Besides building guns, I do have to buy here and there. I used to run a Classic Army M14 Scout as a primary for 3 years before I got rid of it. There was nothing wrong with it, but I wanted something different. This is where the WE M14 comes into play. Having seen video after video, I wanted one. I've run it a few times (unfortunately with only one magazine), but my results are ready. On to the review!
WE Tech M14
Real Steel History
Just briefly, I will touch on the history of this rifle. The M14 was originally intended to replace not only the M1 Garand, but the M1 Carbine, M1A1 Thompson, M3 Grease Gun, and the Browning Automatic Rifle. This would make a universal rifle to be used with logistics easy to take care of. The problem was, it really only replaced the M1 Garand. It was too light for the light machine gun role (the M60 obviously did it better), and too heavy for the submachine gun role. It didn't see combat until the early stages of the Vietnam War, which was loved by troops. The wooden stock would swell up and cause some accuracy problems, but the power of the 7.62 NATO was evident. It was replaced by the M16 rifle in the 1960's, and at the time it was considered the shortest lived combat rifle in U.S. history. In modern conflicts, the M14 has been given new life as a designated marksman rifle and semi-auto sniper system in the MK14 EBR and other variations.
Initial Impressions
The box the rifle comes in is lackluster. It is cardboard. There is not foam at all. There are two pieces of cardboard that hold it in place. The entire gun comes wrapped in a massive plastic bag, which is open at one end. Upon lifting the rifle, you can feel the massive heft of it. The plastic stock is colored to look similar to wood, and is rock solid. You could probably beat someone to death with this thing if you wanted. The grey color of the metal looks like a light parkerized finish. The magazine has this weird green color to it, which kind of disrupts the look.
The instruction manual is pathetic. It is literally the exploded diagram with all of the part numbers. I personally think this is because WE secretly partnered with a few different airsoft reviewers, all of which demonstrated basic functions. Seems like a cheap tactic. The gun is already $350 ($420 for the Evike upgraded FPS model), so a proper instruction manual would have been expected.
Features and Components
Starting with the front, you can see the blaze orange tip. It takes up most of the muzzle brake, but it does not cover the front sight (which I have seen on a few replicas happen). It is held in by the famous castle nut, and a small allen screw underneath the front sight post. I have not taken it off since I like the style, but I wish the orange part would have been smaller. I guess it is more labor to mask off a part than paint the whole thing.
Next up is the gas block. WE paid attention to the details quite well. You can unscrew the front end, and remove a weak spring. A fake, metal piston will then fall out. If you take the stock off and cycle the action, the piston moves in and out as well. A neat little feature I must say. The plug had a tendency to unscrew itself due to the recoil, so I put an o ring in it and it hasn't moved since.
Moving to the rear section of the gun, we have the butt plate. It is hinged like a Vietnam era M14, and contains storage for small parts if need be. My gun came with a speed loader, a small allen key for adjusting the hop up, and 30 round conversion for the magazine. I swapped it in, so the parts you see are for converting the magazine back to 20 rounds.
Typical Garand style rear sight (which I love). Elevation is extremely easy to adjust, windage not so much. No trademarks or anything on the receiver, but RA-Tech makes a steel replacement with markings.
Interesting thing to note is the fact the bolt does not actually
replicate the action like the real steel. It only travels maybe 75% of
the way to the rear. This is because the real steel bolt tilts as it
travels back into the receiver, while the WE M14 one does not. There is however a
rubber buffer at the back to cushion the bolt instead of allowing it
to slam into the receiver. The bolt has a cover on top of it that
rotates like the bolt on the real steel, but the loading nozzle stays
were it is and just travels rearward after blowback.
If you notice to there is a strange looking lever located on the right
side above the trigger. This is your fire selector. You need to rotate
it 180 degrees to switch between semi-auto and full-auto. There is an
'A' stamped on one side, and need to be facing the stock when you want
to use full auto. All the lever simply does it shift the disconnector
away from the hammer. Full auto works well though. I haven't had a
single jam in the 1,000 rounds I've fired (Remember, this is a gas
rifle, not an AEG). The hooked bar is a full auto sear of sorts. The hammer is held back until the bolt fully closes. If this was not here, the hammer would just drop causing either premature gas expulsion or the firing pin would not have enough energy to open the valve and the gun would have to be cycled. Simply removing the hooked bar and the selector assembly makes it a semi-auto only rifle.
Something I was upset about is the bolt catch. It works fine, and I like it, but the button on the left side of the receiver is what irks me. It works the opposite of the real steel. Instead of pulling the bolt back and pressing that button to lock it, it does nothing. If the bolt locks back after an empty magazine and new magazine is inserted, you can hit that button and release the bolt. I have not done this to my rifle since it is asking for the catch to wear down. I pull on the charging handle enough to release the catch, and let the bolt fly home. RA-Tech does have parts to fix this and make it real steel functionality, but I would have personally liked it coming from the factory.
Disassembly is similar to the real deal. Pull on the trigger guard to
rotate the locking system open. The trigger assembly simply lifts out,
notice the spring stuck into the stock. This is the trigger return
spring. If it falls out, make sure to keep track of it. To continue
the field strip, lift the action out of the stock and set it aside. You
don't need to disassemble further, as this is a very clean rifle for
some reason (the real steel was, too).
The trigger is really nice for a GBB rifle. The WA's that I've handled feel like they have 5-6 lbs triggers, which is accurate to the real steel factory trigger. The WE M14 has a really smooth trigger. I have not measured it, but it feels to be around 4 lbs and breaks cleanly. It has a little bit of over travel, but doesn't have too heavy of a spring to really throw your shots off. The trigger grouping looks very close to the real steel, disconnector and all. The pins have a tendency to slide out when you move the parts outside of the stock. I had to reassemble the magazine release twice because I was messing with it separate from the stock. Just push them back in if you see them starting to move out. The safety is typical of the Garand. It clicks into place only when the hammer is locked back for firing.
The nozzle is plastic, but is housed in a metal bolt. The nozzle itself does not rotate, but the top cover does. As I said before, a rubber buffer prevents the bolt from slamming into the back of the receiver. There is not roller on the hammer, so you can see the wear marks on the bottom of the metal.
The hop up adjustment screw is located on the right side of the receiver, directly underneath the auto sear. This is not an ideal position, as the gun has to be disassembled partially to adjust. No quick field adjustments for this gun.
WE apparently makes a nice low profile scope mount for this gun. You can see it attached to the side of the receiver. You have to remove the stripper clip guide to do it though, but luckily the mount comes with a pin punch to knock out the retaining pin. The mount slides right in, and you have your choice between a hex screw, or the older style knob with a flat cut out. Cost of this mount was $30, and I've only been able to find it overseas. I have a Tasco 2-7x38mm scope mounted on high or very high rings. You will need them to clear the receiver and rear sight.
Being a gas blowback rifle, gas is pressed into the magazine along
with BBs. If you do not have a speed loader to quickly and easily load,
you can force them in by hand. Be careful though, as I noticed that
you need to insert them at an angle, not straight up or down. The
magazine fits 20, but using an included conversion it can be changed to
30 (more on that later). There is not way to disable the bolt hold open
on the magazine, unless you remove the pieces internal to its function.
It
needs to be 'rocked' into the magazine well, like an AKM or FAL. Since
the magazine weighs close to a fully loaded real steel magazine, it
might take some getting used to the weight. The color does not match
the rest of the rifle for some reason, and is the weird green. It
doesn't really matter that much, but would be nice if it matched the
grey, parkerized look of the rest of the rifle. The brass fill valve is
in the bottom through the floor plate of the magazine. The magazine
can be inserted into the gun even when the trigger is pulled and the
hammer has already fallen (unlike WA M4's).
The front locking tab is not fixed in place, so you could technically slide the magazine into the well. I think this just helps the rocking motion should you not be perfect with the 'rock and roll'. It does have wobble, but it locks into place once you get used to the way it locks up.
The magazine feels quite hefty since it contains everything to make it
function. This mag uses WE's split design
rather than the stupid and horribly designed gasket mounted to the back
of the magazine. The o ring will be easy to replace or swap out since
it held between the two pieces by two phillips head screws. Simply
pop off the floor plate, unscrew the phillips head closest to the front of the magazine, and slide out the internals, making sure you don't lose the two piece linkage to activate
the bolt catch. The magazine is originally 20 rounds, but comes with a
replacement spring to convert it to 30 rounds. Unscrew the screw near the top of the magazine (making sure not to send the
spring flying across the room when you pull off the cover), remove the
spring and a little black piece that restricts the round count. Replace
with the longer spring, and put the cover and screws back in. All
done.
Design Issues
Nope, you read that right. I have a few complaints about this rifle. They are short though, not too much to be honest.
First of all, the receiver has play in the stock. You can shift it forward and backward about an eighth of an inch. It does not affect the function, but it can be bothersome occasionally. I have heard that with minimal modification, a real stock can be fitted, which eliminates the wobble. I will be trying this at some point, hopefully with a VLTOR M1A stock, or a nice wooden one dated for the 60's.
Second, the trigger box will split. That is right, not maybe, but will. After around 1,000 rounds, my trigger started to break differently. I pulled off the trigger group to discover the tan colored piece lifting off of the main, parkerized colored one (seen pictured below). RA-Tech makes a steel, one piece (the other side still must be screwed on, but that part is already stable) trigger box for $100. While you don't need it right away, be prepared to grab one at some point in the gun's life.
Thirdly, like stated above, the hop up is difficult to adjust on the fly. Much like the TM designed M1911's, partial disassembly is required. This is unwieldy for an 11 pound gun, but if you bench the gun to sight it in like you should, it is a minor inconvenience. Set it and forget it.
Fourth, the upper hand guard is made of the cheapest looking plastic on Earth. It does not match the stock at all, and makes the gun look cheap. I believe real steel ones will fit with minimal modification, and I will be pursuing this as well.
Lastly, the stock itself. While it does have a sturdy build, it is HEAVY. There is supposed to be a weight buried inside of the plastic somewhere to add to the realism. Add a scope and mount like I have, not to mention a bipod (it has a hole for the Harris style stud) and you have a 15 pound gun. That gets tiring with a full kit of magazines to maneuver on the field. At least the folding butt plate can keep it on your shoulder after a full day of running around.
Performance
So does this gun perform like older WE pistols and the Closed Bolt AWSS Gas System? Nope, this gun rocks. I got the Evike upgraded nozzle, which says it shoots 500 feet per second. When I chrono'd this gun with .20 gram BBs, I was getting 495-525 FPS. The standard version is supposed to shoot around 400 FPS. This gun is built for hitting at long ranges. With some .25 gram G&G BBs, I was getting 150 feet on a man sized target without even adjusting the hop up! If you turn the hop up on, and use .30 gram + BBs, you will easily have a 200~225 foot gun with a stock barrel. Barrel length is 22 inches, or 540mm. I have no doubt you can have an extremely accurate gun if you swap out the barrel for a 6.03 tightbore.
Gas efficiency is surprising. WE is known for having 1:1 or less in terms of having enough gas to shoot the entire magazine and lock open. The magazine is huge, and gets 3 magazines off if loaded with 20 rounds, and 2 mags if 30. This was test was done by firing 10 rounds in semi auto, then 3-4 round bursts until the mag was empty (waiting about 1 second between pulls of the trigger). Cool down isn't too bad, but the mag can get chilly.
Recoil is like nothing else. It did not seem to be as much as the WE M4 (which kicks around a lot), the M14 has so much mass moving around. The kick feels like a .22 magnum. The action cycling makes the sort of distinctive noise of the real M14. Those who are familiar with the 'cling' of the rotating bolt and operating rod will know what I'm talking about. The rate of fire is similar to the real one, around 650-700 rpm. Full auto is not difficult to control, but will throw your shots off unless you are supported.
Upgrades
There are a number of different things you can do to your WE M14 to make it better. Here is a simple list:
1) RA-Tech parts
RAT makes a steel trigger pack (selling all of the individual components as well), a steel receiver, real wood stock, and some other miscellaneous parts. They also make a 'real function' bolt catch. Two pieces replace the one part in the gun. This can turn your bolt release into a bolt catch. FPS can be adjusted using the standard WE NPAS made by RAT, but modifications need to be made to fit it. RAT makes a conversion kit for the barrel and front sight to make your full sized M14 into a SOCOM16. A 540mm 6.01 tightbore is available from them (also made of steel), and to top it all off you can buy a pre-upgraded version with the upgraded parts installed. There are different 'levels', so you can determine your needs for upgrades. Prices for complete rifles range from $600-$1,200.
2) VSR-10 Hop Up Buckings
You read that right, the hop up bucking in the WE M14 is the same as its TM compatible M1911 and its VSR-10 sniper rifle. A stock replacement can be had for $10, but high end buckings can go for $30+. Recent offerings include A+ bucking and REAPS bucking, which can extend the range another 100 feet reportedly.
3) Real Steel parts
I haven't tried this yet since my bills have been piling up lately, but reportedly a real steel M14/M1A stock can be fitted to the WE M14. Minor filing may or may not be required. The advantage of this is it makes the gun lighter. The WE is not made of 100% steel, so WE made the stock to have some weight in it to bring it up as close as possible. The real stocks don't have this and can save somewhere around a full pound or two of weight, that means less heft to move around and allows you to toss an extra mag in your kit. A real wood stock and polymer heat shield also can give the gun a nicer look. I've seen a few walnut stocks that look fantastic.
Those are pretty much the upgrades. Ranging from cheap fixes to buying a second mortgage, your WE M14 can be tricked to whatever you desire. There are a few things WE was supposed to offer, but still haven't come about in the two years of the guns release. CO2 mags would make even higher velocities to come screaming out the muzzle and allow for colder temperature ranges of use. WE has not really made a well built CO2 magazine, so I don't expect anything spectacular if it does get released. The M14 is not the only rifle in their line up to not get a CO2 mag, the M4/SCAR is the only one despite promising ones for the AK after it was released. WE has released an EBR variation that is official licensed by Sage International. Two versions are now out, one with the sliding stock and adjustable cheek riser, and one with an M4 buffer tube known as 'Mod 1'. Both are in the $400+ range if bought separately from the rifle. A complete EBR is in the $700 price range.
Conclusion
So is this gun worth it? Considering a basic load out of the gun plus 4-5 extra magazines can approach $500, this rifle is not an inexpensive venture. That being said, if you are looking for something different to hit at longer ranges, this is the thing for you. While it may not get used during winter time, when the weather gets above 50 degrees F this thing puts spring sniper rifles to shame. Run heavy weight BBs and some green gas and you will have a good time. Be prepared to drop some money though, the gun needs regular maintenance and some upgrading. If you are not used to opening up guns and repairing them, don't start gas blowback rifles. You will be paying even more for techs to do the upgrades for you. The WE-Tech M14 is a great out of the box long range shooter. While heavy in weight and cost, the gun performs well. Add a scope, bipod, and disable full auto for a semi-auto sniper system that can compete with heavily upgraded bolt actions.
Thanks for looking into my review. I hope it gives people a better perspective on this gun before buying it. Gas Geek out.
