Over the past month or so we’ve seen an increasing number of photographs of M14 rifles appearing in Ukraine. Developed in the 1950s and chambered in the brand new 7.62x51mm cartridge it entered US service in early 1960. They’ve since seen service around the world, most recently in Ukraine.
While the US Department of Defense has confirmed the transfer of 7,000 assorted small arms so far, these rifles are largely thought to have originated from the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia who have been extremely supportive of Ukraine since the weeks preceding the Russian invasion in February. We can’t be certain from which country or countries the rifles originated from. The Baltic states received large numbers of the rifles from the US via Security Assistance packages when they began to work towards compliant with NATO standards in the 1990s. The transfers were reportedly made under the Excess Defense Articles program. All three of the countries eventually joined NATO in March 2004.
Latvia received its first batch of 10,000 M14s in 1996 with a larger second back of 30,500 arriving in 1999. Latvia’s National Guard continues to use M14s in a designated marksman role with an interesting new railed forend for optics and accessory mounting. No M14s in this configuration have been seen in Ukraine.
Lithuania reportedly received 40,000 from the US in the late 1990s and continues to retain the rifle in its inventory, updating substantial numbers to their M14 L1 spec, with scopes. Other elements of the Lithuanian Armed forces also use the MK14 EBR. In 2019 it was reported that the US had transferred a further 400 rifles fitted with scopes and bipods. The M14 is also in use with the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces.
Estonia also received a considerable number of the rifles in the 1990s, with estimates suggesting that 40,500 were transferred in 1998. Estonia is in the process of a major small arms modernisation programme and may have transferred surplus rifles to Ukraine. Estonian troops used scoped M14s in Afghanistan and at least two accurised versions of the rifle have been developed, the M14 TP in 2000 and the M14 TP2 in 2008. The M14 TP2 utilises a Knight’s Armament RAS- 14 rail mount and a Schmidt and Bender, Inc. 3-12×50 mil dot reticle day scope.
The M14s seen in Ukraine have some variation. There has been a mix of both wooden stocked and fibreglass stocked rifles, some have been fitted with optics, others have only standard iron sights. The first sightings of M14s came in mid March with both wooden and fibreglass stocked rifles seen. The rifles first began to appear in mid-March.
Then in April another photo of an M14 with a wooden stock and iron sights emerged, reportedly in the hands of an international volunteer. In May, several more photographs surfaced with Territorial Defence Force troops seen with fibreglass stocked rifles. A short video which appears to show a standard M14 in the field also appeared via TikTok while the first video demonstrating disassembly of the rifle also surfaced towards the end of the month.
June saw a number of photographs of the rifles shared on line. On the 31st May, the 121 Kirovohrad Territorial Defense Brigade, shared photos taken during training showing M14s with wooden stocks and iron sights. As well as a photograph from a Czech photographer showing a fibreglass stocked M14 with an optic, at the base of an International Volunteer unit operating near Donetsk.
On June 3 the Armed Forces of Ukraine social media shared a series of photographs heavily featuring a member of the southern department of the Territorial Defence Force with a scoped, wooden stocked M14.
So far we haven’t had any clear photographs of rifle markings and we don’t yet know just how many M14s have been transferred to Ukraine. The TDF training photographs shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence at the start of June give us some indication of how some of the rifles might be issued and used. We see that in a squad two scoped M14s have been issued alongside an RPK-pattern light machine gun and some AK-74s. The nature of issue for the non-scoped rifles is still unclear.
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Bibliography:
M14 Rifle History and Development, L Emerson, (2010)
USA transfers more than 400 upgraded M14 rifles to Lithuanian Army, Army Recognition, (source)
400 More M14s, Lithuanian Army, (source)
Why The Estonian Military Nickname For America’s M14 Rifle Means “Fully Terrible”, National Interest, (source)
M-14 rifles modernized with the help of financial support from the population are already in the armed forces of the country’s army, Delfi, (source)
M14, Lithuanian Army, (source)
Afghanistan Estonian Scout Sniper Combat Firefight on Helmet Cam (source)
Frontline Diary: The enemy is 7 miles away. But he has eyes everywhere, Seznam Zpravy, (source)
The Armourers Bench 