked on rifles but I will look at a diagram to find the spring you are talking about.

Speaking of not working on rifles, I said my op rod was loose when it is actually the charging handle. The rifle functions but I can move the charging handle around and there seems to be a lot of play. I do not have another M14 rifle around to know if that is normal. I obviously have a lot to learn.

Thanks,
Greg
 
#7 · (Edited)
There is no part identified as the charging handle on an M1A/M14, the handle is just part of the operating rod.

Nomenclature of the M1A


It is normal to have a little movement in the op rod handle. Check out the link below for info on the op rod.

Operating Rod Dimensions and Discussion link
http://m14forum.com/reference/48402-op-rod-tab-dimensions.html

The safety can contact the hammer spring housing and cause difficulty in operating the safety.


The safety lever can be ground with a file or a Dremel in order to get clearance or, as mentioned before, the trigger group could have been assembled incorrectly.

This is a good video that describes how to take the trigger group apart (I'm an old guy and to me the music sucks but I'm sure I'm in the minority). He doesn't use all the correct nomenclature but the video is very good technically and is the same for all M1A trigger groups.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTKfwdmMvVQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTKfwdmMvVQ[/ame]
 
#8 ·
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide such good, detailed, and relavent information. I obviously have a lot to learn.

I have not been to the range in a few years because of a bad injury to my right elbow. I now have an artificial radial head and limited range of motion. Thankfully I can still hold a rifle and I hope to find my accuracy I had in the past.
 
#9 ·
I stopped by the gunsmith who helped me with my LRB transfer and he checked the safety and it is good to go (just stiff). He also said the op rod is fine and does not have an inordinate amount of play.

I did not have a chance to shoot the rifle yet but next week I will definitely be range bound.

Thanks for the info and Happy Easter to everyone.
 
#10 ·
Be aware that the first time or two you take that trigger group apart you'll wish you had 3 hands to help hold it and put the parts back in before you get it done.

After a few times it gets easier.
 
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