The recent Bula report by another member inspired me to share this report here. I shot this a couple of weeks ago for the first time. I actually had this kit for a while but used it to teach my brother how to build them over this past Thanksgiving holiday. He really enjoyed building it.

This build is all Bula (minus the flash suppressor and rear sights). The barrel is a 22" medium weight barrel with an M852 chamber, headspaced at 1.634". All I have done is add shims for proper gas lock timing. The gas cylinder is the forged type that Bula sells.

The M21 DMR receiver is different from the XM21 receiver in the fact that it has a bolt-on top rail and it still facilitates a functioning set of rear sights. The XM21 receiver has no provisions for rear sights.

The stock is a $12 GI fiberglass stock I got from Numrich years ago and almost all my builds start out in this stock before moving on to a chassis or a McMillan. The stock is un-modified.

shot one round and cleaned for 5 rounds, then shot three more sets of 5, cleaning in between for a total of 20 barrel break in rounds. I finished off with 20 rounds of 168 grain FGMM. I was stunned at the results. I was expecting 1.5 to 2.5" groups. I adjusted the scope between groups, so the groups were not wandering; I was dialing in the scope.

All groups were shot from the magazine in semi-auto, not single-feed. Group sizes were as follows: 1.179", 0.970", 1.032" and 1.108" for an average group size of 1.072" and an average of 1.024 MOA.



That was fantastic accuracy out of what I consider a budget barrel. I was really impressed.

This has a custom serial number to match two of my other rifles with the same serial number.

Tony.

Nice build out. How do you like the cheak riser? I've been thinking about getting one of those.

Benny..I wish I had the skills to take on a project like this. Bula is 15 minutes away from me. I've contemplated taking the plunge and buying a kit, but I don't know what I don't know. My OCD won't allow me to do things half ass'd. The platform has always intrigued me. I'm drawn to it for some unknown reason. I've come close to buying one many times in the past.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
Nice build out. How do you like the cheak riser? I've been thinking about getting one of those.

The Bradley cheek rest is very comfortable. He has many colors available. I have one that looks like tan stained leather. I highly recommend them. They're easy on/off and the foam liner keeps the cheek rest stuck to the stock. I like the adjustable one over the non-adjustable.

Brad lives just minutes away from me and I've met him in person He's an ex-airman. Good guy with a good quality product.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by swage:
Benny..I wish I had the skills to take on a project like this. Bula is 15 minutes away from me. I've contemplated taking the plunge and buying a kit, but I don't know what I don't know. My OCD won't allow me to do things half ass'd. The platform has always intrigued me. I'm drawn to it for some unknown reason. I've come close to buying one many times in the past.

The Bula kits go together pretty quick. People only run into trouble when they install them in a chassis or a GI stock with a metal liner. The receiver legs are a little on the thick side and I usually have to remove material from inside of the stock to get the action to drop in.

This particular rifle dropped into a GI fiberglass stock with no fuss at all.

SAGE stocks need metal removed just forward of the receiver legs and under the trigger housing tang. In this case, tight is always better, so removing is better than having to add with epoxy.

I have gone through great lengths to document the build process to assist in those courageous enough to take it on themselves.

As a side note; I am not, nor was I ever a trained armorer in The Marines. I was in the air wing and worked on helicopters. My avatar is a picture I took on the flight deck of the USS Tripoli in 1994. The helicopter belonged to my squadron.

Everything I know about M14's is stuff I learned off experienced old codgers on the internet, specifically Master Gunnery Sergeant Gus Fisher.

All my videos are targeting people who know nothing about the M14 but want to learn as much as they can about maintenance, building and accurizing the platform. Reading about it is one thing. Watching someone else do it is much better.

Good luck and I hope you decide to take the plunge some day.

Tony.

Nice range report, Tony. Accuracy does show a lot of promise. I have high expectations for my 22" NM Bula barrel, once I get it dialed in.

I had decided to go with the XM21 based on the rail on the receiver for optics. I didn't have a scope for it at the time I was buying the parts, and when I talked to Jeff at Camp Perry in July I asked him about options to initially install M-Bus or similar sights. The CBR offers the option of using a Picatinny rail at the front to mount a front sight, and I had already ordered the parts kit from Bula minus the USGI flash hider/sight. That made the decision to go with the CBR fairly easy for me, even though I had planned to pick up a USGI stock for the initial build.

As you point out, the CBR chassis did require some trimming to get the trigger guard to lock down. I was ready to head down that path as I was fitting it, but called Jeff to confirm. As advised, I took it slow, and it is tight, so quite a bit of force required, but it's a good fit and I am very happy with the results. And, the CBR allowed the use of the Magpul PRS, which is a little pricey, but very well made and very adjustable.

After collecting the major components this past summer I delayed the start of build for several months, largely due to the intimidation factor of getting the op guide rod bushing installed correctly. But, that went fairly quickly, once I got into it, and the rest was straight-forward. I must admit, I knew very little about the M14 going in, but learned a great deal as I proceeded.

During my first trip to SHOT five years ago I had visited other M14 vendors at that time and looked at their product offerings, but the timing never seemed right to jump in. I stopped at the Bula booth at SHOT last year, which accelerated the plan to move this direction. The fact that several of the major components are actually produced on the forging presses which our company produced is a bonus to me. The components are well made, and as you note, the build is fairly straight-forward. I would encourage anyone on the fence regarding an M14 build project to give it serious consideration. Or, as Tony offers, contact him for suggestions for an alternative path.

I am using 147 gr Korean surplus ammo which was produced by PMC in the mid-80's. For my initial needs, it seems to be working well. Eventually, I will get a set of .308 dies and reload my own.

Thanks again for the range report. Weather permitting this next weekend, I hope to get out to continue break-in and just have some fun with it.

Doug