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Posted: 3/23/2005 8:21:51 PM EDT
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Greetings, I got myself a Springfield M1A a month or two ago, and have since put on a USGI stock and leather M1 sling. In terms of appearance and feel, I love this thing to death. However, there seem to be a few issues: 1.) Although I have not gotten a chance to actually shoot it yet (the range in my area doesn't open until spring-summer), my cheap $40 Wal-Mart laser bore sighter tells me that this thing shoots waaaay to the left - so far, I have to literally crank the rear sight all the way to the right to zero the thing. Now, on the one hand, I have no reason to doubt the effectiveness of my boresighter as it has been much more accurate in all my other firearms. However, with the M1A's long flash hider, there is also very little of the device actually in the barrel itself. The previous owner (who installed the new flash hider himself after the AWB died) has told me that the rifle was pretty much dead-on out of the box, although I have my doubts at this point. Is this problem real or just a laser issue, and if it is real is this something Springfield would be willing/able to fix? 2.) I recently bought 2 A-Zoom snap caps (the maroon metal ones), but neither one wants to eject very well or not at all. Real ammo zips outta there pretty good, so I'm unsure if this is an extractor problem or snap cap problem. Is there any way to tell if your extractor is USGI? 3.) Reciever heel gap. Quite a bit of it, regardless of which stock (original factory or USGI) I have on there. Is this a serious problem for causual shooting, and if so, can it be fixed at all? 4.) With the USGI stock on the rifle, the little metal plate endcap thingy at the tip of the stock is pretty loose and just sorta jiggles around. Is this really bad? Thank you SO much for the help. This is my most expensive rifle to date, and I want to be sure that it isn't also the most problematic one at the same time. One last question: Do you consider, by and large, the modern Springfield M1A to be a respectable and dependable weapon, or is it just an overpriced copycat peice of junk?  Thank you VERY much for the help, and please forgive my ignorance. 
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I wouldn't worry about it until you put it on paper
If your M1A is new, it's doubtful that your extractor is USGI. Shoot it and see how it functions
Pretty common. It may or may not be a problem. Try this; WITH AN EMPTY CHAMBER AND NO MAGAZINE IN THE RIFLE, squeeze the trigger and hold it. While holding the trigger, charge the op-rod and let the bolt go into battery. Let go of the trigger and dry fire the rifle. If the hammer falls, the stock fit is O.K.. If it doesn't, the stock is fitted poorly and won't allow proper lock up of the trigger group. This is also a way to test your trigger group for proper funtion.
Normal on a service grade rifle. It can be tightened up with shims.
Springfield Inc. is definetly experiencing some QC woes over the last couple of years but I wouldn't describe them that way. They are fine for a production rifle and SA Inc. will honor the lifetime warranty. That being said, custom M14 clones built by competant gunsmiths are better and usually more expensive.
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| Lifetime warranty ? - I hope my lifetime is a bit longer that the 12 months I believe they now offer. I had a potential with one of my rifles and a SA customer service person clearly stated it was out of warranty- 4 years old. However I can report that in 2 recent communications with them they were both prompt and helpful so I rate them highly and I understand about shorter warranties. It is a tough business world out there. |
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AS you, yourself, said, the laser thingy is a cheapo from Wally World.....don't sweat it. Receiver heel fit.....if your rifle passes the firing test noted above you should be ok....I always bed this area with Acra Glass just because I prefer a solid look. If you want to just bed the heel area it wouldn't be too hard, not like fully line bedding it. Ignore the snap cap problem, if the real stuff is popping out ok, you're probably good to go. The little metal thingy at the front end of the stock is called the ferrul. You can solidify the fit with some Acra Glass, essentially glueing it in place. The floppy thingy that is near the gas piston and tube is called the "front band" don't sweat it unless you are looking for extreme accuracy. As it stands the M1A is quite accurate even without the front band being attached to the gas tube. Hope your M1A works out for you, enjoy and good luck! 
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A warranty is a contract. If you bought your SAI rifle or pistol and at the time they offered a lifetime warranty, then a lifetime warranty is what you will get or they are in breach of their sales contract to you. Did SAI tell you they no longer had a lifetime warranty?
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This is not a good sign for SA... If they have gotten rid of their lifetime warranty on new rifles and replaced it with a limited time one, it shows that they fully know they have problems making M1A's and cannot fix the QC issues with repro parts, so they just hope the rifle lasts 12months, then the owner is SOL after that. I'm glad my M1A came with a lifetime warranty. The lifetime warranty was one of the main reasons buying an M1A was such a good deal, as any issues with the gun will only cost you time, and they had to make it right. Or, it could have been that you got an idiot functionary drone at SA customer service and he has no idea what he is talking about. |
My guess is it's the latter, though calling people idiots and drones is sophomoric. Here's a link to their web-site warranty statement: www.springfield-armory.com/prod-pstl-why.shtml |
Springfield has a practice of supplying lifetime warranty work on their firearms regardless of what the printed warranty reads. Unless you're an Alfa-Hotel about it!  Many firearms manufacturers provide no written warranty at all, yet have this same practice. Buy a $2K Ed Brown M1911 -- no warranty! You think Ed won't keep it running right? You know he will! Down in the middle of the scale Para Ordnance does the same thing. Snap caps: What for? These are unnecessary in military rifles. Soldiers and marines dry fired their M14s for a zillion rounds prior to the first trip to the range. Your extractor is a reproduction. Get a genuine USGI M14 (or M1) extractor. Install it now before you lose the spring and detent. Boresighter? My last two of Springfield M1As zeroed down range at mechanical zero (sights centered). Doesn't mean yours will, of course, but center the sights, bring the rear sight up 9 clicks, and shoot the critter. Find a range that's open, there have to be several in MN. Receiver heel gap. The rifle should drop flush with the wood at the rear. Something is preventing this. Try a USGI stock from your buddy if all you have are commercial stocks. -- Chuck |
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I find that A-Zoom snap caps are longer than the max cartridge overall length. Yes it may fit in the mag, it may feed just find, but the problem seems to be in the ejection. My Browning A-bolt will not eject a A-Zoom snap cap. The bullet tip doesn't clear the edge of the ejection port before the bolt releases the cartridge base. I reload and leave all my rounds to the maximum length, but not over it. I've never had a problem with live ammo ejecting. Plus you know that fired casings will be shorter, and lighter, so it will "chunk" those faster and farther than live rounds. |
Have we now gotten to a point that we trust dojiggy's and contraptions more than shooting? Just go shoot the dang thing! I'm bettin you'll have one helleva time!! At least then you'll know if you have problems. Also realize this, your poi will change with different ammo. So if you're moving the sights all over just to keep up with different brands you have to keep this in mind. Go have fun! 
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The internet is good and bad. Good because you can get alot of info, bad when the info you get is bad and incorrect rumors are spread. Probably best to take the extra fifteen seconds to email SAI for a clarification than to put out bad info. about what you "believe". This is the response I got from SA via email with regards to this warranty nonsense; it is pretty clear and certainly not what has been posted here: "That is not correct. We offer a lifetime warranty on ALL of our products." Thanks, Brandy Customer Service Department Springfield Incorporated 420 W Main Street Geneseo, Illinois 61254 800-680-6866"
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Thanks for all the replies. I just got accepted as a member of my local shooting range on Friday, so I took the M1A out for the first time yesterday. You were right, I shouldn't have put so much faith in new-fangeled gadetry. The rifle was dead-on accurate (laterally, at least) at 100 yards, didn't even need to touch the windage dial at all. However, the rear sight is down as far as it goes, yet the rifle still groups about 2-3 inches high at 100 yards. No biggie I guess, but still a little annoying. Thanks again for all the replies 
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2-1/2" high at 100 yards is a perfect battlesight! This will be dead on at 200 and require only aiming at center of mass out to 200 meters. But the rifle should shoot like this with the rear sight up about 9 clicks. What's on the muzzle? My Bush version came with a very tall front sight on top of a muzzle brake. Putting a standard M14 sight on the brake made the rifle shoot so high it couldn't be zeroed with the brake or a standard M14 flash supressor. Installation of the Smith Vortex, however, required the standard M14 sight. -- Chuck |
Not sure, it says "NM" and "062" on the left sight guard thing, I'm assuming it's the original sight that came with the rifle (I bought it used, remember) as it's the same color as all the metal on the rifle except the flash hider, which was put on after the ban. My Bushmaster was even worse, same exact story (rear sight = all the way down) except it was shooting closer to half a foot high at 100 yards  . At least there you can adjust the front sight, but then again I don't have the tool one needs to accomplish this task.Why is it that all my firearms have some sort of curse like this... 
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