The M14 rifle (more formally the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14) is an American selective fire battle rifle firing 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition. Although largely superseded in military use by the M16 rifle, it remains in limited front line service with the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. The M14 also provides the basis for the M21 and XM25 sniper rifles (not to be confused with the XM25 grenade launcher).
he M14 was developed from a long line of experimental weapons based upon the M1 Garand. Although the Garand was one of the most advanced infantry rifles of the 1940s, it was not a perfect weapon. Modifications were beginning to be made to the basic M1 rifle's design since the twilight of the Second World War. Modifications included adding a fully automatic firing capability and replacing the 8-round "en bloc" clips with a detachable box magazine holding 20 rounds. Winchester, Remington, and Springfield Armory's own John Garand offered different conversion designs. Garand's design, the T20, was the most popular, and T20 prototypes served as the basis for a number of Springfield test rifles from 1945 through the early 1950s.
Earle Harvey of Springfield Armory designed a completely different rifle, the T25, for the new .30 Light Rifle cartridge. The latter was based upon .30-06 cartridge case cut down to the length of the .300 Savage case. The .30 Light Rifle eventually evolved into the 7.62x51mm NATO and the commercial .308 Winchester round. In the background, Lloyd Corbett was tasked with developing .30 Light Rifle conversions for the M1 rifle and later the T20 prototypes. After a series of prototype designs, the T44 surfaced. The earliest T44 prototypes used the T20 receivers rebarreled for 7.62 mm NATO, and replaced the long operating rod/piston of the M1 with the T25's shorter "gas expansion and cut-off" system. Later T44 prototypes used newly fabricated receivers shorter than either the M1 or T20; the new action's length was matched to the shorter 7.62 mm NATO cartridge instead of the longer .30-06. The T44 competed successfully against the T47 (a modified T25) and the FN FAL (T48). This led to the T44's adoption by the U.S. military as the M14 in 1957. Springfield Armory began tooling a new production line in 1958 and delivered the first service rifles to the U.S. Army in July 1959. However, long production delays resulted in the 101st Airborne Division being the only unit in the Army fully equipped with the M14 by the end of 1961. The Fleet Marine Force finally completed the change from M1 Garand to M14 in late 1962.
The rifle served adequately during its brief tour of duty in Vietnam. Though it was unwieldy in the thick brush due to its length and weight, the power of the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge allowed it to penetrate cover quite well and reach out to extended range, developing more than 2,400 ft·lbf (3,250 J) of muzzle energy. However, there were several drawbacks to the M14. The traditional wood stock of the rifle had a tendency to swell and expand in the heavy moisture of the jungle, adversely affecting accuracy. Fiberglass stocks were produced to resolve this problem, and the rifle was muzzle heavy, however, the rifle was discontinued before they could be distributed for field use. Also, because of the M14's powerful 7.62x51mm cartridge, the weapon was virtually uncontrollable in fully automatic mode. The M14 was developed as a means of taking the place of four different weapons systems — the M1 Garand, the M1 Carbine, the M3 "Grease Gun" and the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). It was thought that in this manner the M14 could simplify the logistical requirements of the troops if it took the place of four weapons. Although it proved to be an impossible task to replace all four, the weapon excelled as a replacement for the M1 rifle, fixing many of the previous rifle's shortcomings. The cartridge was too powerful for the SMG role and the weapon was simply too light to provide as a light machine gun replacement for the BAR. The M60 machine gun better served this task.
The M14 remained the primary infantry weapon in Vietnam until it was replaced by the M16 in 1966–1968. The M16 was ordered as a replacement for the M14 by direction of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, over the objection of Army officers who had backed the M14. Though production of the M14 was officially discontinued, some disgruntled troops still managed to hang on to them while deriding the M16 as a frail and underpowered "Mattel toy" or "poodle shooter". The early M16 also suffered from reliability problems which tarnished its reputation long after these were corrected. After the corrections were made soldiers on the ground nicknamed the M16 the "the sweet sixteen". In January 1968 the U.S. Army designated the M16 as the "Standard A" rifle, and the M14 became a "Limited Standard" weapon. The M14 rifle remained the standard rifle for US Army Basic Training until 1970.
The U.S. Army also converted several M14s into the M21 sniper rifle, which remained standard issue for this purpose until the adoption of the M24 SWS in 1988.
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