To begin with I am not associated with Fulton Armory or Clint McKee in any way except as a satisfied customer. Also, and this is important, this is a sample point of EXACTLY ONE. I firmly believe that this is the experience all customers of Clint have but I only have my experience as fact. I have already recommended Clint's services to three other people to date. Now that he is working on the AR-15 family this count is sure to go up.
I sent my Poly M-14S to Fulton for the Chinese Upgrade on March 19, 1996 and received it on May 26, 1996. UPS actually left it with a neighbor, I wonder if they had any inkling what they had? The mailing label Clint used, 'Fulton, Inc' worked well in avoiding any questions from the unsuspecting neighbor.
Initially, I was happy with my Poly. It shot well and was rather accurate. When it came to fit and finish my friend's M1A was the winner but from a functional perspective there was little difference. After putting about 500 rnds through it and reading everything I could get my hands on, I decided to check the headspace. Another friend is a precision machinist and he put together an adjustable gage for my testing. After stripping the bolt I measured the headspace a number of times and it consistently read 1.639". This is beyond field-reject for 308Win but within 7.62 NATO. In the process of doing this I noticed that there was some slop in the bolt while in battery, both front to back and rotational. When there was a cartridge chambered this was not as evident but it was still there. This is what finally convinced me to have the rifle rebuilt.
I called Clint about having the work done and he was quite helpful and informative. I shipped the rifle to him, UPS insured ($12 total, not bad) and about 5 days later he let me know that it had arrived in one piece. About 6 weeks later, Clint called to let me know that it was finished with a surprise, the total was less than the quoted price! I realize that this is a sample point of one but I was impressed. I was fully expecting the quoted price, to come in under is almost unheard of these days. Apparently not as much was needed to be done to my rifle to bring it up to spec.
Upon opening the box it was quite evident that care was taken in both the work and the packing for shipment. The first thing I checked was the lockup in battery on an empty chamber. This was nice and tight, no slop what-so-ever. I field stripped the rifle to see what had been done and it was nice to see the TRW parts that I had requested. I also noticed that I now had a Winchester barrel!
Side note: I had asked for the old parts back and they were there, even the barrel. This came in handy when my wife asked what had been replaced and why. She is an engineer also so the question was not unexpected.
I also liked the 'Granpa Jack' booklet from JPFO, well done. Clint also included a piece of brass from the test firing, nice touch.
[almost four months pass]
I finally took the M-14 to the range this past weekend. I loaded two rounds into the magazine and fired down range. I was on the paper but right about an inch. I did not ship the 'flash suppressor' with the rifle since my machinist friend offered to ream it to national match dimensions. I guess I did OK lining up the sights at home when I put everything back together. The rifle functioned flawlessly with the FNM, Federal, and Winchester ammo that I fed it. The action cycled very nicely and in 70 rounds the only problem I had was waiting for the cease fire to finish so I could keep going. After everything settled down (especially me) I was able to fire a two inch group at 100 yds with the FNM ammo. I think the rifle is capable of much better but the nut with a loose screw (me) holding the stock was the limiting factor on Saturday.
All in all this rebuild was some of the best money I have spent on any of my rifles. If you own a Poly it is, IMnsHO, an excellent idea to have your rifle rebuilt by Clint at Fulton. You will not be disappointed and you end up with an excellent rifle for a reasonable cost. All told I have less than $800 into the rifle and, IMHO, it is significantly better than the rack-grade offering from any of the other companies.
Next Problem to solve: too few trips to range lately!
--Ed Meinelt
