M14 Forum

badorderbob

so today I dropped of my sa loaded m1a at the gunsmith so he could install my arms # 18 mount, smith medium rings, and leupold mark 4 3.5-10x40 m1 illum tmr. just looking for general pointers, what to do, what not to do. what about ammo? good? bad? not too bad? and by the way, this is my first post...

Young guns

Before you get started i would clean any oil or grease from your rifle that came from the manufacturing as this can hurt hurt the accuracy when breaking in your rifle. I would also clean the barrle out with a patch and solvent to remove any unwanted things from the barrle. Then before getting your rifle perfectly zeroed i would shoot a few rounds to help break in the barrle then start zeroing. Start at about 50 yards when zeroing and then move out to 100 or 200 for the final zeroing. I would say using 168 grain bullets are the best for higher accuracy, but every gun is different so try a few different types of ammo and see what works best. I would also stay away from any brown bear ammo i found it to be quite dirty, these can fowle up your gas system and if you do use it clean your rifle very often.
Good Shooting.

Al Mack

I think most peuple think if a gunsmith puts the mount and scope on there good to go, wrong. It may be bore sighted, but you will have to zero it at the range. Start at 25 yards, your point of impact 1 inch below point of aim. When this is done move the target to 100 yards and then complete zeroing your rifle. Buy lots of ammo and have fun.

badorderbob

cool good start so far!, I have had the rifle for a year, and shoots great with iron sights, m friends enjoy shooting it more then my garand, which I think is insane! I think some 168's maybee winchester white box, maybee something with a polymer tip... my gunsmith kicks ass...

nf1e@snet.net

Welcome badorderbob. Excellent choice of scope. I have 2 of them on my favorite M25s and will put another on one that is in the cooker. Surplus 147 gr ammo has been the diet of my rifles most of the time. Unless you are competing at longer ranges, no need for the heavier bullets. I always keep some GMM 168s for the times I want to prove the rifle at over 200 benched. Handloaded 155s keep things purring. Enjoy your rifle and keep the reports coming.
Semper Fi
Art

badorderbob

what about tricks to stiffin up the front end? my gunsmith mentioned that rather then bedding it there are ways to accomplish the same thing

nf1e@snet.net

My preference is USGI birch stocks. Not exactly sure what you mean about stiffening the front end. Need more info as to what you have and what you are looking to do with it. If you are trying to use one of the SAI " rubber " stocks, you might look at a different one. I know some have stiffened them with composite arrows and fiberglass. That is not my cup of tea.

badorderbob

rather then getting rifle bedded and getting the gas sytem utilized, something along the line of just tightening that end of the rifle... yeah arrows and shit? retarded! my gunsmith also talked about the difference of sighting in with sand bags and a bipod.....

Al Mack

Is rifle in ine of Springfields new plastic stocks, or wood? The wood should be stiff enough, but the plastic will need help if you intend keeping it. And shimming the gas cylinder will make a big differance. Also the hand guard need to be trimmed. Do only one at a time so you can see the changees made with each mod.

Rojkoh

OK, the Leopold 3.5 X 10 is a Critical scope. It means it can be harder to get it working right with the rifle. I tried one with the classic Griffin and Howe mount (predating the ART mount) and had to give up after 300 rounds of PMC Ball. This does NOT have any great reference to yours, but they can be hard to deal with even considering Paralax.

Now, take the ammo your used to. Put a target at 50 yards. Test fire 3 rounds at it to see if it registers on the target. Me? I normally used to use an IPSC Item target to start with when mount and adjusting a scope because of the added surface. Once I registered at 50, I'd move it back to 100. Work your way back to 250 yards, because that's what the M1 Garand and M14 used as a battle sight. What you want to do is test it at 100, 200, 300 and 400 to see the bullet path and drop for the hold (or under) over as needed. Take notes!

On my NM M1A with the Griffin and Howe mount, I used a Leopold 2 X 7 and it was dead on all the way out to 1000 yards since I did use it on the PALMA second stage (any rifle, any sight). Great thing about the G&H mount was the ability to unhook it and stick it in it's carrying case when I was shooting stage one (Any rifle, iron sights). On that rifle, 1000 yard was 44 clocks, USGI NM sights. I have shot the Leatherwood mount/scope on an M21 and more current optics.... Yes I did like the stadia lines on the ART set up. They're great for hold over.

badorderbob

its there new synthetic stock, which i have had great iron site accuracy, we will see once i pick the ammo