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Fred's
Articles
A Big Talk About A Little Subject
We're sitting around the stove in Fred's office, a tiny cubbyhole in his warehouse. A stack of just-wrapped shipments sits waiting by the door. It is a rare moment of stillness on an un-usually chilly North Carolina spring day.
"Why're you so quiet, Fred?"
Shifting in his seat and staring into the stove, Fred takes a moment to answer.
"I'm thinking about the declining greatness of this country and the ascendancy of the cultural barbarians - and trying to balance them with hopeful thoughts about November and Election Day."
That subject being too heavy for me, I try to divert Fred to something else - "What're these?" I ask.
Without looking, Fred replies, "Those are the GI's 'Swiss Army Knife' for the M14 - buttstock cleaning kits."
Warming up to the topic - "Why are there two holes in the stock behind the butt trap?" asked Fred rhetorically - "Because you will need the M14 buttstock cleaning kit - and so the government provided a place for you to put it. [Fred must have been in the military - that sounded exactly like my old sarge.]
"And, you will never know it's there and never forget it - and it reduces felt recoil of rifle by adding over half a pound to the rifle's weight."
"Why bother?" I asked, which warmed Fred up nicely - "Because it will remove bore obstructions like dirt or a stuck bullet, allow replacement of a broken extractor or firing pin, tighten a loose gas piston nut or rear sight screw, clean the chamber if you have chambering or extraction problems - all problems which can - and will - happen in the field - and it will even assist in loading mags from clips! "In fact, the one thing you probably will not do is to clean your bore with it - except in emergencies - since you'll normally use a commercial rod and rod guide to prevent wear at the muzzle.
"Pretty heavy for such a small package, eh?"
"Fred, I never realized - "
"Of course you didn't. But the future belongs to those who do - who are squared away.
"And talking about the future, every M14 owner should be thinking about an extra stock - especially if they don't have a synthetic one. Many don't realize that a synthetic stock was in the works for the '14 from the beginning, only it took years before they finally came up with a satisfactory stock.
"Now people should take advantage of the availability of these stocks while they can. Every shooter with a commercial M14 look-alike should have a synthetic stock for field use - and another socked away for the future. Why? Because the synthetic stock is a shooter's stock - far stronger than wood, impervious to moisture - and thereby retains zero. It is no small benefit that these stocks can so easily be repainted in low-visibility patterns such as we are doing here."
"Yes sir, if I were contemplating the future, near the top of my list would be a GI cleaning kit and a synthetic stock."
What could I say? I bought one of each. |
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