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My SOCOM 16


survivalshop

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 I had to take a breather with shooting my SOCOM 16 , because some Dr. ( Friend ) made me do a Valve job on my Heart , been over at M14 forum reading my brains out , well whats left of them any way , but I just got back shooting to this Rifle . I have her torn down now to reinforce the Factory Injected mold Stock , I will be using  Epoxy/Carbon Fiber & Vacuum Bagging system. This is the first of the Tuning I will be doing , the Rifle shows to be shooting 2-4 MOA  & with my 155 gr. SMK , 43.4 gr. of Tac , is shooting much better , 1 1/2 -2" MOA  . 

 The Gas Cylinder is touching the Stock up front , which is a no no & this Stock reinforcing is taking care of that & reinforcing it ( if it works ) will also stiffen up the contact with the Stock Ferrule & the ability to use the Sling properly  I have already Shimmed up the Front Band to tighten it up , then on to the Gas system.  I think I can get 1 MOA out of it with the scope thats on at this time , temporarily for my testing .You can laugh at my jury rigged Cheek rest , it works though .

   I also have a new build M14 clone in the works & have this coming & have the USGI Winchester Trigger Group for a beginning .

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5 hours ago, DNP said:

I see how it is....that's where you've been. Hanging out on another forum. Glad you're back up and running. Can't wait to see the next build. 

Well it wasn't exactly hanging out , I needed info & only well enough to visit one Forum at a time , but now I'm feeling much better , with a Valve job & new Cam ? & out of the Hospital .

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They have a SOCOM for a decent price at a local fleet farm. Tempting, but no room or money right now. Guess be Happy with my loaded classic.  Nice work on it Survival, any thoughts on a suppressor to help tame the muzzle blast?

Edited by Sisco
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 Most hard core M14'ers don't care for the SOCOM , they say they won't shoot very good . thing is there are a couple of us that have gotten together  & finding tuning tricks that are mostly not new to the M14 Platform , & some are , because of the SOCOM"s 16.5" bbl. . I decided to keep the Factory stock & reinforce it with Carbon Fiber , using the Vacuum Bagging method  & before I could grab the bare Stock ( Injected Molded Plastic ) & twist the front & it would flex . After reinforcing it , no more flex , but still has a little give when pushing up on it , I will take care of that in the morning with adding more CB to the Sides of the Stock . Its about the only place I can put more at , I have two layer's & side to side reinforcing rib's where there was room , make three layers of CB .

  Its pretty much fun to do something for the first time & it freaking works ?

Template for CF 

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Cutting CF

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Using modeling clay to determine how much & where CF can be built up . The Op Rod & Spring ride right in the Middle , so only about 0.020" to play with & the CF

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CF applied & Bagged with a Vacuum on it 

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 Two part Epoxy 

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 My notes on where & how much CF can be used 

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Out of the Bag & just a little trimming & a small amount of fitment for Op Rod Clearance . I will be bagging it a little different for the added reinforcement , I will be using the inside of the Stock as a Mold & only have to seal it off .

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& of course , remove the tape .

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Did a second reinforcement on the sides to help stiffen up the flex at the tip of the Stock & it helped , but still have a little flex , enough to lose the Draw pressure that M14 Actions need on the front Ferrule , so now I see the Ejection molded Plastic , even with the CF is too thin to to eliminate it with out a few more layers of CF , because its gets better with each application , but I'm running out of room in some places that will effect stiffness & have weak points which are counter productive to my goal .

 So phase 3 is to add stiffening rods of CF at the front & behind the Op Rod Guide to stiffen as mach as I can . The Op Rod Guide is where I have no room , I'm thinking of encapsulating the CF rods in more CF , using the same Vacuum Method I have been using & is working great . I have almost no Twisting of the Stock now & using a Sling feels much better . Before Was twisting the front of the Stock by using sling pressure , so there is progress . I did find shooting yesterday that my groups were being split up , two or three shots were like 1/2 MOA , but the other two or three were a couple inches away , but still 1/2 MOA & I found that after the last layer of CF that my Op Rod Guide is resting on the Stock now & that may be the Culprit , I went to pains for that not to touch ,but it is now , easy fix , Dremel tool & drum sander , two min. job , but will wait till I encapsulate the Rods.

Actually the CF Rod are cut in half Bolts from my Cross Bow , the insert was pulled out so I couldn't use it to shoot any more , Photo's will follow .

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This may be long , but maybe someone can learn from it . Most will say I'm nuts even trying to improve the factory SAI Injected Mold Stock , well , maybe , then  again , I like a good challenge , this stock & the accuracy potential of the SOCOM are as good as any challenge & probably go against the grain for most M1A /M14 owners . 

I feel the first thing most do is change the Factory Stock & thats not a bad idea , its a good way to easily pick up on accuracy  & lower group size in most if not all Injected mold Stocks , at least the ones that are not Pillar Bedded or have a set in Metal liner or chassis in them . I found , as I have already mentioned that my SOCOM 's Gas Cylinder was already resting on the inside of the Stock , which is not good for consistency , after opening the Ferrule area up so the Gas Cylinder would not touch , I lost all Draw pressure of the Front Band & if I played the rifle on a rest with just the weight of the Rifle on it , the Stock would just spring up & touch the top of the Front Band where the Hand Guard attached , another no no for accuracy . 

 Reinforcing the inner Stock with Carbon Fiber , using the Vacuum Bagging method worked real well for stifling up the forearm area of the Stock , but found out that even with CF Shafts encapsulated in this area , it helped , but the Plastic just flexed at the Mag Well area , where no CF reinforcing is possible . Thinking this out , I knew I was close , I remember the video Tony Ben put out on Bedding an M14 , he used a Spacer between the Barrel & Stock to act as a fulcrum to put pressure on the Front Band when setting the Bedding up , this after Bedding was set & his Fulcrum was removed , set with that pressure on the Front Band ( Draw Pressure ) 

  So after thinking about it I started to put shims at the Receiver to Stock area , because It was useless to install a Fulcrum at the Barrel end of the Stock , because it would just flex at the Receiver end & would be useless , even though the Stock now is probably stronger then a WOOD Stock , I found a 1/16" Shim at the front of the Receive gave me all the Draw Pressure I needed & also tightened up the Trigger latching in the Stock at the same time .

   Now how to accomplish this , seemed like the Liquid Metal , Steel Stick products would not adhere to this Plastic & to top it all off I had two other things that are issues , one is the Receiver Flange , its not flat its at an angle where it mates up to the Stock & the Stock is angled to mate with it , two I have to angle the Filler back from the front 1/16" to the back & blend it in to fill any gap . So looking around I found some products at the auto parts store , Plastic Weld by Permatex & a Marine Plastic weld . the Permatex sounded better so I tried it first , man was I glad I did , first its Black like my stock & second , it became part of it & I was filling off high spots in just three hours . I used Modeling Clay for Molds , so I could make it so it would angle back to blend in with the Stock & use the Mold as a sizing limit to keep both sides of the Stock even , now some photo's .

Tacked on CF Shafts 

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CF encapsulated with Vacuum Bagging method 

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Shim under front of Receiver to get Draw pressure on From Band

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Clay mold , right sid already file trimmed 

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Where I put the Shim for testing 

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Finished stock with skim coat of final Epoxy to seal slightly fitment marks .

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How Receiver fits now 

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Edited by survivalshop
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2 minutes ago, Robocop1051 said:

Now that you got the first one done… You’re ready to start taking orders?

 

and how does it shoot now? Do you hav some comparison pics??

I have Target photos of all phases & they will follow when I'm done with all the Stock upgrades < I want to bed the Receiver a little , which will be the last & final phase for this Stock .I really don't think I can make it any stronger . 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Picked up a USGI Fiberglass Stock to compare the two , the FG Stock has some flex like SAI before I enhanced it , but not nearly as much , the FG Stock has a much better real to it shooting , seems more beefy , so to speak & seems to handle the recoil better , not sure why it feels that way , but it does . 
 I went to the range with both Stocks yesterday & forgot my shooting rest & rear Bag , had to use my Range bag & was a miserable shoot , I was set up by 0800 & my glasses fogged with ever shot , I couldn't keep the sweat out of my eyes , the Range bag sucked for any kind of precision shooting so I just tested the two Stocks , just to compare the two . The FG Stock shot about 6" low compared to the SAI Stock , which the Scope was sighted in with , but both shot about the same groups , if you can call them that . I need to do this test again when it gets cooler & I have my Bags & rest to do a real comparison from the data I already have .I'm not going to shoot anything , but Hand Guns till it cools off .

To be continued :

The USGI Fiber Glass Stock in some kind of Camo 

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  • 2 months later...

Playing with some more Carbon Fiber , this time a Prototype Check Riser , good & solid & works great .I took both the SAI Plastic Stock & the USGI Fiber glass Stock & The FG shoots about 8" lower then the altered Plastic SAI Stock , but I like the feel of the FG , it felt more comfortable , could be that the forward part is wider or maybe the whole Stock . 

 Took the 16" 308AR along for the ride , it didn't disappoint .

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I'm going to see if I can copy one of those strap on types out there , made with Carbon Fiber , of course . I need one for the Camo USGI Fiberglass Stock I have & don't want to drill holes in it .

4 hours ago, Sisco said:

I need a higher cheek riser for my M1A. I am going to play around with a couple of Delta risers I have for use with a fixed handle M16 with a scope on top, and see if I can get them to work.

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If that is made of Kydex , that stuff is easy to manipulate with a heat gun.

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1 hour ago, survivalshop said:

I'm going to see if I can copy one of those strap on types out there , made with Carbon Fiber , of course . I need one for the Camo USGI Fiberglass Stock I have & don't want to drill holes in it .

If that is made of Kydex , that stuff is easy to manipulate with a heat gun.

I think it is just vacuum formed plastic, but I will take a closer look at them. Maybe borrow a heat gun and see if it is malleable.

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