New M1A Owner Needs Help

[Kevin Rohrer]

I am in the process of acquiring a "loaded" M1a, which I have lusted after for >30-years. :bigsmyl2:

I have some manuals coming, but want to know what tools I need for cleaning and maintenance, and where should I get them?

[nicholst55]

Sadlak Industries has the few tools that you'll need here (http://www.sadlak.com/si_tools.html). You will also need some suitable grease, which can be found at most gun shows; it comes in small 0.5cc plastic containers with a yellow cap. They should run $1 each, or thereabouts. A good automotive grease will work just as well, although not all of them are as water-resistant as the GI Rifle Grease.

I strongly recommend joining the M14 Firing Line Forum (http://www.m14tfl.com/upload/index.php); there is a wealth of information available there, covering the full spectrum of the M14-type rifle.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I joined that site a few days ago. There is alot of info to assimilate.

What greases are acceptable?

[nicholst55]

I'd suggest reading a couple of threads at TFL: New to M14s (http://m14tfl.com/upload/showthread.php?t=13958&highlight=grease), and What Grease Do You Use? (http://m14tfl.com/upload/showthread.php?t=85807&highlight=grease) Although the second thread is about M1s, the same thing applies to M1As.

Wheel Bearing grease will work just fine, unless you'd prefer to spend more money for a firearms-specific grease. I picked up a pound of GI Grease, Rifle at a gun show years ago; it'll last me a lifetime and then some!

Oh, I almost forgot - you'll need a ratcheting chamber brush, a cleaning rod guide, and a good-quality one-piece cleaning rod like a Dewey. If you can find them, buy a couple of cleaning rod stops, so you don't trash your bore brushes by jamming them against the bolt face. Brownells carries all this stuff; Midway probably does too.

[NickSS]

I shot an M1A in competition for around 20 years and you need only a few tools as follows:
1. A good cleaning rod and a cleaning rod guide that slips over the flash hidder and guides the cleaning rod or alternately use an Otis pull through wire cable cleaning system.
2. Chamber brush the GI ratchet ones work well.
3. a gas piston nut wrench and gas cylinder holding wrench so as to not put too much force on the splines that hold the cylinder to the barrel.
4. A gas piston cleaning tool. It looks like a drill bit with a handle to turn it. This is the easy way to clean out carbon fouling inside the piston. You only need to remove the gas piston and clean it about every 500 rounds or so. I always avoided cleaning the gas piston as much as possible due to the chance of loosening up the gas cylinder and screwing up my accuracy. I only cleaned it when ejection patterns started to change. After you put a couple thousand rounds through one you get to know it very well.

Others talked about grease but remember a little goes a very long way do not goop the rifle up just wipe on a little on key locations around the bolt and op rod. I use regular cup grease like you put in wheel bearing and the tub I bought 20 years ago is still 3/4 full

[NuJudge]

You put the grease, lightly, anywhere the finish wears through, including the bolt raceways, the little slot the tab on the Op Rod handle reciprocates on and in, and the shiny areas on the side of the barrel when you retract the bolt handle.

Grease in the bedding is bad. It also gets all over your glasses when you fire the rifle, the more grease you have, the more you'll have on your glasses.

[Linstrum]

I have had a Springfield M1A National Match since 1984 and they are pretty simple to take care of. Everything posted here about maintenance should do you just fine. Just keep it greased up fairly often and you'll be okay, they are a TOUGH rifle. "Greased up often" doesn't mean dripping with grease, just spread a little dab at the wear points like NickSS, NuJudge, and others said. You should be able to handle your rifle in a suit and tie without fear of getting your suit dirty from grease.

I have used cast boolits in my M1A and they work just fine, but for the most part I use jacketed military pull-down bullets with as light a powder load as will operate the action reliably for plinking. I do keep a full 20 round clip with full house military loads but with hunting bullets in it for serious business, such as the local black bears that can get pretty nasty when trying to get them away from the house.

You're getting a nice rifle, let us know when it is in your hands.


rl832

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have it for evaluation.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0298.jpg

So far, I have field stripped it (not the bolt as I don't know how) and cleaned it (almost nothing to clean), but need the wrench thingie to hold the barrel and gas tube so I can get the piston out and clean the tube.

The rifle is a 'loaded' version made in 2001. It had the plastic stock replaced with a GI stock that needs cleaned up. It also has a USGI bolt, op rod, and trigger group (so far that I have found). It came w/ 3-20s and 2-10s, but nothing else. The flash hider has the bayonet lug (oorah!).

I have some M118 and M80 to shoot thru it. I have also ordered several books on the rifle and one of them, Kuhnhausen's Shop Manual, arrived today. Wow, is it comprehensive! I will invest in all the cool tools for it, except for that $235 Mad tool thingie when I buy the rifle.

[Char-Gar]

The GI rifle grease available in the little cups or the 1 lbs can is the first choice for the M1, M14, M1 Carbine and so forth. It is just a good all around gun grease where a grease is called for. I use it on the rails of auto pistols.

This grease has been made to mil-spec by several makers. One of those makers sell it retail under the name of Lubriplate. Brownells sell it.

[Mk42gunner]

I had somewhere around 200 M-14's on the various ships and shore stations while I was in the Navy. Other than a cleaning rod with the appropriate brushes and patch holders, all you really need is a ratcheting chamber brush and an M-14 combo tool.

The combo tool will let you take the gas plug out, and disassemble the bolt. You can use it to put the bolt back together again too.

I don't recommend taking the bolt apart, unless you have to; it is a Royal PITA to get the ejector spring compressed far enough to let the extractor shaft slip into place.

One of the nice to have, (but not necessary, by any means) items is a bolt greaser, it is a little cup that just fits over the roller bearing on the bolt. To use you put grease in the cup, then force it over the bearing. This force feeds the grease into the bearing,like packing front wheel bearings on a car. Of course the Navy never bothered with those; we used CLP, (not the best choice, by the way).


Robert

[Combat Diver]

You can also check out the CMP forums. CMP currently has some stock sets for sale.
http://www.thecmp.org/forums
https://estore.odcmp.com/store/catalog/catalog.aspx?pg=catalogList&cat=PAS

[Linstrum]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have a question about the Springfield Armory version of the M1A. Like I mentioned in my post above, I've had a National Match since 1984 and I have really enjoyed shooting it all these years.

My question is what is the slotted fixture in front of the rear site used for? It looks like a stripper clip holder, but the slot cut in it is far too narrow for the base of a .308 Win/7.62 NATO cartridge to pass through it, much less hold a stripper clip. The fixture is shown in the technical parts drawing in the Springfield Armory, Inc, M1A rifle manual but is not mentioned in the parts list. I called Springfield Armory, Inc, many years ago and asked what the device is for and all I was told is that it is not used for holding a stripper clip. Any ideas what it is for?

Thanks!


rl837

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Yep +1 to all that... lube and shooting are the best two things you can do for thet rifle.
"FREDS" used to advertise in the Shotgun News (I do not see that here in Peru) advertised the GI Fiberglass stocks for years. I put one on my M1A years ago and have not regretetd doing so. First the beautiful wood stock that was on my ex drill rifle is still so. But also all day at -5 degrees or all day at 105 does not affect the impact. Will not rot, mold, need refinished..... well worth the $17 I paid a long time ago.

[BruceB]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have a question about the Springfield Armory version of the M1A. Like I mentioned in my post above, I've had a National Match since 1984 and I have really enjoyed shooting it all these years.

My question is what is the slotted fixture in front of the rear site used for? It looks like a stripper clip holder, but the slot cut in it is far too narrow for the base of a .308 Win/7.62 NATO cartridge to pass through it, much less hold a stripper clip. The fixture is shown in the technical parts drawing in the Springfield Armory, Inc, M1A rifle manual but is not mentioned in the parts list. I called Springfield Armory, Inc, many years ago and asked what the device is for and all I was told is that it is not used for holding a stripper clip. Any ideas what it is for?

Thanks!


rl837


Linstrum. amigo;

I just went and checked my own M1A (2005 production, #`170xxx) and it *still* accepts a standard 7.62 NATO stripper clip without difficulty.

All I can think of is that yours has had a replacement part fitted at some time, most-likely a support point for an after-market scope mount. I saw such mounts a long time back, and even helped a friend fit one to his M1A. We had a HECK of a time removing the original clip guide.

Hope this helps.

[Linstrum]

Hi, BruceB, it's been awhile! Thanks for your input, it makes sense that if it isn't for a stripper clip then the only other thing it could be used for is a scope support or mount. The part in question has a vertical "T" shaped slot in it in the same orientation as the stripper clip guide slot but is way too small, it measures 0.208" by 0.557" with the narrow neck part of the slot measuring 0.457".

The left side of the receiver has raised guide ridges and a 1/4-inch tapped hole to take a military scope mount. I have a real nice aluminum alloy civilian scope mount made for the M1A by B-Square that takes scopes with one inch tubes.

One thing I forgot to mention in my first post back on August 31 is that some configurations of the M1A have a trigger group that releases the safety when the bolt is cycled, like you would do after inserting a full magazine and closing the bolt to put the first round into battery. My rifle came from the factory that way and I found the bolt-actuated safety release to be a treacherous and potentially deadly arrangement because I'm used to guns having the safety stay on "SAFE" no matter what, that is what safeties do, they stay in the safe position until deliberately and intentionally moved to the "FIRE" position. I suppose in combat situations that accidentally leaving the safety on in the heat of battle could be a fatal mistake for a soldier, but for non-combat situations, having the safety released by closing the bolt is a deadly accident waiting to happen. Shortly after I bought my M1A I got a prepaid shipping box from Springfield Armory, Inc. with instructions to remove the trigger group and send it back for a modified replacement. I felt a bit "naked" with my M1A sitting there without a trigger group for two weeks!


rl838

[c3d4b2]

These may be of interest.....

http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/barrel_life1.pdf

http://www.zediker.com/articles/m14_2.1.pdf

http://www.zediker.com/articles/m14_3.1.pdf

[10mmShooter]

Hey Guys, not to hijack but I'm newbie to service rifle reloading..got a few ??

I trying to determine if I need to use the small base dies or will the Redding Comp die set work(its a 3 die set) a neck sizer die that uses a .336 TiN collar, and then a seperate body die to knock the shoulder back, and then the seating die.

Will the comp die set work okay, or should I get the small base dies. I'm looking eliminate any failure to chamber situtations. I understand that a failure to chamber could cause an out of battery detenation. I also understand the need to make certain all primers are 100% seated to avoid slam fires.

I'm sticking with the mil-spec surplus until I'm sure I completely understand what to avoid in reloading.(although I've been reloading for 20 yrs)

So far I have gathered 3lbs of IMR 4895, 1000 Win LR primers, and 3 boxes of Sierra Match King 168 HPBT and some new Win brass, I plan to load to duplicate the M852 ammo. I understand I should work up from 40 to 40.5 grs to reach 2500fps for consistant cycling of the gas system.

[c3d4b2]

Here is a link with some information to help you get started.

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf