Talk me out of buying an M1A.

[Zundfolge]

Is there a cheaper alternative to the M1A

Not for you Californians.

Vepr .308 (or other .308 AK)? Nope, not allowed.
AR-10? Nope, not allowed.
FAL? Nope, not allowed.
HK G3/PTR 91? Nope, not allowed.


Unless you want to stick with a semi auto hunting gun like the Browning BAR, the only semi auto .308 they let you have there in Cali is the M1A


$1200 is about what they cost out here in "Free America" too.

 

[possum]

Talk me out of buying an M1A.

No i will not!

but if the m1a is a little too much in the cost depatment then i might suggest that you look at the fal's or a cmp garand. sweet gun either way you go. and the garand can be had for way less than that, i see them at the gun shows all the time.

 

[Lebben-B]

No i will not!

Me neither. I got a Scout model for Christmas and it's nothing but sunshine and light. Get it - you won't regret it.

Mike

 

[sacp81170a]

SAI also makes PRK legal "recoil compensators" so you can legally own it. I've got an SAI M1A loaded, and I've had nothing but fun shooting it. I'm saving up now to buy a Scout, which would be much easier to carry on a hunting trip. A full sized M1A is a very long gun, but that's part of what makes them so accurate (large sight radius). Go on, buy it. You'll love it!

 

[10X]

When you find a good one, the M1A is just wonderful to shoot.

That said, Springfield's quality is inconsistent. I've had more bad ones than good ones. Minor issues that I could fix, I won't mention. The big problems were with bad chambers, incorrect barrel indexing, incorrect barrel alignment all with new NM or Super Match rifles over several years.

I, for one, won't buy anymore Springfield M1As because of upredictable quality.

 

[Davo]

I want one, but realize they dont excell really at anything (but can do most things ok).
They are HEAVY
Ammo is steep, and getting worse
They are not competitve target guns
There are better choices for hunting
There are few guns out that are as cool though, i shot a loaded M1A and it was a blast.

 

[CanonNinja]

a DPMS LR-308 is way cheaper and more accurate?

 

[Slamfire]

Shot the M1a for years, got my last leg and a Regional Gold to win my Distinguished Rifleman's badge with it. Great rifle.

The Army product improved the Garand as far as they could go, on limited funding, and they created the M14. There are very few weaknesses in the M14. It is a very robust rifle. Yes the flash suppressor would catch in the shrouds, and the buttstock would break with a vigorous buttstroke. But it was still stronger than the Mouse gun. I personally like the M1a over the M14 as you never shot the M14 full auto and getting rid of the full action bar made the rifle easier to take apart and clean. The overall design is one of the most reliable 308 battle rifles out there, everyone who humped one in Vietnam wanted their rifle back after they were issued the M16.

A military issue M14 now weighs less than the standard issue M16A3 and fires an effective combat round. The 308 round had a short service life but it is an accurate, medium powered, service round. I consider the .223 as a good varmint round, the 308 as a good antipersonnel round, and the 50 caliber as a good antijeep round.

You will find that a well built M1a is a treasure and one of the best high powered battle rifles out there. I consider the FN/FAL as another outstanding battle rifle but it is harder to find one that is put together correctly.

If you think a M1a is going to get cheaper over time, well, ha, ha, ha. It won't.

 

[TheArchDuke]

You guys are doing the exact opposite of what I asked. hahaha

I'm not sure yet how soon I'm going to buy one but I've decided that I definitely will. I'm going to save up for a little bit to make sure I have money for other things that I need. I'm on a budget but an M1A might be do-able.

When I do finally go out and get one, what things should I look for that would indicate a less than excellent specimen? I'm just looking for the absolute basic gun. No camo stocks, rails, or fore grips. Optics will come later.

 

[mindwip]

If its to heavy dont they have light weight stocks for the m14?

 

[Quintin Likely]

Oh, you said talk you out of buying an M1A, I thought you meant in to. My bad.

On a serious note, there aren't many (any?) other options for you in California for a semi auto .308

 

[Boston T. Party]

Quote:
I was interested in getting an M1A until I heard a rumor that some of the cast receivers have been known to stretch with continued firing, possibly causing problems.

A silly, baseless rumor.
I'd hardly call it "silly," considering that any rifle by any manufacturer can have quality control problems, and it's entirely plausible that a cast receiver (especially if improperly heat treated) could get battered out of spec with repeated firing. Kind of like some aluminum FAL upper receivers that have failed catastrophically (as shown on the DSA web site).

Having said that, you might be right that it's baseless. Apparently it was Boston T. Party (author of Boston's Gun Bible) who said he had the problem. While I doubt he's lying, he may have simply gotten a rare lemon that wasn't heat treated right.

I never wrote that the cast receiver M1A/M14 was prone to
stretching, but that the commercial SA M1 Garand is.

My cast M1 Garand stretched.
Ron Smith looked it over and gave me the scoop.
The M1 gas system is more violent than the M14's, and
cast receivers apparently just aren't up to it.

Boston T. Party (aka Kenneth W. Royce)
http://www.javelinpress.com (Boston's books)
http://www.freestatewyoming.org (FSW website)
http://www.fundamentalsoffreedom.com/fswforum/index.php (FSW forum open to all)

 

[TexasRifleman]

When I do finally go out and get one, what things should I look for that would indicate a less than excellent specimen? I'm just looking for the absolute basic gun. No camo stocks, rails, or fore grips. Optics will come later.

Well you need to be aware up front that that path is the most expensive.

The M1A/M14 is not the easiest thing to scope.

If you buy a wood stocked M1A standard and want optics later it is going to be very expensive, or you will have to make a lot of compromises on mounting options.

Best to keep saving and get a model ready for optics up front or you will spend a lot more.

That said, the iron sights of the M14 are awfully hard to beat and I won't ever put optics on mine.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Talk you out of one? Yeah I have the reason. Look at those targets. That dastardly rifle cannot put all 50 bullets into one hole at 100 yards. I mean come one, what a piece of gunk. We all know that off the shelf autoloaders like that Supermatch should be able to shoot in the tenths for a 50 shot group at 100 yards. Just terrible accuracy...

 

[amprecon]

As much as I wanted one, I put it off for probably 15 years agonizing over them every time I saw one........that feeling never went away until just recently.


I don't have those feelings anymore

 

[wcwhitey]

The price kept me away for years, 600, 700, 800, 850 SOLD! Your gonna buy one anyway, might as well do before the price goes up. $850 was a steal considering the price now. Look at it like this, the gun has appreciated roughly ten to twenty cents for every round I have shot through it ,good deal!

 

[glockman19]

Nope, you're gonna have to get it. There is no earthly reason why any man who can spell "M-1-A" shouldn't own one.

Glad to hear you're finally going to get one. One of the best rifles I own. Maybe the best. I can't wait to get another, problem for me is what one? most likely another loaded except this time it will be wood with a satinless barrel, instead of Fiberglass with a carbon barrel.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Nah. I agonized over an M1A way back when SA was selling them for less than 600 bucks, and I was looking for a heavy 7.62 NATO rifle that I could sit with for hours punching paper wearing a silly grin. It was either an M1A or a FAL. I opted for the FAL, due to nothing in particular, really. I just liked the heavy barrel SAR-48 better. I paid $645 back then and I've never been sorry, but since the M1A came in second place, I could certainly recommend them to anybody that would like one. As far as the money now goes, well, I paid $1295 last year for my Colt AR15. Didn't really want to pay that much, but I wanted a Colt rather than the less expensive makes, that's all. I considered Bushmaster for a second or so, (about 300-400 bucks less) also Armalite. But I got the Colt, even though I never thought I'd pay that for any gun.

Get the M1A. Then sit there at your favorite outdoor spot, with that silly grin on your face, along with the rest of us.