M14 Forum

Redleg155

I am not new to the M1a platform, having previously owned 2 M1a rifles in the past, both loaded models. For some reason I was never really happy with the rifles and eventually sold them.
My newly aquired M1a Scout is different. Short barrel to double as a HD rifle, but long enough to effectively engage targets at respectable ranges. Walnut furniture..it's hard not to warm up to a walnut stock. It fit me perfectly and I am happy. What to feed a US Made American newborn?...why American food of course!

My first range session was yesterday. On hand, 100 rounds of Remington 150gr .308. Function and reliability, flawless. Groups, 2.5" to 3" at 100. Ho hum...

I happened to also have 40 rounds of Silver Bear Russian ammo. I think why not? and let her bang. Function and reliability perfect. Groups 1 to 1.5" . 100 yard gong
.PING! 200. PING! 300 PING!!!

Strange enough...this American born baby likes borscht. Go figure.

Ezekiel

Factory hunt'n Remington .308 could be a little too hot for shorter barrel. Are you getting a nice fireball out the barrel? Federal figured this out and made specific ammo just for the M1 and M14 flatworms. It works a lot better.

Its nice to know that some cheap ammo like the Wolf stuff works well. I have 5.45x39 caliber M4 Carbine and it shoots the corrosive 1970's stinger bullet like match ammo! Try to shoot the new non-corrosive stuff, forget it! Stocking up on Windex too....

I'd try the M80 Ball government stuff for your SAI too, I bet that would work fine.

Nice Shooting!

Edit: D'oh! Edit barrel length.

Young guns

Feed it what it likes, if it gets better accuracy thats a plus. Either way thats awsome that the less expenssive ammo shoots better.

Cant complain about russian ammo it works 100% of the time all the time.

Good Shooting.

LiberalInsurgent

I have to say my scout ate 500 rounds of Brown bear without a single issue. Just ordered 640 rounds of Radway Green, we will see how she likes the British surplus

Young guns

Scout model has an 18" barrle not a 16" just saying.

RAMMAC

I have been playing with loads for my SOCOM for quite a while and the one thing I have learned is that the short barrel doesn't play well with ammo that was developed for long barrels.

The Remington 150gr ammo was most developed for the most common barrel length of an American sporter rifle. The Silver Bear ammo is probably based on the most common style of rifles that Russia has that are closest to the .308 Winchester...the AKs.

And here is my point; the average American hunting rifle will have a barrel length of about 22" - 26" but the average AK style rifle has a barrel length of 16.3". The powder's pressure/time curve is such that it can't produce the same results over that large of a difference in barrel lengths. Therefore, the American ammo is better tuned for a longer barrel while the Russian ammo is almost exactly matched to the performance characteristics of the SOCOM's 16.25" barrel.

After all the time I've spent working on hand loads for the SOCOM, the one thing I am positive about is that you can not expect ammo that was developed for a longer barreled rifle to perform well in this rifle's 16.25" barrel.

LausDeo

Thanks for the laugh! And the info, I'm going to try this when I build my 18.5"

tokiwartooth

I don't thin SAI receivers are American made...... Aussie?