{"id":1174,"date":"2023-06-16T22:08:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T22:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1174"},"modified":"2023-06-16T22:08:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T22:08:58","slug":"the-armory-life-interviews-m14-maestro-ron-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1174","title":{"rendered":"The Armory Life Interviews: M14 Maestro, Ron Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Jeremy Tremp<\/a><\/p>\n

I<\/span> recently had an opportunity to sit down with Ron Smith of Smith Enterprise, Inc. for an exclusive interview for\u00a0The Armory Life<\/em>. Smith is an unquestioned master of the M1A\/M14 family of firearms, and his work is renowned and respected in both military and civilian circles.<\/p>\n

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Ron Smith is a true craftsman with the M1A\/M14 platform. He is shown here in his workshop at Smith Enterprise with his M14K, a custom 16\u2033-barreled variant of the\u00a0design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Founder of Smith Enterprise, Ron Smith was one of the men brought in during the early years of America\u2019s War on Terror to get M14 rifles back in fighting shape and updated for use by the 2nd Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, 25th Infantry Division, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and more.<\/p>\n

These rebuilt M14 rifles needed to be capable of 1 MOA accuracy, and they would be going into the hands of designated marksmen. The rifle that was delivered to these units was the now fabled M21A5 \u201cCrazy Horse\u201d rifle developed by Smith Enterprise. (Click here to read a full article on a custom Crazy Horse M1A<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to thank Mr. Smith for taking the time to do this Q&A session with\u00a0The Armory Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Armory Life<\/em>\u00a0(TAL):<\/strong>\u00a0How long have you been working in the firearms industry as a gunsmith?<\/p>\n

Ron Smith (RS):<\/strong>\u00a0My family has been in the ordnance business since 1910. I started my apprenticeship in 1964. I\u2019m 72 now and I\u2019ve been at this ever since. That and the military is all I\u2019ve ever known. You know, I joined the Marine Corps in \u201868, spent time in the U.S. Army, National Guard and the Army Reserves, but I always came back to the family business.<\/p>\n

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Smith\u2019s family has been in the ordnance business for more than 100 years. He began his apprenticeship nearly 60 years\u00a0ago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Over the time when you were developing products for the U.S. military like your remarkable Vortex flash suppressor, did you think of it from the perspective of, \u201cif I were a service member this is what I would want or need\u201d based on your own military experience?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0If we\u2019d had our Vortex flash suppressor back then, there\u2019d be a lot fewer names on the black wall. In triple canopy jungle, you\u2019re shooting at muzzle flashes. I got to thinking, we can conceal this flash and I think I know how to do it. And we did. Famed firearms expert Peter G. Kokalis took about 200 of our Vortex and he said they made a big difference in jungle fighting. Because the bad guys couldn\u2019t see where the good guys were firing from, the Vortex really took off down there.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0We know you are a fan of the M14. Did you carry one during your time in service?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0I did. I had an H&R and it was a rattle trap, but the thing was accurate. I mean, it was a wore-out old gun, but it worked, and it worked well. Most of \u2019em I saw were pretty well worn. When the battalion commanders would rotate out, the new ones would try to tell us we had to swap to the M16. We told them we weren\u2019t interested and stuck with our M14 rifles. Sometimes even having to de-link M60 belts to get the ammo. (Read about M14 rifles in the Vietnam War here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Smith\u2019s knowledge of the M14 platform is not purely theoretical. He carried one during his service in Vietnam as a U.S.\u00a0Marine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0So, you preferred the M14 over the M16 at that time?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. But the M14, how these guys talk about, \u201coh, it\u2019s not controllable.\u201d It is, too. You just gotta get into it, and hold onto it. You know, but if you\u2019re 150 pounds, it\u2019s a little difficult.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What makes the M14 so special to you?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, there\u2019s a lot of reasons. With that rifle you could be in the worst conditions, and it doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re in the stand or a rice patty, that thing will run. I mean, it will keep going. The M1 Garand, although as good as it is, it\u2019s got that closed in chamber; you get a bunch of stuff in there, and you can kind of have a problem. With the M14, You just pull the bolt back, stick it in the water, put another mag and start going. You know, rinse all the mud and stuff out of it and you\u2019re good. It just never failed.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you feel like the M14 got short-changed?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, yeah, because of politics. [If] they put their resources into making an M14 with a shorter barrel and maybe a different gas system, probably would\u2019ve been a better deal.<\/p>\n

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After the U.S. was attacked in 2001, Smith Enterprise was called on to deliver updated and accurized M14 rifles to the\u00a0military.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Circling back to the Vortex flash hider, was there anything like it on the market beforehand?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0Not like that. Not exactly like it. There were some things that were kind of similar, but the flutes were really long. They broke easy I don\u2019t think these guys knew what kind of material to use. So, we kept testing it and testing it, shortening it and shortening it, until we got to where we developed a certain link that we couldn\u2019t go any shorter on. We found the optimal link on the flutes, and that\u2019s what we went with. We didn\u2019t really know how long to do it, so we had to experiment around until we found it. We put a lot of money into that; an enormous amount of money.<\/p>\n

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TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0How did the opportunity come about to breathe new life into the M14 platform for the U.S. military?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0When we got involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a general in the Second Infantry Division that really got us started in all of this. Major Zimmerman was tasked by the commanding general to get ahold of us. So, they sent us several hundred M14s. Well, we got \u2019em in here and, oh my God. They couldn\u2019t deploy with those things. I mean, we even have pictures of ones where the stock was broken at the wrist, with two knitting needles and duct tape holding it together. Most of the bores were completely shot out; they were all in various types of bad condition. (Read more about the M14 in the War on Terror here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"ron\n<\/picture>
Based on his experience as a Marine and as a gunsmith, Smith knew the M14 would deliver the long-range firepower troops needed in Afghanistan and\u00a0Iraq.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We re-barreled every one of \u2019em. We were working with George Wilson, and with those barrels we could shoot sub-moa. We cryogenically treated all those barrels. Then we salt-bath nitrated them, and we added our War Fighter Gas System. So, we supplied every rifle that we made with a suppressor and our Vortex flash hider. When we got done with them, we had to call it the something catchy, so we came up with Crazy Horse System. So, they adopted it as the Crazy Horse M14 sniper system.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Did the Crazy Horse come about because they realized that their current platforms were insufficient in the battlefield at that time?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0They didn\u2019t need a new weapons platform developed. They could just take one that was already there, and make it better. They also knew they needed it done within their lifetime and we could make that happen. The general knew if he went through the system, they\u2019d still be waiting. You know, we\u2019re in a war \u2014 they didn\u2019t have time to jack around. So, we came up with it, got it done, delivered it ahead of time.<\/p>\n

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The knowledge, skills and original reference materials possessed by Smith Enterprise on the M14 design are quite\u00a0remarkable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time so far at Smith Enterprise?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0What we did in the war, what we did for the Second Infantry Division. We\u2019re the only civilian company since the Vietnam War to send M14\u2019s in combat in any type of quantity. And that was a pretty big accomplishment for us. A little outfit like us? It\u2019s a big deal. But see, I didn\u2019t have to go ask anybody you know. I\u2019m a trained journeyman; I know what I\u2019m doing. We knew what was right and where to go to get it done.<\/p>\n

\"ron\n<\/picture>
Ron Smith identifies the Crazy Horse M14 project as being one of his proudest accomplishments at Smith\u00a0Enterprise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s the best way for someone to get their hands on a crazy horse rifle from Smith Enterprise?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0Call us. We\u2019ve converted a lot of Springfield M1A\u2019s to the Crazy Horse. A lot of guys will ask me, what receiver should I use? And I say is, go buy yourself a basic M1A and we\u2019ll turn it into a Crazy Horse.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s one thing that you would like people to know about Smith Enterprise that they might not already know?<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0We\u2019re the best there is in the business. There\u2019s nobody else that can do what we do. They just can\u2019t. They don\u2019t have the training. A lot of the skilled guys are gone, but we are still here making the best guns we can.<\/p>\n

TAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you, Ron, for such an insightful look into your history and company. It\u2019s been an honor chatting with you.<\/p>\n

RS:<\/strong>\u00a0My pleasure.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n

Join the Discussion<\/span><\/h5>\n

Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured in this article<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Smith Enterprise, Inc. <\/h3>\n


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Smith Enterprise Vortex Flash Suppressors<\/span><\/h3>\n


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Smith Enterprise PN 2072, \u201cWarfighter\u201d Gas System<\/span><\/h3>\n


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M1A\u2122 Series<\/span><\/h3>\n


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By Jeremy Tremp I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Ron Smith of Smith Enterprise, Inc. for an exclusive interview for\u00a0The Armory Life. Smith is an unquestioned master of the M1A\/M14 family of firearms, and his work is renowned and respected in both military and civilian circles. Ron Smith is a true craftsman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}