vol_907 said:
I'm considering buying another rifle, and I've eyed the M1A for a long time. Any thoughts on this rifle--advantages, shortcomings, etc., where to buy, what accessories, so on and so forth.
Thanks in advance, guys.
jth
Where to start....as with all my purchases, I've done an inordinate amount of research on the weapon in question.
Before I go into more detail, I'll say this: The M14 is without a doubt one of the finest, most accurate, durable, reliable, powerful, and overall best battle rifles ever devised in the world. Period.
Buy it. Just do it.
Now for more detail......
If you go to M14forum, you can learn a lot more about these rifles.
Many will try to steer you towards some sort of a custom rifle or something other than the Springfield offerings.
If you are both willing and able to spend upwards of $2,000.00 for your M1A, go ahead. I'm sure they are fine weapons and well worth it, and someday when I can I will likely buy a higher-end M1A.
However, based on all the research I've done, the Springfield M1A's are damn fine weapons and there is no glaring benefit to spending half again as much for a higher end rifle.
The Springfields will be just as reliable, durable, accurate, etc. as the higher-end rifles.
Again, not to say the higher end rifles aren't worth it, just that the Springfields aren't as bad as some people make them out to be.
Springfield offers four major flavors of M1A:
- SOCOM I and II.
These rifles both have a short, 16" barrel and the SOCOM II has an interesting, uber-tactical cluster rail system. The gas system on these shorter guns is NOT the same as on the Scout and Standard length M1A, and that would make me pass two these up as a main battle rifle. As a range toy, sure, but I don't want to bet my life on a non-standard, unproven system.
By all accounts I've read, they are accurate, reliable and tons of fun to shoot.
These are rather expensive, with the SOCOM I being around $15-1600.00 and the SOCOM II being close to $2K.
- Scout Squad.
This rifle is exactly like a standard length M1A (gas system and all other components are the same) except the barrel is slightly shorter; (18" vs. the standard 22" length.)
This is the one I chose. Frankly, the standard length M1A just looks a little "unbalanced" to me; the barrel seems too long for the rifle.
To my eye, the Scout seems perfectly proportioned.
Also, the shorter barrel makes for easier handling. The velocity loss between the 18" and 22" barrel is negligible; around 200fps or so, so it is not really a factor.
- Standard M1A.
It's an M1A.
- National Match and other accurized models.
These are Standard length M1A's, but are accurized. They are more expensive than most of the other Springfield M1A's. Whether or not to buy one of these simply depends on how much accuracy you want. AFAIK, even these accurized versions are only capable of about 1 MOA, with a regular M1A in good repair should be about a 2-3 MOA gun.
As far as accessories go, buy only real, USGI magazines and lots of ammo.