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THE US M14 RIFLE History     The M14 is a standard rifle of the United States Army. It was produced at Harrington and Richardson Arms Co., Thompson Products (TRW), at the New Haven (Winchester) plant of the Winchester-Western Arms Division of Olin Mathieson Corp. and at Springfield Armory. The M14 is capable of automatic as well as semiautomatic fire, and a certain proportion fitted with bipods serve as squad automatic weapons. The M14 rifle is no longer in production.     The M14 is an evolution of the M1 rifle; in the design of the M14 many of the shortcomings of the M1 have been eradicated. The basic action of the M1 remains, but the troublesome eightround en bloc clip has gone. The hanging of the gas cylinder on the end of the M1 rifle's barrel gave some accuracy difficulties; these have been overcome in the M14 by moving the gas port and gas cylinder back about eight inches from the muzzle, The gas cutoff and expansion system used on the M14 lends itself to better accuracy because its action is not as abrupt as that of the M1. Various other changes were made to give the Army a basically better weapon than the M1. Variations of the M14 Rifle There have been a number of variations of the M14 rifle produced. Two of these variations have steel folding stocks. one of which folds to the side similar to the M1 A1 carbine stock --the Type V--and the other folds under the weapon in a manner similar to the stock of the German MP40 submachine gun and the Soviet AK assault rifle--the Type III. The M14A1. The M14A1 is a variation of the M14 produced for use as a squad automatic weapon. It was originally developed by the United States Army infantry Board. Fort Benning Georgia. Springfietd Armory made various changes in the design to ease manufacture and maintenance. The M14A1 has a straight-line stock design with full pistol grip and folding forward handgrip. A compensator, which helps to keep the barrel down in automatic fire, is fitted over the flash suppressor. The stock has a rubber recoil pad and folding shoulder rest, and the M2 bipod has been modified by the addition of a sling swivel and a longer pivot pin. The Browning Automatic Rifle sling is used on this rifle. The selector lever is found on all M14A1 rifles so that they may be used for automatic or semiautomatic fire. M14 National Match Rifle. A match version of the M14 rifle for use at the National Matches was developed as the result of a requirement set down in 1959. The M14 National Match Rifle cannot be fired full automatic; it has a hooded aperture rear sight, special sight parts, selected barrel and glass bedded action similar to the National Match Rifle. The M14M Rifle. The M14M rifle was intended for issue to NRA affiliated rifle clubs, for sale through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship. This rifle was modified by welding the selector shaft and lock to eliminate automatic fire capability. The "M" in this rifie's designation stands for "Modified Service." Only a very few M14Ms were fabricated, and their distribution was equally limited. The M21 Rifle. The M21 is the sniper version of the M14 rifle. It uses a Leatherwood type variable power scope.