m1a accuracy AND reliability

[vendetta333]

i know that M1a's can be made very very accurate. nm barrels pistons, etc etc. but can they be this accurate AND also be "battle"/hunting reliable? tax time and i am considering a M1a purchase. but i dont need another shot gun (pun) so is it possible to take a shelf M1a loaded and have less than 1.5MOA accuracy and "battle"/hunting reliability? thanx for all replies!

 

[roninflag]

my garand has a krieger hvy match barrel ; glassed, trigger and other additions . capable of .3" at 100 with imr-4895 and 168s. ( has a 36x mounted on the side of it) . built by one of the best, in my favorite cartridge.

 

[vendetta333]

that's very impressive performance even from a bolt gun. and i am aware of many instances of this kind of performance, but i am curious if it is attainable with complete reliability? i am also not even trying for this kind of accuracy. like i said, at least 1.5 moa. but all the accuracy in the world is useless for my purposes if the gun only works when in optimal conditions on a bench or a nicely maintained range firing line. im interested in this as a "600 and in gun" for most hunting and god forbid shtf. hope this is a more clear question and thanx for anymore responses. gun)

 

[roninflag]

I shot mine almost 2400 rounds one year at matches and practice . it works great.

 

[vendetta333]

what sort of environments were you in? sorry for all the specifics guys, just trying to get a good grip on this. keep 'em comin

 

[roninflag]

M1a- i shot in phx 116 degrees, and in flag single digit and 8 - 10 inches of snow. really liked prone, the snow was like a benchrest. the 30-06 was used in two world wars we won, and a conflict in Korea. i have cofidence in my garands. i shoot in matches 200-600 yards. plus hunting coyote, fox, bear, lion, deer and elk , antelope, we do not have moose here. my experience is the more i use both hunting and paper the more confidence i have. hard to put a 12-42 on a garand. so i have bolts too. the 5-r is a good one.

 

[RT2506]

The M1A as far as working does a really good job of it with properly loaded ammo with the right bullets. Best hunting bullet I ever used in the M1 Garand and M1A is the 165 gr Sierra BTHP Game King. It is about as accurate as the 168 Match King but is a designed hunting bullet with no lead exposed to batter up the nose and cause a jam. But keeping accuracy is another thing. They can be made accurate but they are hard to keep accurate. So much slam bang in the working of the action really works on the bedding and other parts of the weapon and the scope attachment set up is not the strongest. For a hunting rifle it will be REALLY HEAVY. If you want a more accurate and dependable and lighter semi-auto in 308 Win I would look at one of the AR type platforms. Much better set up for scoping and usually will be able to get a better trigger. Just my 2 cents worth. For the price of these semi-autos I would get me a Rem. 700 Varmint in 308 and have enough money left over to put some pretty good glass on it. I wish Remington made their Long Range rifle in 308 win because it is a better set up than the Varmint. They only make it in 25-06, 7 Rem mag, 300 Win mag, 300 Rem UM. I really like the idea of the Rem 700 Long Range in 300 Win mag with a good Night Force scope shooting a Berger 200ish gr bullet around 3000 fps. gun)

 

[roninflag]

the rem long range comes in 30-06.

 

[vendetta333]

all valid points. i just got the itch for a m1a. but the keeping accurate thing makes good sense. any tips for helping that along? such as pet bedding compounds or best mount or mods/elbow grease to keep the mount nice and tight? thanx all keep coming, and post pix if you got 'em!

 

[RT2506]

Re-glass bedding after chipping all the old out when accuracy starts to go south is standard procedure but all I ever worked with was a wooden stock. Proper lubing with the military grease that comes in the little yellow top cups or if you happen to come up with an armors can of grease you are set. Otherwise white lithoem (SP?) grease will work. As for the scope mount there may be some better these days but the ones that use the single bolt that screwed into the action side needed constant attention re-tightening to hold zero. The open sights are solid. The constant attention to the M-14 Match rifles to keep them accurate is one of the big reasons that the AR platform is now THE over the course match rifles now.

 

[roninflag]

i believe you can get a solid macmillian type synthetic stock for it , that may help. i would get a 5-r, or a 700 long range bolt rilfe.