Picked up a M1A standard today and know nothing about the platform other than I've always wanted one. Got a few questions

1. I know the manual says to use Lubriplate but are there any other suitable types of grease? I currently have Shooters Choice red synthetic grease and some Aeroshell 33MS that I use for assembling AR barrels.

2. I've heard something about using a .40 S&W casing to lube the roller bearing on the bolt, what's up with that? The gun came from the factory greased good but the roller bearing looks dry.

3. The headspace is 1.631 according to the tag on the rifle and it says to only use ammo that is GI spec, but I've been told any .308 or 7.62 ammo is safe for this rifle?

4. Any special tools or spare parts I should keep on hand? Honestly, I doubt I'll shoot more than a couple hundred rounds a year through it but I keep some spares for every other gun I own so why not this one.

Any other tips you guys have will be appreciated. Here is a picture in case you didn't see it in the GD thread.
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ETA. Are the Pro Mag M1a mags as junky as the other Pro Mag offerings? I see midway has them in stock for $20. They also have SA mags but they are $47.

I suggest the Jerry Kuhnhausen shop manual for .30 Caliber Gas Operated Service Rifles.  It is pretty much all you need about M-14’s and M-1’s

Shoot the ever-loving shit out of it. Clean and lube it occasionally.

The thing is a tank.  You don't need to detail strip, clean and lube after every outing.

Checkmate mags are the only mags you should consider.

Never, ever, buy a Promag.

Look for Check-mate mags.  Midway carries them - usually about 30 bucks for a 20 round mag (optimal size for the M1A series - shorter is hard to install / take out as you have to rock the mag in, and longer is too long for prone use).  I get the stainless ones so they will last forever.

1. I know the manual says to use Lubriplate

I just use some Wilson grease I've had a bottle of for years.  I think grease is grease, though like all maintenance questions, how I do it is 100% right, and even else is wrong!  And everyone thinks that.

2. I've heard something about using a .40 S&W casing to lube the roller bearing on the bolt, what's up with that? The gun came from the factory greased good but the roller bearing looks dry.
The Wilson grease is a liquid so I just drip some onto the roller.  I had heard a .45 case works too.  

3. The headspace is 1.631 according to the tag on the rifle and it says to only use ammo that is GI spec, but I've been told any .308 or 7.62 ammo is safe for this rifle?

Yeah, but no steel cased - Springfield's manual says this in particular, and it'll void the warranty.  The only separated case I've ever had was with steel case and my M1 Garand in .308.  Don't know if the ammo itself was defective, if the steel case sticks to the chamber when the bolt is going back so it tears the back of the case off, don't know.  But I've shot lots of surplus brass rounds out of mine, without issues.  

4. Any special tools or spare parts I should keep on hand? Honestly, I doubt I'll shoot more than a couple hundred rounds a year through it but I keep some spares for every other gun I own so why not this one.

Spare parts - none that I can think of.  It's a robust system that doesn't eat parts.   I did get a wrench to hold the barrel / gas tube assembly, while taking the front gas plug off.  Mine was on from the factory super tight, and I could not hold the rifle tight enough (without damage like standing on it) to break the lock of the gas plug, which from the factory was dry as a bone.  Once off, I lubed up the gas plug and now can take that off with just a wrench.

I bought the 10 dollar combo tool for it, but it doesn't do much that I've figured out - you can take a gas plug that's been lubed off with it, but it's a common wrench size, so I just use that.

Watch a You-tube video or two on the takedown - be sure to have eye protection on when you take the spring out and put it in, as it's capable of jumping out and turning you into "Old Patch Eye".  The operating assembly was a pain to take out on mine.  You're supposed to able to line the handle up with the rear sight, and pull it up and out or such - mine was tight and didn't want to come out.  There's a You-tube video that said to tape up a screwdriver (to prevent scratches), and put compression on the assembly from the back, then tap it with a brass punch.  I did that and it came out.  Its been easier to get out since then but I still have to do that trick to make it come out.  Maybe mine is super tight for whatever reason.  

got a few things ordered from Midway. Everywhere I've checked is out of the CheckMate mags so I bit the bullet and ordered two SA mags which I've been told are rebranded checkmate mags. They are expensive but I need a couple 20 rounders, can't stand how the 10rd looks in the gun plus I've already noticed how difficult they are to load.

Also ordered a M1a cleaning kit for the stock, the greaser since it was cheap, and the Sadlak piston cleaning bits. That'll get me started for now.

I clean the piston after each range trip, so I've not needed the drill bits on a handle to clean things out - I think those are for if you don't do any cleaning for a lot of rounds, and let carbon build and build up inside.  

If you haven't taken your gas plug off, I would, and lube up, before you shoot it.  I've seen other threaded items from the factory (like suppressor end caps) get fused in place from firing when new, as there's often no lube on the threads, and carbon locks them in place.

I'll take it apart and lube the threads, thanks.

Even with the wrench as a backup tong and a wrench, I couldn't get mine off at home.  Had to take it to the range and fire some rounds to heat it up for it to come off (like a suppressor).  Don't know why it was torqued to 100 ft-lbs or whatever it was.  I now use a gunsmith torque wrench to tighten it to 35 in-lbs., and it stays in place during firing, but is easy to take off at home.

got mine off but it was tight.  Greased the heck out of the threads with some high temp grease I use on choke tubes and snugged it back down.

If you reload, case length is extremely important.  I shot M1-A's in many early practical rifle competitions and if the cases weren't trimmed properly the rounds wouldn't seat properly.   I trimmed to 2.00 inches, not 2.015 or whatever it was...it has been a while since I reloaded any 7.62x51.

That's the truth right there!!

I just got mine Friday and shot it for the first time today.  I put ~40rds of LC and ZQI M80 through it.

I read this post and was like "crap I didn't do that" so I just went to do it.

I tried 1/4" rachet....nope.  I tried a 12V impact driver....nope.

Finally I grabbed the Tech Manual included with the rifle and saw the picture where they grip the stock with their feet so I tried that with the 1/4" ratchet and held onto the exposed barrel (mine is a Scout Squad) and put all I had into it as a last attempt and it popped loose.....whew!!!!

I cleaned all of the threads and greased them with some Schaeffer's 229 and torqued it down to 35 in/lbs plus drew a line in silver sharpie to make sure it doesn't move.

I'm sooooo glad I found this thread before I put 500rds through it as I think I would have been screwed as it would have been welded in there.  The threads on mine were bone dry as well.

My next thought was to go to the range again tomorrow to try the heat and remove method but I really don't want to drive over there again so I'm glad it loosened up.

Thanks for starting this thread OP!!

Make sure the gas system stays dry.

Don't plan on lubing it. I shot Beretta shotguns for awhile and that was the same way, gas system need to be kept dry.

Go watch some of tonyben3's videos on youtube. His early videos cover everything you could possibly want to know about disassembly, cleaning, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/user/tonyben3/videos

1.Any good quality moly grease will do.

2. I've had good luck with S.Korean M14 magazines, although they are a bit tight to lock in.

3. I've limited my Polytech (receiver only, with all TRW parts, including barrel) to 7.62mm spec ammo. When I hand load, I use IMR4895.

4. I use a Qtip with moly grease to lube the bolt roller. No problems so far.

+1 only lube up the gas system for off season storage.


I clean a little more thoroughly than some,...part Marine training and part staving off humidity induced rust.  Powder residue can bite you in humid environments.  I concede over cleaning causes way more wear than typical users.

That said you can leave the action in the stock and remove the plug and give a quick clean and wipe in the cylinder, wipe off the piston and reassemble the gas system.  The op rod tip can still get a bit of freckling if left with carbon powder residue.

My M14 tools are as follows

sadlak handled drill kit for cleaning the gas plug.
sadlak gas cylinder wrench, you can skip this if you carefully use a padded vise in the shop
a delrin muzzle bore guide
heck I think I even bought the delrin roller grease cup tool, both i think were from Dewey.  You can just hand pack grease like you would wheel bearings
A cleaning rod that inserts from the muzzle but doesn’t hit the bolt face when your brush exits the rifling!  I think a 25” rod on a usgi barrel is the length.   A stripper clip inserted in the stripper clip guide and held by the bolt will prevent the bolt from being tripped loose by a long rod.
I bought a tool for that too, a plastic chamber solvent trap.   wouldn’t bother with one again.
oh and on that, grease, any is fine.  No need to over think it.  pick what ever Ngli#2 grease you have on hand in the garage.

Get a usgi cleaning kit for the buttstock, add in in a couple grease cups.  That will cover you afield.


oh, a chamber brush cleaner, it doesn’t have to be usgi, a nylon .45 cal rifle bore brush is what I use half the time.  Just be sure you clean the chamber, it is really more important in maintaining function than cleaning the bore but many overlook it.

If you can find a copy, there was an issue of P&S magazine (An Army maintenance magazine) about the M14. It was from the late 50’s-early 60’s, but the reprints of it were floating around a few years back. LOTS of good info. Also get the Field Manual for it.

I carried an M14 on my 3rd tour. Excellent rifle. I always found it very easy to shoot accurately, almost like it was instinctive.  One of my favorites while I was in.

Another good magazine for them is the Taiwanese type 57 (what they called the M14) mags. They are essentially the same as GI but blued instead. I used some for a long time, never had any problems.

Been using marine grade bearing grease on my M1A and M1 rifles for years.  No issues.  Use it on a SIG 556R, too.

Only thing I've ever broken is the op rod.  IMR4350 powder and 180 grain Sierra match kings in the early 80's before I read on the internet that it was a bad idea.  Broke it twice.  Walked away from IMR4350 for the M1A after that.  I did replace the recoil spring a few years ago as after 30 years and a few thousand rounds the spring was a bit short.

For the oil needs I used 3n1 oil for 3 decades before starting to use mostly Mobil 1.

Still using the same GI mags from the 70's.

I'd be careful about using 180 grain hunting loads.  150's and 165's should be okay, but heavier bullets usually use slower powders and they aren't good for an M1A/M1 gas system.

When I was in the US Army we didn't use grease on our M14's.  Just that gooey white looking lube in the OD green squeeze bottle (the name escapes me at the moment.  LSA??)

As far as spares go, keep at least one extractor, spring and plunger on hand. USGI parts preferred.

Not sure what year your M1A is, but the Springfield Armory, Inc. extractors can be prone to failure. I’ve had one break at the range, ending my day. You can change/replace it without disassembling the gun.

Gun was headspace checked 4/2/21 so it's fresh off the assembly line.

I picked up some Mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease to use, much cheaper than the tubes of gun branded lube.

So it's probably not a good idea to use the 175gr Gold Medal Match?


ETA. got the gun out and shot a box through it and noticed a few things

1. it's tamer shooting than I thought it would be, more recoil than 5.56 but still pretty manageable.

2. safety is really stiff and I almost have to push it off with my thumb as it's hard on my trigger finger to push it forward. Hopefully it loosen up with some use.

3. At 100yds shooting the 175gr GMM I had the rear sight elevation bottomed out and I was shooting about 2" low with a 6 o-clock hold. I figured the elevation would stay more towards the middle of the range since this ammo isn't what I'd call hot, it's only listed at 2600fps.

4. The 10rd mags suck, I struggled every time trying to get them inserted correctly. Hopefully the 20s are better.

The safeties on both my M1 and M1A are stiff too.  I think they are all set up for thumb use not finger, unless you see Japs in the bushes and then you don't care about how it feels.

The 10 rounders are hard to use, to the point I don't bother with them at all.  There's little room to grab them, and little leverage to get them into place.  The 20's are much easier to use.

got it stripped down tonight and cleaned/lubed it. I probably overdid it on the grease(I have a tendency to do that, when I shoot my ARs my glasses are covered with oil afterwards) but we'll see what happens. When I got it apart the top rear of the receiver was coated with grease so I recoated it but I'm not sure why that area had grease on it because it doesn't appear to be a contact area.

I don't have to worry about the stock getting loose and hurting accuracy because it was loose from the start and the action just fell out under it's own weight. I went ahead and wiped the stock down with some linseed oil because it looked a little dry and it looked better afterwards.

You should really only shoot 7.62x51 ammo and not .308.

.308 runs at higher pressures and can lead to excessive wear on the roller and op-rod.

DSC_1633-M1A Can by FredMan, on Flickr

FGMM is fine in them....its a duplicate of the old M118 Match

no..the pressures are the same and 308/762 are interchangeable.

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Keep the oprod channel of the receiver and the bolt contact points well greased (not oil, grease). Never shoot it dry.

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So did you use the gas cylinder wrench to get your gas plug out OP?

I didn't and now I wonder if I messed up.  I didn't realize I could damage the splines.

The "gas block" has a tiny bit of jiggle to it but I don't know if it was there before.  I'm guessing it was as there has to be some tolerance in order to be able to remove it without needing a hammer.

No, I used a 3/8" socket. That's what the manual says you can use if you don't have the combo tool. I do have the proper tools coming for future use. My plug wasn't in overly tight.

If you're talking about the collar the plug goes through first before it contacts the threads of the actual gas block mine is loose also, you can rotate it around a bit but I think that's normal. Or I messed mine up also. I guess I never checked the actual gas block.

Yeah I just did it the way the Tech Manual said to do it too.

I was talking the actual gas cylinder.  It appears you can stake the splines to tighten it up for match rifles but I highly doubt you want that on non-Match guns.  The movement is barely perceptible on mine but I didn't check it before getting the gas plug loose so I just wasn't 100% sure.  If SAI didn't torque them down so hard it wouldn't have been an issue.

I'm guessing it was probably like that before and you just didn't notice it. I just checked mine and it is tight with it assembled, next time I take it apart I'll check with the plug out.

Yeah I'm sure I didn't check it before getting the plug loose.

I got a Sadlak oversized mag release and a gas shim kit.

Not necessary but if ammo, mags and other essentials are hard to find,
might as well upgrade other parts that are available.

Federal rifle brass is soft, keep it and it’s good to practice reloading with it.

Although in the M1a, you will only get 2-3 reloadings and Federal will only last 2-3 reloadings before the primer pockets get too loose.

Id also find a GI wood stock, it’s thinner than new production stocks.

Or invest in a fiberglass stock.

The gas cylinder should not be loose.

I haven't damaged the splines on my M1A using the cleaning kit tool in the last 40 plus years.  Probably though, somewhere, someone figured out how to do it.

Excess grease will get thrown off, but learning the right amount will come with experience.

You can find copies of the GI manuals on the M14 on line.  Everything you need on use, cleaning, sighting in, etc.

I saw something about Promags.  Friends don't let friends buy Promags.  I have a cousin that buys them sometimes.  Then I get a phone call asking when I'm coming home again and then he tells me he's got a new gun he's having problems with.  We end up working on magazines.  Feed lips, magazine release holes (size/placement), rubbing/hanging up, etc.

Not saying none of them work.  Just saying I don't buy them but I end up trying to make them work when my cousin buys them.

I've never really understood the argument that 173 grain bullets are okay but 180 grain bullets are not.  Very small difference in weight but there may be differences in how much surface contact there is between bullet jacket and barrel lands (or powder used).

With M1/M1A rifles it's not chamber pressure that causes problems.  It's gas port pressure.  Slower powders okay in bolt action rifles and well under max. chamber pressure limits can cause gas port pressures well above the max limits that the faster powders make.  Usually, as bullet weights go up, slower burning powders are used, so it's not just bullet weight that causes gas port issues, it's the slower powder used for them.

.30 caliber rifles are fun.  Much harder to hide behind cars/trucks, trees, sheds, etc. when someone is using an M1A or M1 Garand.  As someone on some forum used to say in their signature line, "Thirty caliber, turning cover into concealment since 1903."

Anybody have any experience with this ammo, good or bad?
https://www.sgammo.com/product/308-win-762x51-ammo/20-round-box-762x51mm-147-grain-fmj-sellier-bellot-ammo-sb762a

Yes, I bought some 70's era SB 7.62 ammo, and it worked well.  Have fired thousands of rounds of their stuff throughout the years - never had any issues.  S&B is a top quality ammo maker.

That linked ammo is about the best price I've seen.  Ahh in the old days you could buy 147 gr ammo for 50 cents a round, but those days are gone for awhile anyway.

Should be a minimum of 150-inch pounds/12 FT pounds. I use Loctite anti-seize on the plug threads.
OP, look up Tonyben3 on Youtube. He has a lot of great videos to get you started!

Sounds more reasonable to really keep it in there.  I guessed on a number and so far it's not come loose during range trips.  But will probably crank it down to the limit of my gunsmithing tool next time.  

I hate anti-seize - if just think about using it, suddenly some is on my pants.