Poly Technologies M-14/S (American Rifleman, December 2021)

[Kruse]

In the latest American Rifleman magazine (December 2021), there is an article on the Poly Technologies M-14/S. According to the article, this gun was imported from China from 1988-1994. This gun was a knock-off or a reverse-engineered gun copied from the American version.
Here is the question that I have about this gun: I remember when this gun was being imported and the reviews were generally good. However, suddenly a few companies started saying that the metal in some of the critical areas of this gun was "soft" and that certain areas needed to be heat treated to avoid wear. So my question on this post is this: Were there certain areas of this gun that needed to be heat treated or were these companies just advertising this to bring is some business on something that really wasn't needed?
My interest is this would be obvious.

 

[billt460]

When these things first came on the market, they ran around $450.00 to $525.00 from various vendors for a complete walnut stocked rifle. And they were everywhere. From everything I remember reading about them, they were of very high quality. Especially for the price at the time. Many put them on the same level quality wise, as the AK's manufactured by Poly Tech. Such as their "Legend" model.

Today anything new in the box from Poly Tech demand very high prices, and are some of the best AK-47 models obtainable. Many even surpassed the Arsenal models, because of their beautiful deep blued finish. (Arsenal to this day, are plagued with a very delicate finish. And you have to be careful of which cleaning solvents you use on them).

The Chi-Com's manufactured some excellent weapons, and still do. But because of government regulations, they won't do gun enthusiasts in this country any good.

I never remember reading anything negative about receiver quality. In fact the actions became highly desirable for custom M-14 builds. I'm not saying that a few bad one's didn't get out. That can happen with any manufacturer. Even Springfield has had some issues with receivers cracking on their M1-A models. But overall they were very well built weapons.

 

[wings&wheels]

I just read that article last night also, brought back memories of when I was looking at one. I just couldn't 'pull the trigger' on a Chinese copy of an iconic US rifle. Nothing against Chinese rifles, I have a few, but just not that one. I'd probably buy one now if the opportunity presented itself. I've shot one and I remember they were thought of as decent quality then, especially for the price point.

I always thought the bolts were allegedly soft? Part of me thinks this could be just unfounded rumor where where someone's once-removed Uncle's friend had one and.....

 

[wings&wheels]

Slightly O/T, but the late 80's-early 90's were a golden age for surplus and similar rifles. I remember Woolworths having racks of these, SKS's, AK's, different varieties of Enfield's, various Mauser's, etc. I think I bought a milled receiver SKS for $89 and nice Enfield's for less. I kick myself for not buying a Swedish Mauser carbine or Spanish Destroyer carbine.

 

[Kruse]

Slightly O/T, but the late 80's-early 90's were a golden age for surplus and similar rifles.

Indeed. During that time, I worked with a guy who was a gun dealer on the side, but had no store. (Rules were a little looser back then) I would give him the current specials from "Shotgun News" and he would order anything for the price he paid, plus 10%, plus shipping. He only had a little bit of a markup to maintain the yearly cost of his dealer's license. He used to get SKS rifles by the dozen and we would have a gun cleaning party. In other words, bring a case of degreaser to get the cosmoline off and lots of paper towels. Yea, the good ol' days.