M14 Forum

jmoore · February 21st, 2012, 11:35 PM

Not too old thread link below:

WTF!? A .243 M1A...FROM SA Inc.?!?!?!?!

Gus Fisher · February 21st, 2012, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxfr

hi all,

Here in France a lot of M1A are in 7-08 cause it is classified as "civilian caliber" whereas 308 is "military" caliber. Laws are differents for these 2 calibers, and it's easier to get "civilian" instead of "military". Very stupid but true....

Do you happen to know what size the gas port is in the barrel in either metric or inch/decimal measurements?

Gus Fisher · February 21st, 2012, 11:45 PM

In the 90's, I had a couple people ask me about mounting a .243 barrel in their M1A's. The problem was I did not know what size gas port was correct and did not have a .243 reamer. I was also concerned about using higher pressure hunting loads in the receiver. Well, now one can rent reamers and there is an adjustable gas plug for hunting ammo. I'm not sure I will ever barrel an M1A in .243, but it is much more of an option today than it was years ago.

m14brian · February 23rd, 2012, 01:39 AM

Would an M1A in .243 Win require a smaller diameter gas port due to the higher velocity?
m14brian

jmoore · February 23rd, 2012, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m14brian

Would an M1A in .243 Win require a smaller diameter gas port due to the higher velocity?
m14brian

See Post #42 in the thread linked above (this thread- Post #16). Apparently it's the same size.

Rerun!

ersterderfaellt · February 23rd, 2012, 05:55 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmsX9...vGcpaqRZPNCQgQ

ersterderfaellt · February 23rd, 2012, 05:59 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfhau...vGcpaqRZPNCQgQ

dozier · February 23rd, 2012, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m14brian

I'm no spring chicken, so looking forward I thought this over and when I get older a .243 or 7mm-08 or some necked down cartridge with less recoil may be what the doctor ordered. I think anything with an OAL of 2.800 or slightly less would work. For me, I have broken disks and facet joint injury in my neck and serious chronic pain but I don't want to give up shooting or M1As.
m14brian

m14brian, are you a reloader? A lot of people shoot/reload 125-135 grain bullets in .308 to shoot in thier M1As. I've also downsized the powder charge to shoot 150FMJ @ 2300fps in .308with no reliability issues. Both these tricks will cut down drastically on felt recoil. Cutting back on my powder charge made the recoil feel like a .243 cal. You can have your cake, and eat it too. dozier

m14brian · February 23rd, 2012, 02:46 PM

dozier,
That's a great idea, thanks. I'm not yet into reloading but I seriously want to get into it. I know a retired Master Sergeant that has reloaded for about 25 years that can help me when I start. He has reduced pet loads that are just barely enough to work the action reliably. He figures that at 100 yards, less recoil, save money, wear on your rifle and get more loads on your brass. He's got it down to a science. Being retired, he can shoot a couple times a week.
m14brian