Shortening the M14 barrel- DIY

[Blastyman]

Ok For one of my M14's I wanted to shorten up the barrel and have more like the SOC length.

There are aftermarket barrels availible. But I am cheap SOB but also handy.

I figure surely I could shorten it myself.

First I thought of the obvious route. cut end off barrel and have a machinist rethread -14mm. But then again I don't know a machinist and would have to pay for that.

So when I had one gun apart for a inner barrel upgrade I noticed the barrel was perfectly smooth and the only thing stopping me from cutting off the end of the barrel was moving 3 holes that various things mount on to hold the barrel secure.

So to do this mod you need a drill and bits and a hacksaw basically.

The 3 holes are all on the same axis along the barrel at different intervals. So I took a straightedge and marked a line thru the center of the holes so I had the axis clearly defined.

I had decided I had wanted to cut off 3 inches off the barrel. So I then proceed to measure along the axis 3 inches from each hole and mark them where the new hole had to be drilled.

I then drilled the 3 new holes. 2 are one size and the 3 is a bit larger. To figure out the drill bit size just stick a bit on the original holes.

After the holes were drilled I cut the 3 inches off the back of the gun barrel. removed the burrs and put the inner barrel in. To my relief the innner barrel only stuck out about an inch so I then cut it off. This was good because it shouldn't really hurt the gun accuracy much which is sweet cause the m14 is brutally accurate.

So if you wanted you could cut off 2 inches and not have to trim the inner barrel at all. Or if you are keeping a full length barrel you could get a inner barrel 2 inches longer then what it comes with.

Anyhow with the 3 inches off the barrel and switching to a m4 style flashider I took pretty close to 5 inches off the overall gun length so it will be a lot nicer handling in tight woods and peformance should be the same.

Quick and easy mod for anybody who wants a shorter barrel. Only took about 10-15's to actually mark the holes, drill them and cut the barrel.

[Kokanee]

Good stuff John, as always. Pics?

[Bunny]

I am the not-so handy type :smile:

I took your advice John, and got an m14. Hasn't seen a game yet (that'll change pretty soon), but it shoots very nice. I thought I'd put up a pic to show you what the pdi 440 barrel looks like (it's on the bottom, versus normal length on top for reference). I'm guessing the pdi 390 would put the bayonet lug almost flush with the gas bolt.

[Blastyman]

This is the pic of the shortened barrel. About the same as yours bunny.

I got a Vortex flash hider on the way for mine but I slapped one from an m4 on for now.

[mcguyver]

Holy crap, John!!! Don't tell Sprint about that or he'll want you to do one for him. Lookin' good.

wow, that looks awesome, hey mac, you might be reciving an m14 shortly for some... shrinking :innocent:

[OnePunch]

Man that's damn sexy. I'm planing on getting a M14 befor spring rolls around and i think I might be all over that barrel mod.Thanx for the post.

[yanhchan]

they all look soo good...i can't decide which one is better....I MUST HAVE THEM ALL...AIRSOFT GOTTA CATCH EM ALL...