Accuracy of the M1A

[Paul K]

Im thinking about asking for an M1A for xmas.
I want an accurate rifle (more spcificley im looking at the New loaded verserson) and i was wondering what type of moa it gets. I hear 1moa. does it get better than that? also should i get a carbon bbl or stainless steel? i have had no experence with carbon. with carbon, do you still have to break in?

[falconer]

Guns for Christmas? Why didn't I think of that?

[Paul K]

I dont know.

[Keith J]

With match ammo and scope, it can get 2 MOA out of the box. There are a few bedding tricks to get it down in the 1 MOA range but that's the limit on the factory barrel. A new barrel ina inletting job and sub MOA is possible. Accuracy jobs on M1A's are not cheap and they generally don't last forever on wood stocks.

The M1A is old school in HP service rifle matches and anyone using one is already several points behind before any shot is fired. The AR 15 will always outshoot the M1A as long as the correct ammo is used for the range.

[LBC]

I recently bought a standard grade M1A. I haven't shot it for "groups" yet, but it seems very accurate out of the box. My guess is if you want a very accurate M1A rifle, get the Super Match or the Fulton Armory Peerless Grade or something like that, but that's $2,000 or so. Are you dedicated to the M1A platform? Will you be shooting three position, or bench, or from a bipod? Most rifles -- mine included -- are more accurate than I can hold it on a 100 yard target. Perhpas you want a scoped bolt action that you can handload for? My purpose in getting the M1A was severalfold, including being able to hit a man-sized target at 100-200 yards with iron sights. Not a great trick with this great rifle. And Keith J is right about bedding jobs in wood stocks -- they don't last forever. And accurizing the M1A gets expensive fast. Good luck.

[El Rojo]

To clarify something you asked, what it means by carbon or stainless is this. The outside of the barrel is carbon or stainless. I wanted one real bad and they didn't have anymore carbons so I got a stainless barrel (http://home.bak.rr.com/elrojo/pictures/m1acamo1.jpg)(another pic (http://home.bak.rr.com/elrojo/pictures/m1acb.jpg)). This is a picture of a carbon barrel (http://www.springfield-armory.com/images/rifles/2001-products-rifles-standard.jpg). Really it is up to you. I would have prefered the carbon as I said as it would look better camo. However, the rifle looks pretty good as stainless too.

I have shot right around MOA at 200 yards when I scoped my rifle. They shoot pretty darn good. If you are going to leave it as a iron sighted rifle, you will shoot good with it and it is fun to shoot. I highly recommend shooting it in some national match highpower courses. Sure you are not going to be as well off as a guy with an AR-15 (less recoil on an AR), but it is a good feeling nonetheless to be able to shoot accurately at a target 600 yards away with iron sights. If national match didn't cost so much to get the proper gear and wasn't a conflict with Sunday church, I would shoot it a lot more.

If you want the most accurate rifle possible, buy the M1A first. Then buy you a nice .308 bolt gun. That is what I did. I bought my M1A and then to complement my M1A, I bought a Remington 700 VS in .308 (http://home.bak.rr.com/elrojo/pictures/700prtc2.jpg). I use the 700 for 1000 yard matches and palma matches and the M1A for national match. They are a good complement. Save and get the M1A first, then next Christmas get a good bolt gun. Good luck.

[Peter M. Eick]

With match quality reloads and a solid bench the Supermatch will do about .50 to .75" at 100 yds if you do your part. The National-match will go about .65 to .80 at 100 yds. The loaded on a good day will shoot 1" but mostly right around 1.5 to 2". The conventional will do about 2.5". These are all 5 shot groups.

At least this is what I can do with mine. I am sure others are better and can probably do better.

If you want a real test, put a 20 rnd mag in and see how you do over 20 rnds. My groups tend to open up to about 1.75" over the course of 20 rnds for the SM or NM. Don't know why, but just seems to be that way.

By the way, these are all with either a 6.5x20 or 4.5x14 vari-x 3 scope. Just yesterday I pulled the scope off my SM to go back to shooting open sights. "Just for Fun"

[Target Shooter]

I bought a "Loaded" M1A with the stainless NM barrel around 5 1/2 years ago. (When Springfield used to give 3 20 round mags with the "loaded" purchase) At first it shot around 2" groups at 100 yards with many different types of ammo.
Not happy with that I kept shooting reloads and factory surplus ammo to find what shot best. Well that actually worked because after about 200 rounds it started to shoot better...and better.
I've since bedded the action and replaced the main spring guide with a NM spring guide.
My M1A will shoot 1" - 1 1/4" 5 shot groups at 100 yards on a regular basis. Have shot quite a few 3/4" groups and less. But on its (or my) worst day I can still shoot 1 1/2" groups.

They are fun to shoot and mine never jams.

TS

[Ledbetter]

My experience with my loaded m1a is exactly as described by Peter E. and Targetshooter above. 1" groups at 100 yards with a scope and Federal Match ammo in the right weather.

Regards.

[swampyMO]

Paul K,

Re your question about carbon vs. stainless....

A "carbon" barrel refers to your standard carbon steel, blued finish barrel that is the same (material wise) as any other blued steel barrel. ALL blued steel barrels are "carbon" steel and will rust if neglected.

Stainless is just that, an all stainless steel barrel.

Re break in..... Opinions vary here. Some accuracy gurus swear that "break in" is absolutely necessary. Others, just as knowledgeable, say that "break in" is not necessary. Flip a coin and take your pick.

Swampy

[Jaeger]

My stock. service grade preban M1A with a chrome lined barrel will hold 2moa with iron sights and surplus ball ammo.

With GMM I can get pretty clost to an inch. It has a synthetic stock, is not bedded and has had no trigger work. (yet) It's more accurate that I am from field positions.

[Brooks]

Go to Fulton Armory and have Clint fix you up with a Kreiger barreled M1A with a Match trigger and it will be guarenteed to shoot better than you can hold.

[Leafy]

From my experience Keith J's comments are where it is at. If you are looking for a fun, semi auto in .308 buy the Springfield and be happy with a reliable 1 1/2 - 2 min. rifle. If you want a service rifle that will reliably produce 3/4 in. groups all day, every day either be prepared to spend a lot of time and money tuning your
M1A and then rebuilding it every so often or swallow hard and buy a mouse gun. Why not have one of each?

[vince weng]

If you want an accurate rifle, get a bolt action one. Rem 700 PSS or Savage 10FP will satisfy you always.

I love M1A. It was designed as a battle rifle, NOT a match rifle. NO M1A can hold their accuracy for long. Thas is about their design. Unfortunately, many people would like to put high dollar on it and believe it would get the goo accuracy in return.

M1A has three major draw backs which prevent it from being an accurate rifle.
1. its bedding. If you field strip it, you will hurt the bedding. You can't believe it was designed in that way. That is why springfield doesn't recommend any own to field strip it often.
2. two many moving parts. Piston, op rod and bolt. AR15 is better in that point.
3. floating barrel is a dream. Its gas system makes it impossible to float the barrel.

You will say, "hey, mine shoots in some MOA". I will be happy if you say so after 500 rnds.

I used M-14 as I was in militray. I know how these M-14 were abused. They survived, as a battle rifle. That is what I believe what it is supposed to be.


vince