Author Topic: M14 - M1A Rifles (Read 178813 times)

ksuguy · « **Reply #25 on:** October 25, 2009, 05:09:56 pm »

They are the civilian version without full auto capability.

WeTheArmed.com

Matthew Mayner · « **Reply #26 on:** October 25, 2009, 05:12:33 pm »

Also the M1A from the private company Springfield Armory, has a cast receiver. Vs the GI M14 that has a forged receiver. Shouldn't make much difference.

Oohrah · « **Reply #27 on:** November 23, 2009, 07:33:54 pm »

Gun Doctor, this was such a good, simple, informative artical, that I keep rereading the in- formation. I'm old school with thhe Garand being my pirmary TO weapon. Break in grease was white lubriplate, with the only down side was it would dry out and lose any viscosity to spread.
Once broke in, I can't recall using it except yearly qualifications when a dap into caming recesses and bolt lug surfaces was done for insurance of operation. Now all my personal Garands, and Cememonial Garands get the same areas serviced with Militec 1 Grease. Works better than any other lith or graphite gease that has been tried. So far there have been no malfuntions of any type with these Garands, even the nasty blanks, both old and new type. Thanks once more for this information!

Bo Smith · « **Reply #28 on:** November 23, 2009, 07:39:22 pm »

Quote from: moose42 on October 25, 2009, 05:12:33 pm

Also the M1A from the private company Springfield Armory, has a cast receiver. Vs the GI M14 that has a forged receiver. Shouldn't make much difference.

The SAI rifles are indeed cast, but several other semiautomatic brands, including the chicoms and the new LRB receivers, are forged to spec.

Gundoc · « **Reply #29 on:** November 23, 2009, 08:34:12 pm »

Quote from: Oohrah on November 23, 2009, 07:33:54 pm

Gun Doctor, this was such a good, simple, informative artical, that I keep rereading the in- formation. I'm old school with thhe Garand being my pirmary TO weapon. Break in grease was white lubriplate, with the only down side was it would dry out and lose any viscosity to spread.
Once broke in, I can't recall using it except yearly qualifications when a dap into caming recesses and bolt lug surfaces was done for insurance of operation. Now all my personal Garands, and Cememonial Garands get the same areas serviced with Militec 1 Grease. Works better than any other lith or graphite gease that has been tried. So far there have been no malfuntions of any type with these Garands, even the nasty blanks, both old and new type. Thanks once more for this information!

You are quite welcome.

chiwar7178 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 22, 2010, 01:54:48 am »

Slipstream grease for my new M1A. I will report on it after I put a few hundred rounds downrange.

toad · « **Reply #31 on:** April 14, 2010, 07:38:25 pm »

When I want to torture myself I'll go to M14/M1a accessories and rifle websites like Fulton , Smith, and etc. They have kinds of goodies for those rifles.

What really gets me to drooling are the aftermarket aluminum stocks. In ye olde days if you bedded a M1 style action you had to be careful not to pull the action from the stock to often or it would get sloppy. A add on for the actions was a lug at the rear of the reciever that was welded on to give more contact area for bedding. With the Troy and Sage stocks no problem and you get all the bell and whistle mounting rails and the barrel floats.

Of course you are talking real lottery money there.

mnw42 · « **Reply #32 on:** April 14, 2010, 09:03:23 pm »

Troy stock also makes it very heavy.

Coronach · « **Reply #33 on:** July 27, 2010, 10:12:19 pm »

The JAE stock floats the barrel (IIRC), is more traditional in profile, and weighs less. Still spenderiffic, and I have no idea about the relative quality between the JAE and the other two.

Mike

Car 4 · « **Reply #34 on:** October 28, 2010, 12:21:45 am »

Very good article....I carried one of these for 4 years while wearing an ugly shade of green. I love that gun and would gladly own one. I trained at Ord and the beach ranges are burned into my memory....we ran every day (both ways) rather than take the cattle cars because our training Lt. had just gotten orders for Nam and didn't want to go with a bunch of pansies. Guess he never heard of fragging...Lol.

My DI, SFC James Browning was the best natural shot I have ever seen. I know that he could hit a pop up off hand at 600 meters with his personal gun. He was accused of having the range master hit the trigger switch to make him look good....but I was there one day when he asked me to go out and place a new target on the flipper. When I went back out to get it, there were three holes in it....he had fired four times.

I qualified expert each year for the four years I was in...and came to believe that I could kill anything if only I could get a sight picture. I think I could still fieldstrip the beast in the dark. As I said, I love that gun. Thanks for the read.

Car 4

FMJ · « **Reply #35 on:** October 28, 2010, 02:42:11 am »

Quote from: Car 4 on October 28, 2010, 12:21:45 am

Very good article....I carried one of these for 4 years while wearing an ugly shade of green. I love that gun and would gladly own one. I trained at Ord and the beach ranges are burned into my memory....we ran every day (both ways) rather than take the cattle cars because our training Lt. had just gotten orders for Nam and didn't want to go with a bunch of pansies. Guess he never heard of fragging...Lol.

My DI, SFC James Browning was the best natural shot I have ever seen. I know that he could hit a pop up off hand at 600 meters with his personal gun. He was accused of having the range master hit the trigger switch to make him look good....but I was there one day when he asked me to go out and place a new target on the flipper. When I went back out to get it, there were three holes in it....he had fired four times.

I qualified expert each year for the four years I was in...and came to believe that I could kill anything if only I could get a sight picture. I think I could still fieldstrip the beast in the dark. As I said, I love that gun. Thanks for the read.

Car 4

Thank you for your service.

You'll never guess which former US Military base is practically up the road from me and where I like to ride mountain bikes....

Car 4 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 28, 2010, 03:18:36 am »

Quote from: FMJ on October 28, 2010, 02:42:11 am

Thank you for your service.

You'll never guess which former US Military base is practically up the road from me and where I like to ride mountain bikes....

So what hapened to it? I went to DC for school and then overseas....not to return for 4 years. I heard that they closed it but always wondered what they did with it.

Car 4

FMJ · « **Reply #37 on:** October 28, 2010, 01:42:30 pm »

Quote from: Car 4 on October 28, 2010, 03:18:36 am

They decommissioned it in 1994, IIRC. Parts of it now constitute Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB). Other parts are just closed off and stuff; some people that I know like to rummage through the old baracks and depots. They say they are quite creepy. The open parts of the area are now BLM land (and there are a lot of warning signs about UXO all over the trails). I've also "discovered" where the actual rifle range is (on the other side of the highway).

You'd be surprised because I've recovered old rusty spent brass and I even have a couple 7.62NATO bullets that I dug out of the berm. It's all Lake City from the 1960s.

sarge712 · « **Reply #38 on:** October 28, 2010, 04:32:24 pm »

Thanks Gundoctor. I needed the info on spare parts, lubing, etc.

I have a Springfield M1A Scout/Squad as my MBR and a Winchester Garand that had been sent to Israel, rechambered in .308, used there for a while then sold back to an importer in the US. I bought it on a whim in Sevierville, Tennessee back in 1997 at Wynne's Sporting Goods before they went out of business. I love it so much I'm considering buying a new one in .308 from Springfield.

If the Garand were my only weapon, I'd still be very well armed indeed. In addition to it's rugged reliability, I think it (and by extension, my M1A Scout/Squad) has the best adjustable iron sights of any rifle.

Thanks again.

Car 4 · « **Reply #39 on:** October 30, 2010, 12:04:47 am »

Quote from: FMJ on October 28, 2010, 01:42:30 pm

They decommissioned it in 1994, IIRC. Parts of it now constitute Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB). Other parts are just closed off and stuff; some people that I know like to rummage through the old baracks and depots. They say they are quite creepy. The open parts of the area are now BLM land (and there are a lot of warning signs about UXO all over the trails). I've also "discovered" where the actual rifle range is (on the other side of the highway).

You'd be surprised because I've recovered old rusty spent brass and I even have a couple 7.62NATO bullets that I dug out of the berm. It's all Lake City from the 1960s.

Thanks FMJ....lots of memories tied up with that place. I was in one of the big concrete two story barracks (new at that time).

Car 4

Chief45 · « **Reply #40 on:** October 30, 2010, 12:16:40 am »

We have 2 of the M-14's that we got from DRMO. One with a decent wood stock and one with a newer composite stock. The wood stock, covered with cosmoline and stuck in a vacuum bag since it was de-milled in 1984, so probably 25 years anyway, basically had to strip it but it refinished nicely.

For 50's era MBR's, the barrels are in very good shape, no visible wear and they shot very good.
DRMO basically sold them to the department for $75.00 each plus shipping.

MacLean · « **Reply #41 on:** November 03, 2010, 11:16:39 pm »

Anyone know anything about the Fulton Armory M1As?

Chief45 · « **Reply #42 on:** November 19, 2010, 02:55:09 pm »

This was de-milled in about 1984, coated with cosmoline and stuck in a vacuum bag for several years. The wood stock was bad. Over the course of about a week, it was stripped, sanded and refinished. I was rather pleased with the way it turned out.

GeorgeHill · « **Reply #43 on:** November 19, 2010, 03:13:09 pm »

That wood has character... a soul... I love it.

mnw42 · « **Reply #44 on:** December 01, 2010, 08:00:00 pm »

That is some pretty wood!

Gundoc · « **Reply #45 on:** January 07, 2011, 12:09:56 am »

Quote from: mnw42 on December 01, 2010, 08:00:00 pm

That is some pretty wood!

There's a joke in that comment that I'm just going to leave alone....

American Rifleman · « **Reply #46 on:** January 23, 2011, 03:45:11 am »

Quote from: Gundoctor on January 07, 2011, 12:09:56 am

There's a joke in that comment that I'm just going to leave alone....

That's what sh......no.......
sorry, after seeing that i couldn't resist.

mnw42 · « **Reply #47 on:** February 26, 2011, 04:30:02 pm »

Sometimes the simplest jokes are the best.

mattitude · « **Reply #48 on:** August 30, 2011, 12:51:35 am »

Joe, nice read! I am a bit surprised that you didn't mention about greasing the bolt roller bearing. There is a small special tool that helps to force the grease into the bearing as opposed to just applying it to the exterior. It is very important that the bearing is PROPERLY lubed otherwise it will actually hurt the performance more than helping it. An improperly or ungreased bearing can and will rust internally and can seize up. I love me a good M1A but caution must be observed when shooting match ammo or reloaded ammo with benchrest primers as the (heavy) floating firing pin is notorious for causing slam-fires.

GeorgeHill · « **Reply #49 on:** August 30, 2011, 12:12:34 pm »

You mean to use Slipstream Grease in that roller bearing. Now THAT is properly lubed.

I have it on good authority that Slipstream is an amazing grease for wheel bearings too.