M1A Advice Needed

[funfaler]

Standard, you won't notice that difference and there have been some reliability issues with the match chamber in the Loaded versions.

They all come with NM front sights now, not that this is critical. The rear sights on the Loaded v. the Standard is just 1/2 MOA adjustments for windage only, elevation adjustments are identical. That is not worth your $$, IMHO.

The "triggers", well, they are all nice. I suggest that you take the $$ you will save, by going Standard vs. Loaded and buy a USGI trigger group, you will then have both quality and a spare.

Mags. CMI from 44mag.com, best quality for the best price. The T-57 mags, I have not had a minutes problem with them, Dan's has them, 5 for $75, free shipping, well worth it, brand new condition.

I would suggest several of each, save the CMIs for rainy days, after you have tried them all.

Get to an Appleseed Shoot. http://www.rwva.org There you will learn the skills needed to be accurate out to 500+ yards, for less than the cost of 5 T-57 mags

 

[buck00]

Just to keep this in perspective. I have a standard SA M1A and I really like it.

I am not an Olympic shooter or range nerd- I shoot casually but it is my most accurate rifle by far.

Not to trash the loaded or match grade, but I had a buddy who got one and it was so finicky it gave him endless issues. The standard are a little more reliable and down to earth. JMO

 

[H2O MAN]

MechAg94

IMO, the cheap aftermarket and foreign M14 mags are substandard and not of the same quality as USGI.

Poly and Norinco M14 mags are excellent.

Triggers: After you have gotten the feel for the regular trigger buy yourself a "Crazy Horse" trigger from SEI - they are awesome

 

[MassMark]

Another vote for www.44mag.com

 

[rjohnson4405]

My buddy and I load on a Hornady Single stage for .308. A progressive might be a bit much for 308 (we have the Hornady LNL Progressive for smaller calibers, especially handgun.) With two of us working we can do 100/hour easy but we have a tumbler and everything so that makes it easier.

Hit the reloading forum up separately with reloading questions, those guys have forgotten more about reloading than many will ever know.

 

[dmftoy1]

Damn M1A threads . .hate'em








Ordered a Loaded w/carbon barrel and Walnut stock today over lunch. Sometimes I really hate you guys.

 

[Fu-man Shoe]

The M1A rocks. It's easily my favorite rifle. It feels SOLID, like a
good rifle should. Shoots like a laser beam. When I really want to
hit something on the first shot, I grab the M1A.

I love that rifle. Pity it's so expensive to shoot nowadays.

This is just a little range story, but my younger brother and I were
out at a friends place in the country, and we set up one of those
little 4 inch battery powered TV's on an old log about 100 yards
away. We were trying to hit it with a couple of AK's, and were
having no luck. Rounds everywhere, and some real close hits, but no dice.

I became disgusted with that, and loaded up the M1A, figuring I'd
show that little TV what was what.

I took careful aim, eased up to the second stage of the trigger, and with textbook form, exhaled slightly as I gently squeezed the trigger. The rifle went off with a satisfying boom, and as I looked downrange, I saw the little TV do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I couldn't believe it! I KNEW I hit that darn thing. What in the heck was going on? I had to see what the heck just happened to my shot. We put down our rifles, and walked over to our target.

As I got closer, I could see that there was a single hole almost dead center in the screen, and that the entire back side of the little TV was completely blown out. I mean like EXPLODED out the back, in a completely awesome spray of broken little peices of electronics.

Why it didn't move, or topple over, I don't know. The M1A did the trick though, that's for sure.

Did I mention that I really, really like that rifle? I think you'll be happy with yours as well.

 

[longdayjake]

reloading the m1a

Here is a good point.

As for reloading, I have personally opted against it because IMI and LC brass has become nearly impossible to find. The M1A has a pretty violent action that is reportedly pretty rough on brass. I did some reading and even milsurp brass is recommended not to be loaded more than three or four times.

For the standard I would not reload brass more than 4 times because of the loose tolerances that it has to feed reliably every time. It causes a lot of expansion and a lot of resizing. The loaded however has the NM barrel which has much tighter chamber tolerances --kind of like a bolt action. I would not worry as much about brass life as long as it was shot from the NM barrel.

For me I had some reliability issues with my handloads. Mind you it was not because the rifle was not working properly, but because I was just learning the art of handloading. First issue came when I tried to shoot a casing three times before trimming the necks. I have gotten many .223 loads without trimming the necks, but for my m1a I only got 2 loads before the necks were too long. (also I was using venezuelan brass which is supposed to be soft and "not reloadable"). I have yet to shoot LC brass, but I have shot winchester, remington, and IMI brass out of it with much less neck expansion. The second issue came when I handloaded roundnose soft points into it. Some of the lead got in the chamber and stopped the bolt from closing all the way. Though it would not fire in that situation, it may still be a slightly dangerous thing to do. I have since decided that pointed bullets work best in semi autos.

Now, with military surplus ammo the rifle fired every single time and cycled perfectly every single time. Granted I have only fired the rifle about 200 times with military surplus and about 50 times with handloads, it is a great rifle and is super accurate even with crappy made handloads.

With the rock chucker press I usually decap and size all my brass at once (about 20 minutes per 100 rounds) Then if I need to I swag the crimps out of the primer pocket. (about 10-15 minutes per 100 rounds.) Then I put new primers in (about 10-15 minutes per 100 rounds.) Then I put powder in them (about 15 minutes per 100 rounds.) Then I set the bullets (about 20 minutes per 100 rounds.) so for about 100 rounds it takes me about an hour and a half. Because I do hundreds in one sitting I usually take one day to decap and one day to prime and one day to load and set. I have done 500 rounds in 3 days that way with just about an hours work each day. Not too bad I thought.

Oh one other thing that I might mention. If you get the muzzle brake, wear hearing protection even when hunting. It is LOUD!

 

[longdayjake]

Rockchucker

Here is a link to one at midway. It has lots of goodies and gets you started for pretty cheap.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=646599

I wish that I would have been smart enough to buy it. I ended up buying most of these things seperately because I thought, "I wont need that I am just going to be doing simple reloads." Trust me you will need them all eventually. I spent more than 100 bucks more to buy the same things in the kit.