Springfield Armory M1A

cwinn

Besides an AR-15 heavy barrel ive been lookin at semi-auto .308's, and the best seems to be the M1A. If i were to purchase the basic standard rifle, what kind of accuracy could i expect with facotry match ammo (Federal and Hornady 168's) and a good (spelled Leupold) scope??? I dont have the extra dough for the top end models, so any help would be appreciated, or info on any other accurate .308 semis?
thanks

cwinn

Was wanting to purchase a rifle that would make a nice semi auto deer rifle as well as a battle rifle. Is the M1A a good choice? I could really use some feedback on versatility of the M1A. Thanks

Duck

CWINN,
In my experience the M1A from Springfield is a very accurate arm. We used to shoot at the 1000 yard targets through iron sights and the rifle always shot better than I did.

cpermd

Plan on 2-4 inches.
cpermd

ericthered

I have a beautiful springfield M1A with black match barrel in seems to
be new condition. It has been getting 1 1/4 inch groups
with my loads.
I just got a supermatch, hand built M1A because I want
1/2 inch at 100yds.
I have been asking people about the M1As for months and
my conclusion is that 1 1/4 inch is considered a good
group for this rifle.
I will probably be selling it as soon as I can break in
and test my new rifle.
I will ask only what I paid for it, which was about 1150.00
I think that is a good price compared with the regular price.
I am not sure the barrel was ever really broken in. When I test my
new rifle, I may work to settle the barrel on the springfield just
to see what kind of group improvement may be possible.

Eric

thats'me

101AIRBORNE

Erick,

Good response. Your price is retail and I think you are trying to sell this arm w/o going thru auction. Not a concern of mine but.....

JustC

ericthered, is your rifle scoped? 1/2" groups at 100yds requires a good picture of the bullseye. Your naked eye will have one hell of a time acquiring the bull well enough to print 1/2" groups. Don't give up on your gun yet, scope it with a third generation mount and some good glass (even if you borrow it from another rifle just for the experiment) and see what happens. I would be willing to bet that the groups are cut way down. Now, take into account that I don't shoot high power matches, therefore, if the naked eye behind an iron sight is capable of 1/2" groups, then disreguard my suggestion.

A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.

ericthered

Sorry, I am not trying to avoid the auction, because that
is the only way to get the best price. The market will decide
in the auction what it is worth. I would certainly get it wrong
if I was to sell outright. I just wanted to know if the auction
would come up to what I paid for it. I will probably either auction it or trade it depending on what will produce the best deal.
Eric

To JustC
I can get about an inch open sights with my garand, but a half inch will need a scope and really good bench rest, and some really good
home loads.
By the way, a guy told me that if the load is too hot it
will cause copper fouling. I have been using nosler combined tech 168 grain ammo with H380 . Is this inappropriate.
Eric

thats'me

Rifleman.308

I shoot a standard, walnut-stocked M1A. Out of the box it shot 1.75 inch groups at 100 yards. I mounted a 1st gen SA scope, zeroed at 200 meters, and, depending on which 168 grain ammo I'm using, I can now print 1 inch groups at 100 yards. (Accuracy at 200 meters, like life, is a work in progress.) This with a completely unmodified standard rifle.

I'm currently sighted in with 168 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertip (it's deer season in Wisconsin), which I've found to be very consistent ammo, and somewhat less expensive than usual "match" ammo.

For what it's worth.

drawn

One day at the range last year I found I installed my scope neglectfully and decided it was time to do some iron site work, I was so impressed with the standard M1A's iron sites I may never remount that scope.

"LIFE IS NOT A JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE WITH THE INTENTION OF ARIVING SAFELY IN ONE PRETTY AND WELL PRESERVED PIECE, BUT, TO SKID ACROSS THE LINE BROADSIDE, THOUGHRLY USED UP, WORN OUT, LEAKING OIL, SHOUTING GERONIMO!!"

GPWEAPON

Your choice of an M1A is an excellent choice. It is a much lower maintanince rifle. The other fact is much of the surplus 308 ball ammo will shoot very well from your standrd grade M1A. If you are basicly skilled you would be able to do a simple glass bed job and get moa or less from you gun. The heavy barrel Bushmaster will get better accuracy out of the box. the flat top model with a scope will be a great shooter and will be cheaper with a nice scope than just the M1A without the scope. The ammo for the .223 will be cheaper in surplus and also to reload should you choose to in the future.If you haven't shot both you should try to. I sold my M1A's and went to the AR. after about a year I got a bug that wouldn't leave me till I got another M1A.

kimberkid

GPWEAPON quote: after about a year I got a bug that wouldn't leave me till I got another M1A.

Don't you just hate that bug!

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Chance favors the prepared mind
kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com