Could you get the sadlak parts and put them on a standard M1a?
Yes the piston, spring guide and scope mount will fit on any SAI. Sadlak is a great, small company based in Connecticut with great customer service. if you call their shop late, you will catch the owner Mike... always working late.
Love the M1A. I like your stock, but question the utility of the extra cash vs. better glass... what's your take? I get about the same groupings with iron sights on my M1a.
I bet you do get the same groupings, I've had similar groupings before the stock was added. Read to next comment for more info on this. About better glass, I am planning on doing this last. This rifle came with the new plastic stock (not the fiberglass, actual plastic) and the JAE stock was similarly priced to other quality stocks, starting at just under $700. The benefits to me personally to having this stock was no need for bedding, adjustable cheek rest for scope, aesthetics and barrel tensioner. With these groups I haven't even started tuning the barrel tuner, which is a device that applies downward pressure on the front band to tune the harmonics and consistency of your shots/groups. With all the bells and whistles this stock was expensive at ~$1,400 all said and done, but can be done for $700.
I'm confused by the dates on your targets. Can you elaborate on how your M1A was set up for each set of groups. Were the 06/28/09 groups shot before or after the addition of the JAE stock? It'd be interesting to see the groups in the bone stock form and after the upgrades.
This may be a harmonic issue ... are you sure it's you or is it the rifle? Do you reload? The groups shown all seem to be factory loads but some very good groups though.
My rifle just being scoped and in the plastic stock(
seen here) still grouped excellent (the .71" group that is not on the bullseye was shot with stock scout and a scope) The first (orange) and third target was shot after the stock was added. What I CAN tell you is that my groups are consistently tighter with the new stock, and yes the rifle did put out good groups before the JAE, just not consistently. With the fliers it could be a harmonics issue, one feature I haven't played with yet on the JAE stock is the barrel tensioner (mentioned above) to put a little downward pressure on the barrel. From my understanding and research VERY little pressure can have great results. Also want to note I am not a pro shooter or have any formal training, I've read a lot on the subject and techniques and admit I have a lot to improve as a shooter. This may also contribute to fliers.
Also, can you give us any feedback on the sadlak mount?
The Sadlak mount is great, its a three point steel mount. Shooting 308 you need to have 3 points of contact with the receiver and it needs to be steel (not aluminum!) if you want to leave it on and never have to worry about it moving or deforming. The mount also features a cutout so you can use iron sights. I have quick detach rings so I can remove the scope and it looks like this
did you break in this rifle?
No break in
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Few things I didn't mention yet is I've also shimmed the gas cylinder to tighten up the gas lock. I flipped my gas lock around and with the shims it hand tightens to 5:30 o'clock and I use a gas wrench (from sadlak
) to tighten it to 6 o'clock. This tightened up the entire gas cylinder.
Also I have a new barrel for this rifle coming, a 22" Krieger 1:10 chrome molly which from the quality of the barrel I hope will improve groups, from the length of the barrel give me a little more velocity for distance and a faster twist to keep those 168's and 175's stabilized. I'll be happy to give another report in a month or two in this thread with my progress.
Edited to add: I have no affiliaton with Sadlak, im just a customer... who pretty much bought almost all of their products and they are nice folks, fair and USA!
