Notes: Though the origin of these rifles is somewhat of a mystery, they appear to be loose copies of the German pre-World War 1 Gewehr 88. The Hanyang Rifle, however, lacks the barrel jacket of the Gewehr 88, and the fore-end was more reminiscent of pre-World War 1 Mannlicher rifles. They tended to have a semi-pistol-grip wrist, though some had straight stocks. These rifles could be found in action as late as the 1960s in Vietnam, and can still be found in the hands of Mongolian steppe herders.

Notes: Norinco produces a copy of the Springfield M-14; though the M-14S is primarily produced for civilian export purposes, I have included it here since it is a (crude) copy of the M-14.

Though externally virtually identical to the M-14, the Norinco version is regarded with derision by most buyers, primarily since it needs a LOT of work before it really becomes reliable and useable. To begin with, the surface contour of the locking lugs are not a proper fit for the surface contour of the receiver. This means that as the M-14S is fired, fouling occurs rapidly around bolt face and chamber, headspace around the chamber is rapidly lost, and the M-14S then simply stops firing in mid-cycle. The only real cure for this problem is disassembly and a thorough cleaning. In addition, the steel used in the chamber, bolt, and bolt face is very soft compared to that of most rifles, which means that they wear quite fast, and often need to be heat-treated before their first firing, and sometimes even need hand-lapping. Bolts of the M-14S also tend to be too long; sometimes, they are even long enough that the firing pin cannot properly hit the primer of the ammunition! In addition, the firing pin channel is sometimes too small, which means that the firing pin cannot even retract or engage properly. Measurements of working parts can also be irregular in dimensions and workmanship; some are actually the wrong dimensions to even allow the M-14S to work properly for very long, and even can create a rifle which is dangerous to the shooter! Finish of the external metalwork of the M-14S is also regarded as substandard, as is the wood of the stocks.

In short, if you buy a Norinco M-14S (in the US, at least, it takes mountains of BATF paperwork to actually buy them), take it immediately to the best armorer you can find, and at least get it checked over. If you don’t accept his recommendations, fire it at your own risk. Most US resellers will not even give the buyer a warranty for the M-14S!

Twilight 2000 Notes: In the Twilight 2000 timeline, the Chinese actually issued some of these weapons to militia forces, where they received a lot of complaints and were in many cases simply discarded, if not reworked by local armorers. Some were even rechambered for ammunition which was more common in China (7.62mm Nagant and 7.62mm Kalashnikov). These were able to take SVD and Kalashnikov magazines, respectively, as well as some locally-made magazines.