One thought to consider ...
AFTER
the M14 beat the AR 10 in the US Military Rifle Replacement TRIALS,
and BEFORE
the AR 15 was adapted,
IF
LeMay and Stoner had got together and decided to go with an AR 10 IN .243 Winchester, instead of the scaled down AR 15 in 5.56 Poodle Popper, think about how different the history of military Small Arms and military small group tactics might have been?
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As a former Canadian licensed gun smith and fire arms dealer, I've personally owned, repaired, disemboweled, rebuilt, customised, and mostly chopped into 18.5" barreled shorties, well over 100 of the M14 type rifles. This includes four dozen GENUINE US GI M14s, five Springfield M1as [ including SA's best, a SS SUPERMATCH ] and then dozens and dozens of the Chinese M14 clones This includes the old pre-ban Norincos and Polytechs, and lately many of the new improved Canadian imported Norcs and Polys. And then, several dozen more of the M14 rifle's little brothers, the Ruger Mini 14s and Mini 30s
So obviously, I like the M14 platform.
BUT,
the M14 is not and never has been my FAVORITE battle rifle.
Before I got my first genuine M14 rifle, I had owned dozens of the GENUINE Dutch built military issue AR 10 rifles, Sudanese and Portuguese variations.
AND,
I quite simply like the AR 10 platform better than the M14, or any thing else I've tried ... including my Canadian issue FN C1A1 or C2, both of which I carried as a Canadian Infantryman and then as a Canadian Infantry Officer [ Leader of Infants?.
My experience with these platforms has shown me that:
1.] The AR 10 rifles are MORE ACCURATE out of the box, and MUCH EASIER to keep accurate than an M14.
2.] The AR 10, with straight line stock and greatly improved ergonomics, is much faster at CQB scenarios.
Why else have so many people [ including ,myself ] spent so much time and effort trying to make their M14 hasve the look and feel of an AR 10??
3.] Judging by the three dozen AR 10 samples I completely disassembled and rebuilt, the AR 10s are just as durable and robust a platform as the M14. The AR 10 samples I worked on had seen HARD use, in horrible Tropical [ African Congo ] conditions, used by mostly ill trained "soldiers", with zero or minimal maintenance. "Just piss down the barrel every month or so to keep the Gun God happy".
All of the AR 10s I rebuilt were fully functional MECHANICALLY, with several of them suffering from broken plastic stocks and hand guards. One had a beat up mag well/hold open device, where some ignorant SOB had dry fired the rifle over and over again WITHOUT a bolt. That was welded and filed back into shape, and I turned that lower into my personal Practical Rifle Match competitor.
4.] Judging by the thousands of rounds, 7.62 NATO, Win .308 Factory. and my own reloads, that I put through testing and competing with them, the AR 10 is every bit as functionally reliable as an M14. The only weak spot of the original AR 10 design was the soft lipped aluminum waffle magazines, which originally were intended to be ONE USE/Disposable in the field.
5.]The AR 10 is incredibly accurate and functions reliably with a much broader range of ammunition than does an M14. I've shot AR 10 rifles with the factory Remington "Acellerator" .223 Sabot carried superlight/superfast bullets, and all the way up to Winchester 200 Gr Silvertip SP "bear and moose " hunting ammo. As a matter of fact, all three of the above loads, as well as the usual 168 Gr HPBT loads, shot SUB-moa for me out of various AR 10s. Can't do that with an M14.
So,
even though I am personally involved in a project to make an M14 into an AR 10 lookyloo, and still have a fond spot in my heart [ and gun cabinet ] for the M14, my primary semi auto gas gun battle rifle wannabee, is an AR 10. These days, I like the Remington R25 AR15/AR10 HYBRIDS as the best AR 10 VALUE of any of the many other AR10/AR15 HYBRIDs currently available. I have had three of the R25s, and am currently optimising one of these into a CQB shorty ... for those occassions when my 11.5" AR 15 won't do the job.
Aka ... "when the ZOMBI's are riding Moose instead of Poodles."
One last thought to consider ...
IF ONLY
LeMay and Stoner had got together and decided to go with an AR 10 IN .243 Winchester, instead of the scaled down AR 15 in 5.56 Poodle Stopper ...
IF ONLY ....
As always with any opinions expressed on the internet,
YPMMV
Topic Author
Looking forward to it. 
