the only knock with chinese m14s is they have a soft bolt, which could cause an out of battery experience most would like to forget.

otherwise they are as good as you can get u.s. wise on a standard m1a. the receiver is forged and the barrel is as good as anything save match grade. i had my bolt replaced and lapped, and it has been trouble free since.

of course once you change one chinese part you have to add another six u.s. made parts to make it legal. a long with the winchester bolt, i added a national matched reamed front site, a trw trigger group(which counts as three pieces), stock, and op rod.