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Rock Island M14Y

14K views 31 replies 11 participants last post by  MountainTimeMachine 
#1 · (Edited)
I created this thread for the Rock M14Y on the 1911 Forum's Rimfire subforum. It's a couple of pages long so I'm not gonna try to replicate or summarize it here, other than a quick comment that it shoots very well for a $140 gun. I am calling it "the poor man's CZ Scout". :D (I have a CZ Training Rifle BTW). The Rock easily outshoots any inexpensive bolt-action 22 I am aware of, such as the Mossberg 802/Rossi RB22. Had an RB22, traded it. The Rock also outshot my Ruger American Rimfire, which cost twice as much. And two nice vintage Mossbergs, one a 46 and the other a 146. And my 10/22 sporter barrel, with Brimstoned BX trigger and JWH bolt. The Rock is pretty amazing. Mine even had some pretty nice wood. Oh, and the barrel is even threaded for a suppressor!

Also in that thread I have some results on my Savage Mk I single shot, bull barrel target rifle. Shoots .10" - .15" C2C groups easily at 25 yards, off bags or a bipod and bag. That's the level it takes to outshoot the Rock. Of course my CZ 457 Trainer outshoots both of them, but not by much compared to the Savage.

Here's a pic of one of the Rock's targets, shot at 25 yards off bags with a scope. Also a bullseye target, same distance, and the gun itself.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
I bought mine at a Farm and Home store. They had two of 'em. One had nice wood, the other not so much, so of course I got the nice one. $130 + $10 tax. Set up very much like a CZ Scout, due to LOP and threaded barrel. I think the Scouts typically go for a bit north of $300. Nicer wood and a bit more accurate, of course.
 
#12 · (Edited)
OK, here's my notes on working on this trigger. Recommend a good gunsmithing screwdriver bit set for any work on a gun. Also refer to pics in post #8 above. I will edit this as needed.

Tools needed: hammer, bench block (e.g. a flat piece of wood, like a small section of a 2x4 with a hole drilled into it); small punch; long thin needle-nose pliers; something to tie the trigger back, like a twist-tie, for reassembly ease.

1. Pull the action--one flathead screw.
2. Pull the Trigger group (TG)--two flathead screws.
2a. Might as well polish up the feed ramp while you're in here. I use wet/dry sandpaper, 400 grit, then 1000, then 1500 for all my polishing jobs. This one was already nicely polished, so I just took a few seconds with the 1500 grit to make sure.
3. Knock out this pin (pic 1), with a 3/32" or 1/16" punch, punching it through the hole in the bench block. This is the only pin you absolutely need to remove. This is the sear stop pin.
Note that it has a smooth end and a splined end. You want to knock it out from the smooth end. Give it a little tap or two if necessary to see which end is which. On mine, the splined end is on the left side of the TG.
The pin to its left held the safety on, which I removed.
I recommend removing the sear pivot pin as well, because it's much easier to reassemble this way; i.e. get the large spring to compress straight down.
4. Pic 2 shows the replacement spring for the mag release/sear. Stock (darker) spring on left.
Ace Hardware, bin #150, part #540449, 2.5" long, wire gauge .028", 75 cents each.
I cut it to slightly shorter than stock, which is 1.25". I used a diamond cutoff wheel on my Dremel. Insert cut-off end down towards the mag release, so the spring seat on the sear has the nicer end.
Longer will give you more tension of course, and heavier trigger pull; on the plus side, it will also give you tighter mag retention. Buy two springs and experiment.
This pic also shows the twist-tie on the trigger for reassembly. What I actually did was use this twist-tie, then another one through it, looped up to the top of the TG, to hold this one in place. Otherwise it would slip down.
5. Observe how the trigger spring fits in there. Push trigger blade forward (i.e. top of trigger backward), then push trigger spring out with the punch.
Replacement trigger spring (see pic 2 in post #8) is a BPS-5, from these guys. This particular spring has proven very useful in a variety of guns to reduce pull weight, so suggest you get a pack of 5 ($7). Plus it's just nice to have spares. I would also recommend getting their cylindrical spring sample pack, one of each spring ($10).
6. Insert new trigger spring back into its slot with needle-nose pliers, cut end first, so that it fits into its slot, and the uncut end sits in its seat in the trigger. This way it will compress straight in. You will probably have to push the spring down into its trigger seat with your punch.
7. Vertically install the sear spring, put the sear down on top of it, and insert the sear pivot pin. Keep the sear horizontal for the installation. Making sure the sear is below the holes for the sear stop pin, install that pin. Remove the twist-tie(s).
8. Install TG back onto the receiver. Put the front screw in loosely, then the rear one, then tighten them down. Install into the stock.

Once you've done it once, it is about a 5-minute job.

Optional actions:
Remove trigger and sear completely, and polish the useful places for smoother engagement. Not sure it matters much with this design though, as there is zero creep/pre-travel to the break.
 

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#14 ·
Nice write-up, Tom.

I REALLY wish you would do a thread on the Savage Mark I on RFC (anything and everything you've learned about it). I've been looking at the Mark I's (I have 3 Mark II's) and would like a comprehensive review from an actual user. You do excellent reviews.
 
#20 · (Edited)
OK, fixed.

Shot the Rock today with Wolf Match Extra, and CCI MM 36gr HP. All are 5-shot groups at 25 yards, front and rear bags.

Note the Savage's results above, shot with Wolf. The Savage, in its black plastic stock, is within a hair of being as good as my CZ 457 Trainer. The Rock, not so much; but I think it still acquits itself well. As you can see, I was still dialing in the scope for the first two groups of Wolf.

Discounting two flyers for the Savage, it got a 5-shot group average of .15". The Rock got a 4-shot (of 5) average of .21", and did pretty well with the Mini Mag too. (The circled shot under Wolf group 5 is a sighter for the MM. Had to crank that elevation down a bunch for the HV rounds.....)

See post #1. The Rock shot a lot better with the SK Pistol Match Special.

I think this gun is a very viable alternative to a CZ 457 Scout. Obviously less accurate but still quite capable, for about $220 OTD with the nice little scope in post #18. The M14Y was the best of my dozen or so mid-pack 22s, before I started trading them in.

Putting sling studs on it in a few minutes. You can get a pack of three front and rear studs on Amazon for $10.
 

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#23 ·
Just used my Mcarbo muzzle lapping kit (link in post 16) on this gun, and off to the range tmw with three new flavors of Eley which have apparently just recently come out. The Action did quite well in the three other guns I have tried it in. The other two are completely new to me.
 

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#24 · (Edited)
Shot the M14Y with four different ammos today. At 25 yds, bipod and bag, 9X on the scope.

Can't say for sure that the muzzle lapping did any good--but it certainly didn't hurt. Some of the groups are pretty respectable, others meh. A fair amount of "4-shot wonders" but no great overall groups. FYI all these ammos cost pretty much the same, $7 - $8/50 rounds.

Edit: Taking measurement of the rest of the groups, it seems this is a .8 - 1.0 MOA gun, at least at 25 yards. Not bad I guess for $140!
 

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#25 ·
I've done a little research and I have a question around which M14Y's are the most accurate. From what I've read RIA was liquidating some units as they brought the version that has been available the last couple years. Are the models that are "available" now the ones that are known as being quality for the price?
 
#27 · (Edited)
Bigstate, I can't directly answer your question; but I bought mine in August 2019 FWIW.

Your detailed reports and passion for all thing obscure rimfire is inspiring! I'm gonna make this a sticky because its full of great info!
Thanx Flys for the compliment.

I love diving deep into obscure things. I love reading micro-histories, such as this one about solving a very vexing ocean navigational problem, back in the days of sailing ships. Or the true story of Captain Kidd, or the backstory to the first 4-minute mile. That is real history, not just the memorizing dates that we had to do in skool. There are tons of these micro-histories.

I used to be a tournament chess player (class C, i.e. a halfway decent amateur), but had to step back from that abyss....it is very, very deep. Watch Searching for Bobby Fischer to see what I mean.
 
#26 ·
Thanks Tom!

Your detailed reports and passion for all thing obscure rimfire is inspiring! I'm gonna make this a sticky because its full of great info!
 
#28 ·
Thanks. I’ve got one headed my way. Not 100% sure if I’m getting the “new” threaded model or the older version, as the online dealer had a picture of both on the site. I figured for $108 how could I go wrong, either way. When they are in stock, they don’t seem to last long.
 
#29 ·
Dredging this thread up again...

I know, not a rimfire but a .22 just the same. My .22 TCM:





I've been wanting to pick up the pistol in the same caliber. Should have done it when they were cheap! Take the same magazines and the pistol has a 9mm conversion!

Pretty much a fence post..., but what do you expect for the price? Fun to shoot and pretty destructive little caliber!
 
#30 ·
I have a rifle just like that, shoots fantastic also, I like the 22TCM. I also have one of the RIA 14Y 22 rifles and that thing shoots better groups than some of my more expensive rifles. My RIA rifle is one with the cheap tupperware stock. I would like to find a cheap single shot Marlin stock to see if it is easy to fit to another stock.

Steve................
 
#31 ·
I just got one of these last week used. Great little gun.

I've taken it to the range twice. The first time I didn't really have a problem with it but today I had spent case ejection problem. Quite e few times the spent shell wouldn't fly out but just sit there causing the next round to get jammed. I think a lot of it had to do with the ammo. It was hollow point. I tried some round tip and it did better.

When I got the gun home and was cleaning it I looked close at the bolt which has two "claws" on it that grab the case to pull it out. I cleaned it really good and lubed it really good. I loaded the mag with some new round nose ammo and cycled them through the gun. I had some problems with them not ejecting but it was a lot better.

One thing I did was try different bolt cycling speeds. Faster seemed to work the best. I don't know if the faster speed helped the bolt do it's job or maybe the lube was getting worked into the claws more.

Has anyone had a problem like this? If so how did you solve it?
 
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