Springfield Armory M1a?

[Grizzman]

I put about 13 rounds through mine today. A niece wanted to see me shoot it, so I couldn't let her down. I'll be shooting it a lot more tomorrow and/or Monday.

[svandamme]

Attention on deck !


Buddy @ the range went to collect a big load of ammo for the rest of us at the range. And by coincidence, that shop had just gotten a Springfield Armory M1a, from what they told me , full length, walnut stock, has a scope bridge and it's as good as new, came from a collector who had only shot maybe 10 rounds through it.

Not sure if it's a standard, loaded, NM or whatever..


Called the shop, told em to hold it , going to check it out tuesday evening.
Normally i would have preferred a brand new one, but if it is in deed a good specimen, i think i'll put my money down.


Any tips on what to look for on a second hand supposedly low use M1a??

[Riverpigusmc]

Congrats on the find..Dave is the guy to weigh in on this, I think

[Dave Waits]

While it's not a 'Real' M14 the M1A is a good rifle. Also, as mentioned, at 100 yards you won't tell the difference between a Standard and a NM except for the weight.

Cleaning and disassembly; Clean it like a Garand. Turn it upside down in a gun-cradle, clean the bore and the Chamber. Reason you turn it upside down is you don't want solvent getting into the gas system. While the M14 Platform uses the 'White' Gas-System instead of the long direct impingement system of the Garand, both are supposed to run dry. Tear it down once a year for a good cleaning. That's all you'll need, you don't want to take the action out of the wood anymore than absolutely necessary as each time you do it loosens the wood and you lose a bit of accuracy. Like a Garand, a good tight-fitting stockset is almost 60% of the accuracy-level in a M14 platform.

Yes, you can shoot 308Win. in a 7.62NATO chamber,however, you will stretch the cases a lot so, reloading will be iffy. See, a 7.62NATO chamber is larger than a 308Win. Chamber. A 7.62 chamber that almost closes on a No-Go headspace-gauge will swallow a 308Win. Field-Reject gauge. While the two rounds are the same size dimensionally, the military 7.62 chamber is made larger for reliability in adverse conditions of Combat. Further, while the same size, 7.62NATO brass is thicker than 308 so, it doesn't swell as much in the chamber.

The good news? 7.62NATO, from what I'm told by shooters I know over in Europe, is fairly plentiful. You shouldn't have any trouble finding ammo for it.

[Riverpigusmc]

1. What's a "permit"?
2. What's a "meter?

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Riverpigusmc

1. What's a "permit"?
2. What's a "meter?

Originally Posted by Dave Waits

While it's not a 'Real' M14 the M1A is a good rifle. Also, as mentioned, at 100 yards you won't tell the difference between a Standard and a NM except for the weight.

Cleaning and disassembly; Clean it like a Garand. Turn it upside down in a gun-cradle, clean the bore and the Chamber. Reason you turn it upside down is you don't want solvent getting into the gas system. While the M14 Platform uses the 'White' Gas-System instead of the long direct impingement system of the Garand, both are supposed to run dry. Tear it down once a year for a good cleaning. That's all you'll need, you don't want to take the action out of the wood anymore than absolutely necessary as each time you do it loosens the wood and you lose a bit of accuracy. Like a Garand, a good tight-fitting stockset is almost 60% of the accuracy-level in a M14 platform.

Yes, you can shoot 308Win. in a 7.62NATO chamber,however, you will stretch the cases a lot so, reloading will be iffy. See, a 7.62NATO chamber is larger than a 308Win. Chamber. A 7.62 chamber that almost closes on a No-Go headspace-gauge will swallow a 308Win. Field-Reject gauge. While the two rounds are the same size dimensionally, the military 7.62 chamber is made larger for reliability in adverse conditions of Combat. Further, while the same size, 7.62NATO brass is thicker than 308 so, it doesn't swell as much in the chamber.

The good news? 7.62NATO, from what I'm told by shooters I know over in Europe, is fairly plentiful. You shouldn't have any trouble finding ammo for it.

I know a bunch of guys with Nato ammo, not sure where they got it, but i'll be sure to get some myself.

Are there anythings particular to the M1a i should check when inspecting the rifle? They told me it's "as new, only shot a few times".. But any way i could inspect that short of magnafluxing the barrel and receiver for cracks (not a practical option anyway)

I'll try and borrow a borescope from a friend

Originally Posted by Riverpigusmc

1. What's a "permit"?
2. What's a "meter?

Well you got me on the permit

but the meter, is part of the metric system, whereas you boys still use the slightly modified system of measurement installed by your colonial overlords
The rest of the world uses a system based on logic, easily scaled up or down in 10th's or 100th's instead of requiring fractions...
I think only Burma, Liberia still use what you use

[Riverpigusmc]

Originally Posted by svandamme

I know a bunch of guys with Nato ammo, not sure where they got it, but i'll be sure to get some myself.

Are there anythings particular to the M1a i should check when inspecting the rifle? They told me it's "as new, only shot a few times".. But any way i could inspect that short of magnafluxing the barrel and receiver for cracks (not a practical option anyway)

I'll try and borrow a borescope from a friend




Well you got me on the permit

but the meter, is part of the metric system, whereas you boys still use the slightly modified system of measurement installed by your colonial overlords
The rest of the world uses a system based on logic, easily scaled up or down in 10th's or 100th's instead of requiring fractions...
I think only Burma, Liberia still use what you use

Yeah, but I can hit a man sized target consistently at 500 yards with an M-16 with open iron sights..would that be like a bazillion meters?

[svandamme]

Well, i'm glad there's plenty of meters of Atlantic in between us, and i'm safe from yer iron consistency sight

[jmlutz]

I think we can do alright here This is 200 yards with a M4. Mike ]

[svandamme]

Well my knife was made in Canada.. I think they got Metric over there?