Hello,

I'm a regular Ar-er, but I have a question due to a buddy of mine looking for a scope mount for his M1A/M14.  He likes getting all mil-spec/surplus stuff, but I know very little about the specifics on these rifles.  

Basically, although he would like an original military style, he wants a scope mount that accepts standard Weaver style rings.  (Were the mil-spec mounts Weaver?)  I don't think he's looking for a top end mount like the Smith Ent. or ARMS, just SOMETHING that will hold a scope acceptably.  Here are two I found more in the price range he was looking for.

Sportsmans Guide :
www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=55712

Then the B-square at Midway:

www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/754958

I'm well aware these are not top of the line by any means.  Really though, I thought the Sportsman's guide one looked pretty good.

Thanks for any input or help.

Gundraw

Scoping the M1A and having it stay consistant is best achieved with only the best mounts.

Primarily the Smith Enterprises, McCann or ARMS mounts.

Your buddy will be wasting his money  if he gets ANYTHING BUT the Smith,ARMS or McCann.If he gets one of those from your links,we'll see that mount for sale in a month.I've got the Smith and it's a rock solid,3 point mount.

 The guys are ON THE MONEY here.  The M1A works best ( and truly, ONLY ) with TOP dollar mounts AND rings.  It is uttlerly foolish to spend a zillion bucks on a rifle then put on a fourty dollar scope on it.  It is also foolish to buy a two hundred twenty dollar mount and use cheap ass weaver rings on it.  Another caveat that your buddy hasn't figured out is that even if he does get a top dollar optics system, he now needs to procure a proper cheekpiece because you can't have a proper cheekweld on an M1a with optics on it unless youhave a cheekpiece.  Most cheekpieces out there ( even the really nice ones ) do not cut the mustard to me.  Back in the day when I did scope my M1A I built a cheekpice out of handlaid fiberglass and attached it to the stock with a special adhesive material from 3M.  To this day that has been the only acceptable M14 cheekpiec I ever used.

Hmmm. I understand what you mean.  But this situation is one where the rifle is not shot on a regular basis and he's just looking for something acceptable to hold some optics on.  

I do get where you are coming from to some degree.  He just told me that he was having problems with his old mount (some ring compatiblity problems resulting in a creeping scope).  I really don't think he was interested in a $100+ mount.

So, after all these, I'm asking, would any of these cheaper mounts SUFFICE.

Gundraw

BTW.  I said Weaver style, not Weaver rings!  

Whatever cheap mount he likes the look of will perform just as well as any other cheap mount.

There is a thread on the M14-M1A Firing Line(www.temp-m14forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1588&highlight=mount&sid=4ba656afea7b1390a9629f89d1636269) about a modification to the SA M14 scope mount that is said to correct the problems with it. I am sure one of these could be had cheap.

I just went through this. I bought a cheap mount that got sold a few weeks later. then I bought an ARMS 18, and have had no problems. The cheap mounts will give you nothing but frustration.

I can't comment on how well it works, but I have a Springfield Armory Gen 3 M1A mount for sale, $50 shipped.  Came on the M1A I bought, didn't have a scope for it at the time and wanted to shoot irons anyway, so I just took it off.

I to went the cheap way and got a 44.00 mount and a 400.00 scope. The cheap mount fell off after 200 rounds even had lock tight on the threads. The bolt threads were left in the gun instead of backing off they just hammered off. I have not been shooting a m14 but a year or so tell your friend to read and learn from these people hear at ar15.com and m14 forum.com.

What about the Pre-ban 30 and 20 rnd mags from Sportsmans
www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=87756

I know if they are anything like the AR mags, they are really luck of the draw.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  What's the word on these?  Are they Western Metal?  USA?

Gundraw

GunDraw,

Dude, DON'T DO IT.

Look, sometimes it is OK to buy less expensive stuff cause it will work OK but not be as durable maybe or look as good.

In this case, believe me, any mount other than top quality for an M1A is a waste of money.  It simply will not stay put so scoping the rifle  is a waste of time.

You would be better off buying the best mount and a cheap tasco scope, than the most expensive scope and a cheap mount.  You would shoot better with the good mount and cheap scope.

Best bet buy the ARMs.

All of this is irrelevant to my personal opinion that the M1A/M14 is a piss poor platform for optics anyway.  But that is another story.

Lastly, on the magazines.  Do not buy them.  They are most likely USA which may or may not work.  At $11 a pop seems like a deal.  Except you will not get them all to work, if any of them do.  If you buy 6 of them you spend $66.  You can buy 3 excellent USGI mags for that and they will work for years to come.

In these two cases you do get what you pay for.  In the case of the M1A scope mounts, you don't get anything for your money with the cheap ones.

Good luck