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Education / Training UTG Special Ops M14 Sniper Rifle – Part 1

UTG Special Ops M14 Sniper Rifle – Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

Pyramyd AIR made some software changes yesterday that slowed the publishing of the blog. Comment moderation was turned on for protection, but it was turned off, again. We should be back to normal now.

Two years ago, G&G (Guay Guay) introduced an M14 AEG with a lot of fanfare. The gun is realistic and appeared rugged, though initial shipments proved otherwise. The problem was quickly resolved and the world of airsoft had a major new combat gun. Interestingly enough, the U.S. Army appears to be in agreement with the Marine Corps that in certain combat situations, the larger more powerful 7.62x51mm round used in the M14 is preferable to the 5.56mm used in both the M16A2 and M4 carbines. There are certain scenarios where the larger round is needed to get the job done, so the Army is fielding M14s to the Middle East in increasing quantities. The Marine Corps never quite got rid of the rifle during Vietnam, when the M16 was supposed to have replaced it.

So there is a resurgence in popularity in the M14 rifle, and the airsoft community is sharing the interest. When G&G brought out their gun, there was nothing like it in the same price range. At $400, it seemed like a bargain compared to the $3,000 that was asked for a BAR many years ago. True, that gun was built on an actual rifle, while the new M14 airsoft gun was a ground-up new build, but people make comparisons like that all the time. Well – here comes another comparison!

M14-web
UTG M14 is patterned after the M21 sniper rifle. Scope is optional, but necessary.

UTG M14
Now there’s an M14 AEG for $150! The UTG Special Ops M14 Sniper is a copy of the Army’s M21 sniper rifle, standardized in 1969. The gun comes with an 8.4-volt 1500 MAh battery and charger, two 350-round magazines, a cleaning rod for unjamming the barrel, a lightweight carry strap and a Picatinny rail for mounting a scope.

Sights
The gun also comes with adjustable sights, but I found them to go soft and mushy at either end of the range in both directions. I think they’re more for show than for use. Besides, this is a sniper rifle, and that means a scope. The scope of choice is Leapers 4×40 long eye relief scope, specifically made for sniper rifle duty. It has a mil-dot reticle and red/green illumination for low light use. I have a feeling I’m going to be recommending this scope for a lot of airguns in the future, so be sure to check out the specs. I’ll do a separate report on it soon. (Airguns usually have 11mm or 3/8″ dovetails, so you’d have to buy airgun rings, as the scope comes with Weavers.)

Stock
The M14 has a plastic stock that looks remarkably like wood. Until you hold it, you may be fooled like I was. The upper handguard, also plastic, looks like the fiberglass handguard on an M14. The buttplate flips up to serve as a shoulder rest, and the battery box is behind the trapdoor battery compartment lid in the butt.

Weight
With the scope mounted, the rifle weighs 9.5 lbs., certainly in the range of the firearm. The weight seems well distributed when the battery is installed and a loaded magazine is locked up. That may sound trite, but some AEGs get very butt-heavy when the battery is installed. This one doesn’t.

Battery installation
A word about installing the battery. There isn’t a lot of room inside the butt, so you need to ensure that the wiring harness is tucked out of the way before the battery slides home. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to remove later. I didn’t know this, of course, so I put the battery in first, and now the wiring harness barely fits inside the butt. I broke off the plastic battery compartment lid putting in the battery, so there’s a word of caution to the rest of you. With the buttplate down, the battery compartment lid doesn’t show and cannot open, so all is well, but you should be more careful than I was.

Battery charging
The owner’s manual doesn’t mention how to charge the battery; but having tested a number of AEGs, I know the first charge has to be a long one. The charger is a trickle-type that charges slowly, so I gave it an 18-hour charge the first time. There are no LEDs on the charger to give the status of the battery, but I will use a universal charger from now on and it has status lights.

Next, I will sight-in the gun and report on downrange performance.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

25 thoughts on “UTG Special Ops M14 Sniper Rifle – Part 1”

  1. BB, sorry this is off topic, but do you have any experience with the LaserLyte Bore Sighter, sold on Pyramyd Air? If so, do you think it is a worthwhile investment? How well does it work? I spend a lot of time sighting scopes in, and if this item works as it says it does, I would surely buy it. Maybe you could post a review on it? Anyway, thanks for your time.

  2. I don’t have any experience with the LaserLyte, and I don’t use lasers to sight in airguns. I’ll tell you why.

    When I sight in, I start at 10 feet. Tom Gaylord wrote an article about sighting-in that might be of interest.

    /article/All_about_scopes_Part_3_April_2005/22

    A laser simply projects the boreline to the target. But at 10 feet it’s not needed.

    My sight-in takes less time than unpacking and installing a laser system. I typically finish in 5 minutes or less.

    B.B.

  3. B.B. This has to do with yesterdays post (kinda).

    I’ve been having troubles with my old Leapers 6-24×50 scope. Over the past few weeks, the parallax seems to be changing. Used to, I could focus down to 15 yards at 24x magnification and it would be clear, just like it’s suppoed to be. Well, a little while ago, it got to where I would have to zoom out for it to be in focus. It keeps getting worse. Now, I have to be at 25 yards for it to come into focus at 6x magnification. Any closer or higher mag everything is fuzzy.

    The parallax is wierd. The lowest number is 15, but it spins farther than that. I have to be all the way at the bottem to make it come into focus at 25 yards like I said before. If I’m on 15 (or what’s supposed to be 15) I have to be at nearly 100 yards for it to be in focus. Forget any settings higher than that, I’d have to be shooting at the moon.

    Any idea what the problem could be? This scope has been on my cf-x. It’s been a good scope, but I’d like to figure out what the deal with this thing is.

    Thanks,

    lama

  4. tom (;)) wrote an article about his visit at the SHOT show, describing some new products pyramyd will shortly be carrying. of interest to me was the crosman scopes. what is your take on their durability, brightness/clarity, and adjustments versus the leapers scopes? i haven’t seen prices yet, so i guess that will be the determining factor.

    also hinting at the destroyer pellets.
    if the pellet has expended its energy, there isn’t any left to push the rest of the delta further. plug, or is a test coming up? i hope so; more CSI moments!

    lastly i smile at the new beretta rifle. it looks suspiciously similar to the nightstalker, and its named after the powderburner (which i think is a pistol?).

    some cool stuff coming out!

  5. amonomas 392 owmer
    scoping a 392 will result in harder pumping. i too pondered this thought for a while but finnaly dicided on the peep sight. if you want accuracy get a peepsight and crossman premier domes in the cardboard box. i can eisily take soup cans at 150 feet with this combo. check it out

    Field Targetier

  6. Lama, my guess would be that your scope has been damaged. Some of the optics probably came loose and now it shifts with every shot, causing your parallax problems to get worse with time.

    William

  7. dm20,

    I don’t have much info on the new Crosman CenterPoint scopes -just that they are coming this year.

    The Destroyer pellet used to be made in England. The quality wasn’t very good then, so I suppose Crosman is taking time to ensure it’s right before they release it.

    Yes, the Beretta does look like the NightStalker. It has a few differences, mainly centered on the magazine. Be interesting to see how it turns out..

    B.B.

  8. Just a word of caution regarding the M-14: You will find that the polarity on the battery and gearbox are reversed from normal. You’ll have to switch it before using any charger besides the one packaged with it by UTG.

    Phil from AZ

  9. INCOMPARISON TO THE OPEN SIGHTS OF THE 392 HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT WOULD THE PEEP SIGHT BE TO USE? IS IT HARDER TO FIND YOUR TARGET COMPARED TO THE OPEN SIGHTS?

    I DO PRETTY WELL WITH THE OPEN SIGHTS. IT’S A SHOOTER ERROR WHEN I DON’T HIT THE BULL’S EYE WERE I WANT IT TO.

    THE GUN IS REALLY PRETTY ACCURATE BUT I THOUGHT A SCOPE MIGHT HELP. I WANT TO HIT A QUARTER SIZED TARGET AT 105 FEET OR MORE.

    ANY INFO WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED, THANKS

  10. A peep sight is easier to use than other types of iron sights.

    When you peep through the rear aperture, you don’t need to do anything except concentrate on the front sight and the target. The peep works automatically because it is brightest in the center. So your brain automatically centers the front sight and target for you. That’s why the military uses it instead of open sights.

    Of course you keep both eyes open the same as when using all sights. The peep is very easy to get on target that way.

    You should be able to accomplish your goal using a peep sight.

    B.B.

  11. B.B.

    IF I MAY BOTHER YOU ONE MORE TIME.

    WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU DO WITH THE FRONT SIGHT WITH THE PEEP SIGHT?

    AIM SAME AS ALWAYS PLACING IT UNDER THE BULLS EYE OR IS THEIR SOMETHING SPECIAL TO KNOW?

    WOULD THE REAR SIGHT ON MY 392 HAVE TO BE REMOVED IN ORDER TO INSTALL THE PEEP SIGHT OR IS IT JUST A BOLT ON TYPE APPLICATION?

    IM SORRY FOR MY IGNORANCE

  12. The top of the front sight is centered, as is the target. Whether you use a 6-O’Clock hold or a center hold depends on how you sight in.

    I don’t think the rear sight has to go. Just run it down all the way.

    I hope some of our readers who have mounted this peep on the 392 will add their comments, because the only guns I have came with the peep to begin with. I have heard from one person that the peep shot too high and was impossible to adjust low enough, so let’s hear from other owners.

    B.B.

  13. BB,

    Just wanted to say hi and tell you that even though I am not asking questions I read the blog every day.I am thinking about getting into airsoft,nothing serious just playing with some friends.I was wondering if you could do a post on the UTG shadow ops.Thanks BB and keep up the great work.

    Hernan CF-X guy 😉

  14. hi bb,

    I posted the first comment about the m14.The other ones like the type 96 and the other ones are from someone else who is using my name.I really asked about the m14 and not the type 96.Please people dont use other peoples names to ask questions.

    Thanks

    Hernan (CF-X guy)

  15. Hi, this gun was alot of fun but after 4months the rate of fire selector switch failed and the gun would only fire full auto. after 9 months of lite use the electrical totally failed and the gun will not fire with good battery. UTG is a cheap Chinese copy of eariler designs. I’ve owned the gun less than 1yr and either i drop $100. or more for repair or it becomes a nice non-working wall hanger.

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