Has anyone used the M14 rifle and what are your thoughts about that rifle?

I was issued & qualified with an M14 back in 65. The 'old timers' thought it was a weak version of the M1. Used one my first tour in Nam, 2nd tour had a M16. Big difference other than the weight & ammo, between the 2 was on M14 our range qualification was out to 500 & 600 meters, all with open sites, the M16 was to 300m. The 14 was designed for long range shooting the 16 is close in combat. Before the basic improvement to the 16, i.e. Fwd bolt assist, chroming the inside of the barrel, changing the buffer, doing away with the 3 sided open tip flash suppressor& the ammo powder, It was pretty much a hated weapon . The M14, was designed to replace some 5 other weapons; the M1, the BAR, M1 carbine, 03A3, 06 bolt, & the Thompson, & the much unknown Johnson rifle. Also having only 1 type of ammo vs 4 types.. Even the ammo for the M1 & BAR was different, The M1 shot 150 grained bullet the BAR/ 03A3 used 180/200gr & tracers type bullets Some of the early M14s had a selector for full auto, with a pistol grip stock, for the squad automatic weapon.

Yea, big, heavy, you can throw it behind the seat and drive around for months and it still work amazingly well. Had a Leopold scope on it to see and you couldn't knock it out of zero with a hammer. But all that said, it was still a specialty weapon and not something I'd want to carry everyday.

I used the m14 EBR during my last deployment. I liked the weapon system itself, I never had a malfunction. I'm not a big fan of the Leopold mk4 scope that was issued along with it though.

We had the M-14 and M-21 rifles. They were/are among my favorite weapons. I wouldn't mind owning one.
As far as comparison to the M-16 platform, there is none. One is designed to reach out and touch someone and the other is an assault weapon. While I have my own feelings as to the value of the .308 round as a sniper weapon, it serves the purpose more effectively at range than the 5.56mm round.
Both fun at the range and equally devastating.

Too long, too heavy, and has poor options for mounting a scope. The original batch of M14's the Army got for Afghanistan were actually Navy surplus taken from one of their depots. They were requested by a battalion CSM from the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne after reading an After Action Report about needing rifles with longer ranges in Afghanistan and seeing an article about a massive Navy surplus of M14s in an NRA magazine.

While the M14 has been upgraded with the use of better commercial stocks and rail mounts, they are still stock military rifles being used in a sharpshooter/designated marksman role. They are not accuratized. They almost all have light barrels, are NOT M21s. The current M14 is the M14EBR (Enhanced Battle Rifle). The military has VERY few M21s left which have heavy barrels, better triggers mechanisms and have been accuratized.

Bottom line, the M14EBR was a stop gap weapon system that was rapidly fielded to cover a critical shortfall in capability. The Military has since fielded the M110 Sniper Weapon System to augment the bolt guns in the Scout/Sniper sections/teams/platoons (depending on your branch) and replace the older SR-25s (both are AR-10s). While the M14EBR is still around, it is not the "sniper rifle" that many people think it is but it has longer legs than an M4MWS which the Army uses and the M16A4 the Marines use.

I have a civilian m1a custom build and it is one sweet rifle with great accuracy up to 500 yards didn't push it past that year

I was assigned the M14 when I arrived in Vietnam in 1966. It was replaced with the M16 which I disliked because of the periodic weapon jam, and was issued the M79, which I finished my tour with. I prefer the M14 over the M16 and its variants

I used it in Germany, in an OPFOR role and loved it, did the blank adapter a lot and some real ammo but it was great. Also got it at home to use as well.

Awesome Weapon--Amazing Accuracy

It is a beautiful weapon system that should never have been phased out to begin with. Now that I am retired and have the time it will hopefully be my next deer rifle.