Who all has owned this gun?

[NWSharpshooter]

Any details on what it took to get her up and running, and any pics from after the spray paint was removed?

Well it appears that for all the good Hook did to the gun, he also did one thing that was really not helpful. He installed shims behind my gas cylinder to tighten it up a bit more, he said the tighter the better. Problem is, his shims pushed my gas cylinder far enough forward that the port was no longer lining up which is why my gun went from 90% function to 0% function after he worked on it. He really helped a lot of things by leveling the barrel in the receiver, but the shims just made it even worse.


Dave removed the shims, and it doing so noticed that my TI plated gas piston was missing the plating in one small area. If you measured the piston on 99% of the surface area it was 100% in spec, but in the small area where the plating was worn through, it was too small and gas was getting by causing the occasional short stroke.


As I said, Dave removed the shims, and put a different piston in the gun and she ran 100 percent. The rear sight is still junk, but I ordered one of the CASM scope mounts that replace the rear sight, so that problem will quickly be remedied.


Tonight I ordered a new piston, CASM mount, cheek riser, Harris M14 bipod adapter, Harris 6-9" bipod, and a new gas plug to replace the gas plug Hook drilled while working on my gun. I think I have settled on a Bushnell Elite 10x42 fixed power optic and low rings.....but I still may change my mind on that one. I figure with that big heavy National Match barrel, this gun needs a scope to reach its potential, and I will still have my Norinco for some iron sight fun.


Dave removed the paint from the inside of the receiver and got everything smooth, but it still remains on the outside. I may send the whole thing off to have it blasted and reparked, or I may just leave it, haven't decided yet.


Anyway, a HUGE thanks to IMDB (Dave) for all his help. He has taught me a ton and been more helpful than he will ever know.

 

[Hasselhoss]

Wow, that just seems like basic troubleshooting. Sometimes it just takes a new set of eyes to see something that seems so obvious after the fact.

 

[NWSharpshooter]

Wow, that just seems like basic troubleshooting. Sometimes it just takes a new set of eyes to see something that seems so obvious after the fact.

Yeah, the gun has so many problems to start with that near the end, it was a little thing that slipped by everybody....even the master himself, Hook Boutin. Dave came by the house Friday and I just gave him the gun to take home and play with it. With me out of the equation, not standing over his shoulder flapping my mouth about what had been wrong with it, and what I thought was now wrong with it, he was able to go step by step, nice and slow and catch the little things.

 

[Bypass]

Ammo that was promised showed up today.


Vaderpainter contacted me a while back and told me the following about the gun.

He said it was built by Rusty Kidd over at Davids Gun Room with parts he had supplied
He said it was shot some and worked flawlessly after the build
He said that one of his buddies took it hunting and did not complain about it not working
He said that he had never shot it after having it duracoat durabaked gloss black.
He said the gun was 100% and any problems I have with it were caused by the guy I got it from.

Vaderpainters ad says it come with 230 rounds of ammo, 14 USGI Mags (even though in the picture you can clearly see many are Chinese) and a Walnut stock.

The guy I got it from said the following.

He had never shot the gun and Vaderpainter had told him it had only been fired ten times since it was built.
When I got it it had only 141 rounds of ammo, so 89 rounds less than when he got it from Vaderpainter, 11 mags, so two less than when he got it from Vaderpainter, and the walnut stock was gone, as was the bipod, rifle bag, etc.


Now here is where I have some serious problems believing people.


Vaderpainter says the gun was shot a bunch and functioned flawlessly. He also said it was duracoat durabaked and any problems were caused by the guy I got it from. If I were to believe that, I would have to believe that the guy I got it from stripped the gun all the way down to the receiver, messed up the headspace, mounted the barrel canted, put the front sight on backwards, stripped the duracoat durabake completely off the rifle and replaced it with spray paint. He would have also needed to make the front sight screw too short, and hold the front sight in place with spray paint.

As I can't bring myself to believe that the guy I got this rifle from went through all that, I have to believe that this gun came from Vaderpainter in this state. Then I would have to believe that Rusty Kidd at Davids Gun Room is turning out M14 builds with bad headspace, canted barrels, backwards sights, etc. I have a hard time believing that Rusty Kidd or Davids Gun room is turning out that kind of Garbage, which makes me believe that it was in fact not built by them.

I also have a hard time believing that Vaderpainter can't tell the difference between Kyrlon and Duracoat and that whoever did the duracoat for him lied to him about what they used and he didn't notice the smell or appearance of the finish.


I also have a hard time believing that the guy I got the gun from never shot the gun in six months, yet 89 rounds of ammo vanished, 2 mags, and all the other accessories.



According to Hook, whoever built the gun was a dumbass. Many of the parts were quality parts, but they were messed up and installed improperly. I have a box of what he said were messed up parts on the gun which he replaced. There are ALOT of parts in that box.


What I believe happened was an unknown person built this gun, possibly Vaderpainter himself, but someone who clearly did not know what they were doing. Hook found lots of rust on the gun under paint, so I believe at some point the gun rusted and somebody, possibly Vaderpainter, spray painted the gun with Krylon to cover up the rust. It was then sold to the guy I got it from for WAY too much money, and dumped the problem on the guy I got it from.

I believe the guy I got it from tried to get it running, and used about 89 rounds of ammo while trying to get it to. I believe he must have another M1A or a friend who does as he kept two of the mags,the Walnut stock, the bipod, the bag, etc. I believe he tried to dump the gun to get out of it, and said he had never fired it to cover the fact that he knew it did not work. I believe that when my boat would not start, it worked to his advantage as it took my attention off the rifle and put it on the boat so by the time the deal was done I hadn't even looked at the rifle, and had agreed to throw in an extra 500 bucks for what turned out to be a big piece of crap. As the guy I got the gun from initially changed his mind about doing the trade and left with his rifle, I don't believe he really understood what a piece of crap the rifle was. I think if he had fully understood what a piece of junk it was, and was intentionally trying to dump it on someone, he would have jumped at the opportunity to trade out of it, even for a boat that had bad fuel lines and wasn't starting.



As a conclusion, I believe Vaderpainter is a liar, and judging by the previous thread where he sold a gun that had been Cerakoated to someone without telling them until a week after the fact when they called him on it, I would never recommend anyone doing business with him. I believe he ripped off the guy I got the gun from, and now in the end I am paying the price for his dishonesty.


I believe that the guy I got the gun from was not fully truthful about the condition of the gun, and was trying to get out from under a piece of crap that he couldn't get to work and that he paid WAY too much for. I don't believe he fully understood what a piece of crap it was, but I also don't believe he had no idea the gun wouldn't work.



I believe that Hook is freaking awesome and spending the morning shooting the breeze with him while working on the gun were totally worth all the money I am out on this one.

I believe that I will eventually get this gun running, and when I do I will have an amazing shooter that was basically built by the one and only Hook Boutin.



I believe I should have taken the trade offer for the LWRC I got when I first listed the M14 (Not really,) I am REALLY glad I found out about this guns problems before I dumped this pile of crap in someone elses lap.





Sorry for the long winded post. Just wanted to share my findings.


Vaderpainter, don't bother PMing me as I won't read it.

Dang. I can't believe I missed this.

 

[Laxguy59]

Dang. I can't believe I missed this.

No way is that gun seriously the one you just bought?

 

[ARCman47]

The ODT bastard child rifle lives !

 

[Realstudent368]

http://www.theoutdoorstrader.com/th...oaded-mags-(230-rounds)?p=1584040#post1584040




I own it now and I am curious who else has owned this non functioning pile. I have it at a gunsmith being fixed now, but wondering who else had this displeasure of attempting to enjoy an afternoon at the range with it.

That kind of money I would be beyond pissed..

 

[NWSharpshooter]

old thread.