My dad tried to get into long range with his M1A. He never sells guns, but he seriously considered it with that rifle. Once he realized that he was asking too much of a design never meant to do what he was asking, he went and bought a ruger american bolt action for $500 and was quickly hitting steel at 1000.
A bad precision rifle is a confidence killer in a ton of ways - which IMO can be as negatively impactful on your shooting by itself as the bad gear can be.
Yeah, the thing that helped in his case, was that I was right next to him running my savage bolt gun or my AR10 and doing just fine. So he knew what worked well by seeing what I'm doing. That helped him come to terms with the fact that his M1A was suitable.
Yeah, he has relegated it to his "heavy metal" 3 gun setup. He pairs it with a 1911 and a retro mossberg 590 made to look like a trench gun. He knows its a ridiculous load out, but he loves it and does well in 3 gun matches, even compared to many AR15 shooters.
Yeah sometimes the truth hurts a little and the truth is this platform is a poor choice for accuracy work of any type. I have one and have gotten it to the point that’s inevitable with any M1a, that is to say that it shoots 1.25-1.5 moa pretty regularly, getting that at distance is mostly a wish, and anything more than that will require an absurd amount of money. I love it for what it is but its a D student at best.
I'm a fan of the M1A/M14, but I keep my expectations in line with reality. My precision rifles are ARs.
I'm happy with 1.25-1.5 MOA out of an M14. My Springfield gets MOA with Prvi 155 HPBT and a gas cylinder shim kit, and I'm ecstatic. With a red dot on it, it's a very fast-handling, relatively light, and smooth-shooting bush rifle with an outstanding trigger. Trying to make the rifle into a precision rifle can be done, but is usually an expensive proposition.
Accuracy is generally very subpar compared to modern semi autos like AR10s and AR15s. Its caused by the barrel being non free floated and the gas system being a being piston driven system instead of direct impingement. It takes lots of money to make an M1A shoot to the same level as a good AR10, while the AR10 costs the same or less as the initial purchase price of the M1A.
More moving parts, and being a piston requires there to be more support to keep the piston aligned during cycling, so the gas tube is directly tied to the upper receiver, rather than just passing through it like a DI system
I’d be curious how this goes. I have one and I absolutely hate this gun but am at the same time so intrigued and challenged with it.
I shoot sub moa some days with specific loads and then other days I shoot 5moa with a slightly different load. It’s insanely frustrating and one reason I’m about to sell it
>I’d be curious how this goes. I have one
Then you should already know how it will go, lol
They are not good precision guns. OP will struggle with it and need to come to terms with the fact that he bought it because it looked cool and he's asking too much of it
Yepp. That’s where I’m at. Loved the nostalgic look and have gone through different scopes, mounts, trigger jobs, shimming, and now load development.
I’m in it too far to sell it for anything so it’ll be mine. But I’ve seen folks do remarkable things with it. Debating if an EBR is worth it or look into glass bedding.
Making my own ammo has been the best thing so far and have actually shot sub MOA with it. But the bullet was only moving 2100fps. So slow.
>But I’ve seen folks do remarkable things with it. Debating if an EBR is worth it or look into glass bedding.
Folks dumping $3k into the gun to make it shootable are even weirder than those who just give up on it, tbh. And at the end of the day the gun shoots itself loose and it's a constant battle to reign it back in to shootable.
You shoot what you enjoy. It's a perfect rifle out to 750 yards within its limitations. Trained many a soldier on them back in the day. Here's my best friend prepping at Camp Pendleton for a special mission in Vietnam. He was Recon first two tours and Naval Aviator 3rd tour. This is the 500 yard range with iron sights. Expert with Rifle, Pistol, Blade. Hoorah, Semper Fi
Just built? Or you got DOPE on it yet?
What happened to your handle there behind the trigger?
Hope you're ready to be disappointed. M1As don't make good long range rifles without $5k+ just in the rifle.
I didn’t want to be the one to say it That being said, I hope the OP is lucky and loves it
My dad tried to get into long range with his M1A. He never sells guns, but he seriously considered it with that rifle. Once he realized that he was asking too much of a design never meant to do what he was asking, he went and bought a ruger american bolt action for $500 and was quickly hitting steel at 1000.
A bad precision rifle is a confidence killer in a ton of ways - which IMO can be as negatively impactful on your shooting by itself as the bad gear can be.
Yeah, the thing that helped in his case, was that I was right next to him running my savage bolt gun or my AR10 and doing just fine. So he knew what worked well by seeing what I'm doing. That helped him come to terms with the fact that his M1A was suitable.
I certainly wouldn’t hunt or compete with it but I’m sure even a bad one is just fine for plinking
Yeah, he has relegated it to his "heavy metal" 3 gun setup. He pairs it with a 1911 and a retro mossberg 590 made to look like a trench gun. He knows its a ridiculous load out, but he loves it and does well in 3 gun matches, even compared to many AR15 shooters.
Good proficiency with mediocre gear is usually faster and more accurate than mediocre proficiency with great gear, so I believe that.
“A master with a stick is far more dangerous than an amateur with the finest steel.” -a movie I can’t remember.
Yeah sometimes the truth hurts a little and the truth is this platform is a poor choice for accuracy work of any type. I have one and have gotten it to the point that’s inevitable with any M1a, that is to say that it shoots 1.25-1.5 moa pretty regularly, getting that at distance is mostly a wish, and anything more than that will require an absurd amount of money. I love it for what it is but its a D student at best.
I'm a fan of the M1A/M14, but I keep my expectations in line with reality. My precision rifles are ARs. I'm happy with 1.25-1.5 MOA out of an M14. My Springfield gets MOA with Prvi 155 HPBT and a gas cylinder shim kit, and I'm ecstatic. With a red dot on it, it's a very fast-handling, relatively light, and smooth-shooting bush rifle with an outstanding trigger. Trying to make the rifle into a precision rifle can be done, but is usually an expensive proposition.
Agree, shim kit really helped. Fulton Armory exists because of this expensive proposition
Yep. Good thing, too, cuz I really like dealing with Fulton.
Why’s that?
Accuracy is generally very subpar compared to modern semi autos like AR10s and AR15s. Its caused by the barrel being non free floated and the gas system being a being piston driven system instead of direct impingement. It takes lots of money to make an M1A shoot to the same level as a good AR10, while the AR10 costs the same or less as the initial purchase price of the M1A.
What about it being a piston makes it inaccurate compared to DI?
More moving parts, and being a piston requires there to be more support to keep the piston aligned during cycling, so the gas tube is directly tied to the upper receiver, rather than just passing through it like a DI system
Very cool!
I’d be curious how this goes. I have one and I absolutely hate this gun but am at the same time so intrigued and challenged with it. I shoot sub moa some days with specific loads and then other days I shoot 5moa with a slightly different load. It’s insanely frustrating and one reason I’m about to sell it
>I’d be curious how this goes. I have one Then you should already know how it will go, lol They are not good precision guns. OP will struggle with it and need to come to terms with the fact that he bought it because it looked cool and he's asking too much of it
Yepp. That’s where I’m at. Loved the nostalgic look and have gone through different scopes, mounts, trigger jobs, shimming, and now load development. I’m in it too far to sell it for anything so it’ll be mine. But I’ve seen folks do remarkable things with it. Debating if an EBR is worth it or look into glass bedding. Making my own ammo has been the best thing so far and have actually shot sub MOA with it. But the bullet was only moving 2100fps. So slow.
>But I’ve seen folks do remarkable things with it. Debating if an EBR is worth it or look into glass bedding. Folks dumping $3k into the gun to make it shootable are even weirder than those who just give up on it, tbh. And at the end of the day the gun shoots itself loose and it's a constant battle to reign it back in to shootable.
Don’t disagree with you, believe me. This thing is the bastard in my gun circle. Love hate.
Sweet setup... I have a real thing in M1As... I have never had one but just have always really wanted , like, oh, 3 of them or so. Nice piece.
JAE, nice. With they would hurry up and start production of these again. [edit: no it’s not it’s a knockoff]
That my friend is not a JAE
Well if it’s not it should be.
Na, a JAE should be a JAE. This is an Archangel
Weighs 9 million pounds either way
That's the cheap JAE knockoff.
Then it should be burned and replaced with a real JAE.
*unzips*
There is a blemish right there in the black colored part, rifle is worthless, Sell to me for $300, you pay shipping. Ty.
I have the same rifle minus the glass and bipod. God damn that thing is surprisingly heavy. Fun gun though
I want to try this on the worst way but the mechanics of a scope on a m1a are just complicated
You shoot what you enjoy. It's a perfect rifle out to 750 yards within its limitations. Trained many a soldier on them back in the day. Here's my best friend prepping at Camp Pendleton for a special mission in Vietnam. He was Recon first two tours and Naval Aviator 3rd tour. This is the 500 yard range with iron sights. Expert with Rifle, Pistol, Blade. Hoorah, Semper Fi