They may have fixed them before they stopped importing them, but in the late 1980's when I was still hanging out at Lone Star Guns in Plano, the Aggie gunsmith owner saw a steady stream of people wanting him to fix all kinds of issues with those Chinese Commie M14 knock offs and he wouldn't touch them. He said you can't do much with a gun that's components had already spent a long career as a cooking pot.

Agree with 87Fly. The older ones were cheap as heck in price but also pretty poor workmanship for the most part. The quality has just become worse and worse over the years. There is a reason the guy wants to trade it off. You are much better off selling your Rem. .308 and getting a Springfield M1A....but that is just my opinion.

Have you shot an M1A before?

It's definitely one of those guns you should handle before you buy.

I know some people like them but they are my least favorite NATO battle rifle of their era. I used to own one all tricked out in a Sage EBR chassis and traded it off years ago.

So if you go with a chinese clone and its your first experience with the gun, you may end up doubly disappointed.

Thanks to all for the feedback! I'll hold off on this one.

For what its worth I have a Springfield M1A1 National Match that I have had since the 1990's. I love how it shoots and enjoy it a lot. I left it in its original configuration ..... as the M14 is of my era and I always like them...but no way I was going to pay the $$$ to get a real M14.....so the Springfield M1A1 was the way to go for me.
The M14 was nothing more than a modified Garand with full auto capability and chambered for .308 in reality.
I collect and shoot older military rifles and I enjoy shooting the M1A1 as much as I do my Garands, Model 1903's or Model 1917's......its actually my favorite and most accurate of that group.
I'm a traditionalist for keeping the rifles as they were originally and don't try to modify them into something they were never intended to be.