Dredsen

the best lesson here, is no steel animal ammo.

aa1911

I'm gonna have to start using that term, 'animal ammo', too funny!

speaking of animal ammo, brown or silver bear blew up my AK a few years ago. I do love wolf but only for 9mm and AK.

don't think I could bring myself to shoot any steelies through my beloved rifle. LC match brass and SMK's throw them into the same hole no matter what load I try.

I've also shot a little bit of Israeli surplus (mixed headstamp at that) and even that stuff did OK but certainly not MOA. I don't use that stuff any more except in my FAL which has no sentimental value to it. SMK's and various noslers is about all I use and all produce fine groups.

mac75

+1 Hammonje's response exactly. The results from my Loaded were the same as yours and I was SO disappointed. I realized it was me and with LC ball ammo It blew my mind. I have since upgraded it to NM and it is so impressively accurate. Just thought I would chime in same start with the same rifle. It is just a certain combo and you will be happy.

Peter79

Hello to all, while I have not posted much here, I have put quite a few rounds downrange. I have shot DAG, Winchester Q3130, South African surplus, Prvi white box M80 and a few others off the bench w/scope through my NM M1A and none of the surplus stuff groups better than 3 - 3.5 moa. Hand loads with 168gr matchkings or even Hornady hpbt will put 3 into a 1/2 clover or 5 under an inch at 100 yds as will FGMM and M118LR.
I highly doubt there is anything wrong with the OP's equipment, My partner had a loaded model a few years ago that was the same story. At 100 yds, surplus ammo looked like a buckshot pattern but a 168 over a mild dose of RL-15 produced a 1.25 crecent shaped group of overlapping holes through the iron sights.

tank1949

It seems to be on par with just about all M1A unless they are really "tweaked."

I doubt that I could do that well with iron sights. I'm just too old.

Heisenberg

You might want to use a torque wrench to tighten the gas cylinder plug and try different settings.

My M1A Loaded stainless with a walnut stock shoots 1 MOA with AE 168gr OTM ammo most of the time. So far 3 people have shot 5-shot groups of 1 MOA or less with it. I have a Nikon 4-16x50mm scope on a SA aluminum mount.

All I have done is 1) shim the gas cylinder, 2) have a gunsmith bed the stock, 3) replace the spring guide with a Sadlak NM guide.

I was at the range 2 or 3 weeks ago, and my first 4 shots were in a 0.75" group at 200 yards. Then I was all over the targets. Later it looked like the parallax knob was set at 800 yards or so (no numbers on it) so maybe that explains inconsistency after I might have been interrupted.

I think if I can be more consistent, it should be as accurate as I need it to be. I am going to try Federal GMM and some Federal 150gr ammo to see if there is a difference. I also just replaced the piston with the Sadlak TiN one, but have not shot it since.

tank1949

Hiesenberg,


All I have experienced is inconsistencies with mine for years. Mine's dl and ss Kreiger heavy barrel and sadlak stuff too. Have stock bedded and gas cyl welded or unitized but then I discovered that Clint Fowler hadn't reamed out flash hider. That took out most of the inconsistences but I still can't shoot gold metal stuff. I did learn to clean gas system after every range event. I wan't doing tthat before sadlak titaniumposton. It was just too pretty not to clean.

Heisenberg

I clean the piston and cylinder after every trip to the range too, and I think that has helped. It seems like the first groups I shoot are often the best.

aa1911

I keep the gas system cleaned out religiously; got a set of screwdriver handled drill bit gizmos specific to the M1A, only takes a minute to knock the carbon out. I use a .45 brush to get inside the cylinder.

I'm surprised to see that many aren't getting 1 MOA, I thought almost all of SA's M1A's would easily do that. My old one has been rebarreled and got worked over good at camp perry so I guess I'm lucky, it's a hell of a performer.

scope mount showed up today, will post up how my boomstick does with optics; plan on doing a loaded next, might have to consider a NM instead?

GillaFunk

Am I missing something here?

I was testing reloads a few weeks back for my scoped Scout. The only accurzing I've done to it was unitize the gas system.

5 Rounds, and I was pushing these out fairly quickly, trying to get as much choro data as I could.

tnw50cal

I shim my gas cylinders and add a Sadlak NM guide rod on all my M1A's and thats it. All of them have USGI parts and barrels and this is what I'm used to at 100 yards off a bench rest with front bag only. This is with iron sights and 52 years eyes that have had eyeglasses since 1st grade.

All my rifles seen to really like Federal American Eagle 150 grain which is what the above group is. I usually shoot 5 round groups but had only brought 30 rounds with me that day so I shot 3 round groups.

GillaFunk

Yeah.....I think that will do quite fine.

soflarick

What is shimming and unitizing the gas system? Torque the gas cylinder plug, to what spec? What clearancing of parts is recommended?

I recently ordered a Loaded model with black synthetic stock. I haven't yet received it, and I don't intend to modify it until I put a couple hundred plinking rounds downrange through the iron sights.

I've been thinking of getting a walnut or birch stock for it for original appearance purposes.

Obviously, I just joined, so thank you for the information. Very informative sight. I can't wait to get my grubby hands on this beautiful firearm.

tank1949

Soflarick,


I'd stick with synthetic stock. No wood to swell when wet, even if you have Boyd laminated stock, and they are HEAVY. Unitizing gas system is to TIG weld stock ferrel to gas cylinder so there is abslutely no vibration or movement. It seems to help, but I found out after numerous rounds sent down range that my flash hider needed reaming with 3/8" drill bit. That was a "job" due to hardness of metal. You should use a drill press too. Hand drilling it will not turn out well (MHO). If you plan on having a Gun Smith double lug receiver, your synthetic stock may not have enough "meat" to gouge out for custom glassing. Boyd's laminated ones will. Trust me!!!! I considered an injected moulded stock but I was fearful that I would run into the same problem. Not enough material to gouge or ream out to glass and the glass might not stick in place.

Some people buy M1As that shoot well out of box and in MHO, if you have one that shoots any commercial ammo and produces less than 2 MOAs, then you have a good one. Any tighter and it is great! I own a SW 19 and Ruger S6 that will shoot any 357 bullet incredibly accurate. It just happens.

Good luck!

tank1949

that is incredible!!!!