Hey M1A fans. I have a brand spanking new Springfield M1A (standard) and so does my buddy. We both went out to the range the other day and had the exact same problem with our rifles. We were using Aussie .308 surplus (beautiful ammo BTW). Anyway, here's what happened:

Every 10 or 15 rounds or so, I'd pull the trigger and nothing would happen. I assumed a hang fire the first time so I stood by for 10 seconds or so, still nothing. When I ejected the round there was no firing pin strike mark on the primer. This happened in the middle of the magazine several times, so it wasn't like I was riding the operating rod home and not allowing the round to chamber properly. This happened with the same regularity with both my buddie's and my new rifle.

It then seemed to stop after we went through about 100-150 rounds. I'm starting to think this may be a breaking in thing. Has anybody else experienced this? Where's my M1A knowledge guys?

Thanks brothers.

One of two things comes to mind,

The first is that all the primer sealer on the ammo/primers gummed up firing pins, and you just need to pull the firing pins and clean the channel in the bolts.

The second thing that comes to mind is that the bolts were not fully closed at lock up, and the bolt being slightly out of lock up, the receiver was blocking the firing pin from reaching the primer.  This could be caused by a round slightly out of spec, a very fouled chamber, or a fouled out opt rod caused by the bullet sealer gumming the works.

Since I only shoot Port, SA, or Radway-green surplus, I can't comment on the Aussie ammo and how well it runs in the M1a's.

That sounds more like a break-in issue.  I've had nothing but VERY good luck with the Aussie Surplus.

One other thing to look for is lubrication.  The M1A Needs LOTS of lube (i.e. GREASE) all along the bolt and Op Rod channels and in/on the bolt roller.  Also, once you get about 300rds through it, don't forget the clean out the gas piston & plug as a dirty gas system will end up affecting both feed & accuracy.

By Marwhiz: One other thing to look for is lubrication. The M1A Needs LOTS of lube (i.e. GREASE) all along the bolt and Op Rod channels and in/on the bolt roller. Also, once you get about 300rds through it, don't forget the clean out the gas piston & plug as a dirty gas system will end up affecting both feed & accuracy.

Worth repeating...

My family bought my brother an M1A when he was promoted in the USMC.  Recently he was over visiting and feeding  his M1A continuously throughout his visit.  Anyhow, after a few hundred rounds, he started having some FTFs.  I watched the first one, as he pulled the trigger the charge handle lurched forward and the rifle just went "CLICK".  My bro put it down cuase he's leery about hang-fires and KBs.  I ejected the round and IIRC it had a light primer strike.  He then had several more in a row and would have to tap the charge handle forward after each round to lock the bolt.  My Uncle who was with us, shooting his M1A as well, immediately asked,  "Have you lubed your rifle lately?  Like a Garand, you need to have that sucker lubed."   They went to the garage, greased the action and fired up a couple hundred more rounds without a hitch.  

If that had been me, I would have been degreasing it thinking the action was being hindered by too much grease.   Totally caught me by surprise.  (And since I de-greased it before we gave it too my bro... I guess I'm to blame)

Sly

I'm hoping that as the rifle breaks in these FTF's will occur less often, even without a lot of lubrication. The action is basically an M-1 action, right? I recently sold a well broken in M-1. I kept it lubed pretty well, but I certainly wasn't religious about it. I never had a single malfunction with that rifle, not once. You pull the trigger and it went "BANG" every time. Could I attribute this to that M-1 rifle being well broken in or would you call it a more reliable design?

The M14 Rifle dimples the primer of every cartridge locked into the chamber.  No dimple?  The bolt wasn't closed.

The rifle requires grease and oil.  Tetra and CLP (or LSA) works fine.

These rifles will be a bit sluggish when new, many Parkerized parts rub against each other including the aft top of the bolt against the inside upper surface of the receiver.

After a couple hundred rounds note the shinny spots and lube them.

-- Chuck

 Exactly as Chuck said.  You will notice after those two hundred rounds that the action will start feeling glassy smooth.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I agree with the grease.  Also keep the bolt roller greased up ang the ares of the op rod that it rides in as bolts are getting hard to find right now.

You might as well put some on the op rod where it runs through the guige and on the spring. It will start out stiff till broken in then be as smooth as glass.

Take a look at the position of the bolt when the FTF occurs.  Is the bolt locked (lug down)?  I had a similar problem with my M1A due to the bolt roller clip breaking.  This will sometimes cause the bolt to slow down enough to keep it from locking (and it'll make pulling the charging handle back tough).  Also, just like everyone else suggested, grease it up pretty well until it's broken in.  Good luck!

If you have this problem with the M1 Garand, M-14/M1A, Mini-14, or M1 Carbine, you're probably not getting into battery.  When you fire, the hammer drops and shoves it the rest of the way in, but then you're locked up with a live round in the chamber and the gun decocked.

Strip the weapon, hose it off with a degreaser, wipe it down, oil the parts you don't want to rust and grease the parts that rub against other parts (just a small dab of oil in the firing pin channel on the Mini-14, see what the manual says on the others), reassemble (may have to do this and the previous step in the reverse order to see what rubs where), and shoot.  You should be fine.