When a soldier loves a weapon he will continue that love even once the weapon itself is obsolete. The ancient Roman Legionnaire loved his Gladius even when it was replaced by newer designs. The medieval English archer loved his bow even as the matchlock replaced it. Today’s western foot soldier loves his rifle and perhaps no retired rifle is as loved as the M-14. Introduced in 1959 and produced for only six years 1,380,358 M14 rifles were made. The M16 series rifle was ordered as a replacement for the brand new M14 by direction of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara starting in 1966. By 1970 the weapons, declared obsolete, were beginning to be scrapped. By 1980 the weapon had even been withdrawn from use by National Guard and Reserve units. This however was far from the end of the weapon.
Scrapping.
Since 1970 the United States military has destroyed or demilled nearly 750,000 M-14s. While some were destroyed during the Carter administration most survived in arsenal storage through the Cold War. This was because of the fact that keeping an obsolete but still effective weapon will always be infinitely cheaper than producing a new weapon. The end of the Cold War lead to a slaughter of the M-14s that had survived. No less than 479,367 M14 rifles were destroyed in 1993-94 alone and an unknown number were de-milled (cut with a blowtorch and welded shut) then transferred to JROTC units as non-firing drill weapons.
Foreign Military Aid
By 1999 over 450,000 surplus arms were exported to foreign militaries under the Excess Defense Articles program and others. These were largely transferred abroad to Argentina, Greece, Israel, the Philippines, South Vietnam, Taiwan, Turkey, Venezuela, Chile, Columbia, Iceland (which doesn’t have a military), and Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s and the new Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in the 1990's. The stacks of stored weapons were also poured over by CIA logistics operatives and mysteriously acquired M-14s were seen in the hands of Nicaraguan Contras, Eritrean rebels and Angolan freedom fighters in the 1980s. While many thousands of these weapons have in turn been retired and scrapped in these countries they are still seen regularly in photographs taken by war correspondents from those regions. In 2009 a German warship captured Somali pirates who were armed with former US M14s. Taiwan, in addition to receiving thousands of surplus US weapons acquired the tooling for the weapons from H&R and have produced locally some one million M-14s ( designated the Type 57 rifle) for general issue. Many M-14s were also given to US Federal and State law enforcement agencies including US Customs Border Patrol and the US Coast Guard by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service.
The Survivors
There were a few M-14s, supposedly replaced forty years ago, spared. Today the US military has less than 10% of the original M14 production left in its depots. The US Air force has some 3,500 weapons. The Air Force uses these weapons in drill teams, special forces Para-rescue units and explosive ordanance teams. The US Navy replaced most of the M14s in their inventory with M16s and shotguns in 2007 but still keeps a couple M-14 rifles on board each of its 280 warships for drill and to shoot lines (ropes) for boarding and underway replenishment. The US Marine Corps has at least 3000 weapons that serve as designated marksmen rifles with counter-terror and security teams. The Marine rifles were modified with Sage International kits to create an M-14 package dubbed the "Enhanced Battle Rifle".
In 2001 the US Army had 120,000~ of the weapons and was the largest US end-user. Heavy use of the M-14 modified as a Designated Marksman Rifle for front line use in Iraq and Afghanistan had by 2007 dropped the number of rifles in the Army’s hands to 22,660 in use and another 87,462 of all grades in storage. They are found sprinkled in small number with most combat units as well as drill teams and OPFOR aggressor units. Besides the Corps of Cadets at West Point and a few other senior military academies, the 1st Battalion / 3rd United States Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) is the sole remaining regular US military unit where the M14 is still issued as the standard rifle. The Old Guard is assigned to the Military District of Washington and is the guardians of Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as other ceremonial duties.
Sources:
Emerson, Lee M14 Rifle History and Development Copyright 2005, 2006 by Lee Emerson, unpublished web document
Halberstadt, Hans, Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American Combat Sniper McMillian 2008
Poole, Eric R New Lease on Life for the Beloved M-14 Military.com November 2008
Schognol, Jeff Last sailors trading in their M-14s: Conversion to M-16 rifles nearly complete. Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Thursday, July 26, 2007
Stevens, R. Blake. U. S. Rifle M14 from John Garand to the M21.
US Army Field Manual FM3-22.9
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