What's Your Experience in Accurizing an M1A?

Anyone have any experience in tuning up a stock Springfield Armory M1A? I'm contemplating buying the Scout version. My understanding is that they are often only about 4 MOA shooters out of the box but can be tuned up to a real tack driver. Please don't tell me about how your AR10/SCAR17/whatever is a better gun. I'm aware of all that, thank you. This won't be my only .308 gun, or semiauto battle rifle. I want one anyway despite it's detractors. Any actual experience in doing this would be of interest, including failures to do so.

4 MOA isn't bad for an infantry weapon. Somewhere in the last decade we have decided if a rifle isn't sub MOA it is unusable. Can't count how many critters and random targets my "unusable" rifles have whacked. The -06 I'm hunting with this year is about a 3 MOA rifle, yet has easily taken pronghorns at 400 yards.

The easiest tuning, if you reload, is working up a load the rifle really likes.

I've always like the M1A, never had the $$ to get one. Do have a Mini-14, another of my 3+ MOA rifles that is a lot of fun.

"4 MOA isn't bad for an infantry weapon" Perhaps not, but I'd like to get it down to at least 1.5 MOA or better. I know others have claimed getting at least that if not near precision accuracy without resorting to match grade barrels or several hundreds or thousands of dollars in upgrades, hopefully it can be significantly improved for under $500.00 above the base cost of the basic stock rifle. I'm not looking to go with uber expensive chassis techno stocks that you can hang a bunch of junk on, wanna keep it as simple and light as possible for a quick handling uncluttered carbine.

It is doable, but will likely take a lot of work. The issue with trying to tune up a gas operated weapon like an M1A is there are lots of moving parts that have to be almost hand fitted, that, and lets not forget the ammo...you will almost have to reload.

Get a good quality USGI bolt, and op rod, and I would recommend a Krieger barrel as well.

This is a plain early Springfield Armory M1A rifle in a dense walnut stock. No special accurizing work has been done except the trigger has been worked over so the rifle could be used in high-power competition more effectively.

It will turn in 1 1/2-inch 5-shot groups at 100 yards from the bench rest with prepared handloads.

biggest factor in an accurate rifle is the ammunition, and the user. optimized bullet size, powder load, even to how the bullet is seated can have an effect. but the biggest question is why do you need more than out of the box accuracy? 4 MOA is more than adequate for punching paper, hunting, self defense. if you are going into competitive shooting then accurizing would be a good idea. but to accuraize a rifle to competition level can thousands of dollars. better triggers, the rounds used, and training are stuff you can do, but most everything else should be done by an experienced gunsmith.

I believe it was Warren Page who said "Only accurate rifles are interesting" but I could be wrong.
I'm familiar with reloading the .308 for competition and the accuracy gains possible with properly tuned handloads in general. [MENTION=48379]noelekal[/MENTION], did you do the trigger job on your M1A?

Was Townsend Whelen who stated that "only accurate rifles are interesting."

Warren Page wrote "The Accurate Rifle" and a great read and valuable reference it is, even if parts of it are now dated (mostly in that it has nothing to do with the AR 15 which is alright with me).

No nortac, I have balefully eyed the triggers on M1s and M1As, but have shied away from attempting any improvement, not being either the most mechanically minded person ever nor very patient. Col. Snodgrass of Fort Worth did the trigger work on the rifle.

SC-Texas said:

4 MOA? My worst ar-15 with cheap wolf does that.

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Gotta agree.

Four inches at 100 yards from a bench rest just won't cut it. It's really not acceptable accuracy for anything masquerading as a useful rifle unless the rifle is mostly used to make noise. The SKS with factory sights that's kept on hand here does better than that. Both an ancient Winchester Model 1873 .38-40 and an M1 Carbine beat four inches, all with their original sighting equipment. They'll beat that particular Russian SKS too.

Only one opinion.

An opinion I happen to share! Anything more than 2 MOA is pretty useless, or at least has limited use and not worth paying the cost of an M1A for. Although I may not be up to the task with iron sights, I expect a decent rifle to have the inherent mechanical accuracy to make a 200 yd head shot (or smallish critter). 4 MOA may be sufficient for blasting tin cans at close range, but at 200 yds, 4 MOA translates to about a spread of 8 in, an easy miss at that range. 2 MOA is doable, 1.5 or better is highly preferred.

[MENTION=48379]noelekal[/MENTION], do you know what your trigger pull measures on your M1A and how would you compare it to other triggers that you like?

It's very crisp but shows (or showed at the time) to be 5 lbs. I was advised that it would improve with use. That was 20+ years ago. I've not shot the rifle in competition since the trigger work nearly as much as the M1 which has a trigger that breaks at 4 lbs. and has an otherwise superior "feel" to it.

I love a good trigger. One that breaks like the proverbial slender glass rod. I love the way a well-adjusted factory pre-64 Winchester Model 70 trigger feels. I admire the feel of the single-action triggers on traditional Smith & Wesson and Colt revolvers that have been broken in. I enjoy shooting a Colt Gold Cup because of its great trigger, also like the trigger on a 1947 vintage Colt Government Model. A High Standard Supermatic Trophy kept here has a dreamy 2 1/2 lb trigger that I suppose is factory supplied.

A pleasing trigger can make a great difference when accuracy is sought.

On the other hand, that trigger on the SKS here is wretched, excruciatingly creepy, indistinct, and heavy enough to cause one's eyes to water. I have a Winchester Model 1907 .351 that was acquired from the original owner who charitably described it as "taking two men and a boy to pull." It's very crisp but too heavy to measure. I've yet to meet the double-action-only handgun trigger, "safe-action" otherwise, that I want to have anything to do with. My little pea-brain cannot not even compute that a handgun's DAO trigger can be described as "good" when I see it so described on firearms forums. "Yuck" would seem more apt.

It would seem that we have a generation who mostly disregards the trigger and how it can influence accuracy. For that matter, accuracy matters less than it used to with many shooters these days.

We're much more "practical" than that.

[MENTION=48379]noelekal[/MENTION], Thanks once again for informative input. Feel and lack of creep certainly trumps poundage and is very subjective to each shooter. I suppose the main point is that there is no "surprise" in the quality of the pull and that it is consistent.

I always liked the M1A, I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with a Seal's M14 back in my Army day. The most accurate semi auto .308 rifle I have put together is an H&K G3, built from a kit. I managed to find a good polygonal barrel, and pressed it in myself. The G3 is not gas operated, and has a free-floating barrel. The trigger assembly is remarkably easy to work on, and can be tuned up nicely even if you aren't very experienced at the task. I ended up also building a short-barreled G3K version, being lucky enough to find the correct barrel and locking piece, even with the short barrel, I could get 2" groups at 100 yards with Walmart ammo.

One of these days I will have to get myself an M1A, it'll be on the top of my list the next time I visit home.

SC-Texas said:

When I have clients that are building AR-15s, I always tell them that if they are on a budget and need to put the money into the best Barrel and Trigger that they can buy

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It's been a few years but I built several, from a light weight carbine to mid weight mid length to a couple of long heavy bench/varmint types. At that point I had been shooting 50+ years but had never built or assembled a gun other than a muzzleloader. No one told me but I did seek out the best barrels I could find, Shilen and White Oak, and having shot some small bore match in college and having a match air rifle with a trigger that breaks at about 1.5 oz, I like good triggers, so there are some Jewell a Gisselle and a couple of Rock River match two stage triggers in the mix. From what I have read the upper and lower recievers simply carry the parts and connect the barrel to the fire mechanism.

I wish White Oak made barrels for the M1A! But my M1A Scout will be just a handy practical/tactical carbine, not a target gun, otherwise I'd go all out with a Krieger barrel of the full length variety. And it would probably be a Fulton Armory model. But these are two different beasts entirely!

Well I placed an order for a Springfield Armory M1A Scout with a walnut stock today, ought to have it in about a week. Also ordered a Burris 2-7x32 Scout scope just cause. Extra magazines on backorder from Brownells along with a SADLAK op rod spring guide. David Tubb's Final Finish bore polishing system and 100 rounds of Federal Gold Match arrived today from Midway. I got the walnut stock because the reviews online show that the plastic stocks are crap and very flexible, not conducive to good accuracy. Reviewing the NRA Firearms Assembly Guide and Jerry Kuhnhausen's Shop Manual (vol 1 & 2) on .30 cal service rifles. May order the AGI shop video.

Just 'cause is the best reason. I only have a single Burris scope of any sort, but I sure have liked it.

I've had a few Burris scopes, no complaints with any of them. Not sure how I'm gonna mount it, probably use a LaRue one piece QD base and rings combo. I can see it being switched from one firearm to another as needed. I really like the Scout scope concept and would like another Marlin lever action so set up. Perhaps a bolt action scout rifle as well.

Upon browsing info on reloading for the M1A, I see I'm gonna have to modify some of my reloading technique as the M1A is very hard on brass and certain powders are preferred. I may also have a need for a small base resizing die, particularly if once fired GI brass is used. I usually use Varget for my .308 bolt gun, but that is the low end of the burning rate scale (for use in the M1A), which is hard on the gun. Need to get some more H4895 as it has a faster burn rate and is the standard powder to be used in the M1A. Meanwhile, I can use some IMR 3031 which I have plenty of. Seems that Lake City brass is the preferred case to use, will have to stock up on that. My old stand by Federal is too soft to stand up to the M1A and Lapua way too precious to subject to that kind of abuse, save those for bolt gun use only. Even with tough GI brass, it is recommended to limit it to 4 reloads only, then discard. Probably should invest in a broken shell extractor as well!