The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Art of the Rifle: General

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old December 1, 2012, 09:48 AM   #1
BillyBeards
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 22, 2011
Location: Rockland County NY
Posts: 128
My New M1A

I pickup up a new M1A Loaded earlier this week and took it to the range yesterday.
Wow! This rifle is awesome but you guys probably already know that.
I did my best to zero it in at 100 yards with my bad eyes and it didn't need much tweaking at all.
I'm planning on most likely ordering a Bassett scope mount so I can still use the irons and the search has all ready started for an "affordable" scope.
As far as I know in my area I don't have any place to shoot out to 1000 yards so I'm not really concerned with that at the moment, probably 300 at the most.
I'm really a pistol guy so I'm doing a lot of reading right now as I don't know much about optics.
I'll be taking it into the woods with me tomorrow for a little whitetail hunting but in my area it's all close range.
It's all fun either way.

Thanks for all the great info I've pickup up all ready.
BillyBeards is offline  
Old December 1, 2012, 04:05 PM   #2
RobertInIowa
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 4, 2012
Location: Iowa
Posts: 149
Congrats on the new M1A. I'm jealous. Now if you ever feel that it's taking up too much room in your house, and you need a place to "store" it, just let me know. I'm sure I could make room.....
__________________
Guns don't kill people, fathers with pretty daughters do.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three comes pretty close.
Proud NRA member
RobertInIowa is offline  
Old December 1, 2012, 10:46 PM   #3
BillyBeards
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 22, 2011
Location: Rockland County NY
Posts: 128
Thanks Robert. I think I might have some others on line to fight you for the "storage" rights.
BillyBeards is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 07:58 AM   #4
madcratebuilder
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 2, 2007
Location: Northern Orygun
Posts: 4,923
Do some more shooting before you scope it. The M1A has the best irons made. You can get different size apertures and different size/style front blades. The "loaded" model should have SAI's version of NM sights, they can be improved upon. I find I shoot my iron sight M1A about four to one over the scoped one. Tune the blade and aperture to your eye sight and blast away.

Check out the Sadlak mounts before you buy anything.
madcratebuilder is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 08:37 AM   #5
nicknitro71
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 5, 2008
Location: DeLand, FL
Posts: 110
Scoping an M1A is an expensive endeavor. You must stay away from aluminum mounts as they heat up and expand at a different rate than steel does.

Currently Sadlack makes the best mounts, a copy of the original Brookfield, again stay away from the Al one. The steel version is 260 bucks.
__________________
http://nitrorigging.com
nicknitro71 is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 09:12 AM   #6
ripnbst
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 24, 2010
Location: Spring, TX
Posts: 1,552
If you are set on getting a magnified optic and are looking for "affordable" I have been extremely happy with Nikon's offerings. I think they make a 2-7 that would be a great scope up to 300 yards.

Up that being said, I too recommend that you shoot it with irons a while first.
ripnbst is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 11:50 AM   #7
spitpatch
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 31, 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 171
Clicks

I have a loaded M1A for about 12 yrs, bought extra stuff along with the scope mount, which I will never use. MY eyes are 74 yrs old and this rifle is to much fun to muck it up with a scope or a bipod. Get a good leather comp sling and learn how to use it. If you are going to reload what you will need is the small base dies.
I am not recomending this load but what I use for fun shooting is 150 gr FMJBT that I bought in bulk don't know the maker, 43gr IMR 4895, LC brass, WLR primer. With this at 200 mtrs +9, 300 mtrs +16, 385 mtrs +20, 500 mtrs +24, and at 650 yds + 32. This won't be exact for you as conditions vary and how you sight the target but should get you on the berm. Again this is not a compition load.
spitpatch is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 12:12 PM   #8
Ridge_Runner_5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 8, 2008
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 1,925
Quote:
Scoping an M1A is an expensive endeavor. You must stay away from aluminum mounts as they heat up and expand at a different rate than steel does.

Currently Sadlack makes the best mounts, a copy of the original Brookfield, again stay away from the Al one. The steel version is 260 bucks.
I've had no problems with my aluminum Sadlak mount.

Ridge_Runner_5 is offline  
Old December 2, 2012, 11:05 PM   #9
misterE
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 3, 2009
Location: Benton, Arkansas
Posts: 196
No problems at all for me with the aluminum sadlak either. Would highly recommend it. I don't foresee getting into a sustained firefight where that mount could heat up enough to shift poi. If it did, I could always fall back on the irons which are awesome as has already been said.
misterE is offline  
Old December 3, 2012, 08:51 AM   #10
madcratebuilder
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 2, 2007
Location: Northern Orygun
Posts: 4,923
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicknitro71
Scoping an M1A is an expensive endeavor. You must stay away from aluminum mounts as they heat up and expand at a different rate than steel does.

Currently Sadlack makes the best mounts, a copy of the original Brookfield, again stay away from the Al one. The steel version is 260 bucks.


I do agree that Sadlak makes great mounts but as far as problems with using a aluminum mount, I have to raise the bs flag. I have over 1K rounds on my aluminum Sadlak and there are zero issues with expansion rates as the rifle heats up. The receivers just do not get that warm to be a problem.

I suppose if you had a NFA M14 and fired mag after mag full auto the receiver would reach temps high enough to be a problem, but you would not be able to see through the scope for all the heat coming off the barrel.

Last edited by madcratebuilder; December 5, 2012 at 07:30 AM.
madcratebuilder is offline  
Old December 3, 2012, 01:43 PM   #11
BillyBeards
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 22, 2011
Location: Rockland County NY
Posts: 128
Thanks for all the input guys.
The iron sights are great and I'm fine with them for the short range hunting I'm doing in my area but I know want to start doing some long range shooting so why not scope it right.
I think I might take a chance on the Sadlack Aluminum mount even though some say it's not so great. From what I can see if I do have any issues they sound like a good company and they should make good on it. If they are willing to make the mounts specific to each rifle they sound pretty good to me.
I guess I need to look at cheek pads too.
I do want to try and keep this rifle as light as possible. It's not crazy heavy but after hiking through the woods yesterday I can see what people are talking about.
I do have to start researching load data because locally at a minimum of $1 a round is getting expensive.
BillyBeards is offline  
Old December 4, 2012, 06:30 AM   #12
geetarman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 18, 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 3,157
I have a loaded M1A with the VLTOR rail system on it. I put a Nikon Monarch in Warne rings on it and shot it a while.

I have since taken the scope off and only shoot with the irons. Those sights are amazing.

I shoot the 300 popper with mine and if you are careful with your follow through, you can see the bullet "trace" just before you see the popper move.

I have since put that scope on a CZ 452 rifle. That rifle is pretty amazing too.
__________________
Geetarman

Carpe Cerveza
geetarman is offline  
Old December 4, 2012, 07:40 AM   #13
madcratebuilder
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 2, 2007
Location: Northern Orygun
Posts: 4,923
Quote:
I guess I need to look at cheek pads too.
I have seen several different ways of doing this. The strap on raisers are just OK, they tend to move around, there strong point is you do not damage the wood.

I have seen guys use the cheek raiser for the Enfield No4(T), about $40 from e-guns.

The kydex raisers work great but you need to drill two holes through the stock.
madcratebuilder is offline  
Old December 4, 2012, 07:41 AM   #14
nicknitro71
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 5, 2008
Location: DeLand, FL
Posts: 110
Quote:
I suppose if you had a NFA M14 and fired mag after mag full auto the receiver would reach temps high enough to be a problem, but you would not be able to see through the scope for all the heat coming of the barrel.
You are probably right as my experience is with the M14s and M25s while in the service. The Al mounts were a big no-no as told by our gunsmiths. We used Brookfield steel mounts w/out any issues.

Said that, the iron sights are great!
__________________
http://nitrorigging.com
nicknitro71 is offline  
Old December 4, 2012, 05:16 PM   #15
BillyBeards
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 22, 2011
Location: Rockland County NY
Posts: 128
Please keep in mind that I live in NY. No full auto or even any type of rapid fire at ranges near me. The one close long range to me only lets you load one round at a time anyway.

I'm not really worried about distortion from heat.
BillyBeards is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:44 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07950 seconds with 10 queries