Something followed me home today...

[karder]

Excellent choice and congrats! The M1A stands as one of the finest designs in history. No collection is complete without one. I am itching for a socom 16 as my next purchase. I really love these rifles.

[The Annoyed Man]

If I could make a suggestion, try buying the CMI (check mate industries) mags from http://www.44mag.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. They are close to mil-spec GI mags I have seen, and I think they are the current GI supplier. They are not cheap, but they work. The Promag mag I tried years ago was okay for practice, but not very dependable. Same for all the "cheap" mags I have tried.

I have a standard M1A and it has always ate up all the surplus ammo I have fed it. I'm working on a getting a scope mount working for it, but I am still working on that.

Duly noted, and thanks for the input. I looked at the CMI mags on the Midway website, but shied away from them after reading reviews.

...and as we know, everything we read on the Interwebs is the gospel truth! Oh well, maybe I'll get some next time around.

I swear, I must have bought several dismal mags of different brands - including ones with the Bushmaster logo on them - for my Bushmaster varmint rifle, before settling on the P-Mags I use exclusively now for my AR15s. Now if they made M1A/M14 magazines, I would buy those up in a heartbeat. There must not be enough market for them to get involved. Too bad.

The money pit keeps getting deeper. This morning I ponied up for the new Super Sniper 10x42HD, plus a sunshade and a flash kill.... but I think I'm about done.

Hogs beware!

[The Annoyed Man]

Here's what's going up top on this rifle, all of it ordered today...

• Sadlak Aluminum Scope Mount
• SWFA SS 10x42HD Fixed Power Scope with Mil-Dot Reticle
• Burris XTR Tactical Rings, Medium Height
• SWFA SS Kill Flash
• SFWA SS 42mm Sun Shade

It occurs to me that, between the cost of the rifle, which was considerable, and the cost of the above optics equipment, this is easily the most I've ever spent on putting together a long shooting, accurate rifle.

I can't wait to have it all together and shoot it. I'm going to the range on Friday — God willing and the tryptophan wears off.

[RECIT]

I purchased an AR10 style Rock River rifle in lust of the M1A or SOCOM16. I have yet to fire my Rock River b/c I am still wanting the Springfield. There is a gun show the beginning of December here in Houston. I am thinking of dragging my Rock River up there to trying and make a trade or sell it outright and find a SOCOM or M1A Scout. That is still the rifle I lust for even though I have LOTS of other awesome choices in my collection.

[The Annoyed Man]

Well, HighVelocity was kind enough to give me a set of medium height Burris XTR Tactical rings, so I've saved myself that expense. I'm off to Cabela's this morning to purchase extra ammunition and stuff. I'll be HighVelocity's guest at the Haltom City Rifle & Pistol Club on Friday, and we'll get a chance to ring her out and see how she shoots.

My scope arrived yesterday morning, so I've got everything I need except the Sadlak mount. I just checked the UPS tracking number that Brownells gave me. It is in route and was departure scanned in OKC at 7:30 this morning. That pretty much eliminates today for delivery, and tomorrow is out, so the best I can hope for is that it will be delivered before 10:00 a.m. on Friday. I'm not optimistic that will happen, so it looks like the initial range session will be with the iron sights only.

But that's OK with me. I wanted to zero the irons at 200 yards anyway, and HCRPC has a 200 yard range. Plus, I've always shot those kinds of distances with scoped rifles, so this will give me a chance to get used to using the irons on this rifle. I understand that these are great sights and can be shot quite well. I have 57 year old eyeballs which tend greatly toward the far-sighted. When I look through these sights without my glasses on, the rear sight is quite blurred, but I have a very clear and focused view of the front sight post and its protective "wings" inside of that blurry circle. I reckon that once I get this rifle zeroed, if my aging eyes can see the target, I can hit it. But I won't pretend to be able to use the irons out as far as they are supposed to be good for. I can't see that far with my glasses on.

[markthenewf]

As for ammo, I've really only run WWB 7.62 (147 gr) ball through it so far. I've just bought 200 rounds of it and I may begin reloading depending upon how things go with my brass catcher and if I get a Christmas bonus this year.

Mark, have you experienced any failures to eject? A friend of mine who has the Scout model said he had some FTEs with some German NATO rounds, and I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem, and if so, why.

I've run regular winchest 7.62 (100 rounds), higher-end ballistic tip 308's (10 rounds), and remington soft points (20 rounds). I've had zero problems with any of these. I can attest that those ballistic tip suckers made sub MOA groups, though!

[BobCat]

The Annoyed Man,

You don't need to see the target very clearly at all. As long as the front sight is crisp and clear, you are good to go. Your eyes are 57 years old, mine will be 61 in a few weeks, and I promise that as long as the front sight is clear you can print 10s all day long.

You may wish to set your come-up for a center-of-mass hold. This is about 2-1/2 minutes lower than a 6 o'clock hold, on a standard NRA Highpower target (the aiming black is actually about 6 minutes). It is easier to see the front sight bisect the fuzzy ball, than to get the fuzzy ball to sit nice on top of the post.

When my Garand came from the CMP, my friend Gary and I shot it prone at 100 yards. Gary knows more about rifles than I ever will; he has hunted for over 40 years (say, about 30 at that time), and brings home "the bacon" as it were. But for many years he shot scoped rifles exclusively. He was absolutely blown away - grinning 'til I thought his cheeks might crack - at how well he could shoot that old Garand with iron sights! I think you are in for a very pleasant surprise! Have fun! And please post a followup.

Regards,
Andrew

[The Annoyed Man]

FIRST RANGE REPORT:

Well, I went to the range today with it. My son and I were guests of HighVelocity at the Haltom City Rifle & Pistol Club. I brought along two rifles for comparison's sake — one being my new M1A, and the other being a Remington 700 VSF in .308. It wasn't an absolutely valid comparison, as the 700 has a very nice Leupold scope on it, and the Springfield has "just" the iron sights, and there just isn't any way for my naked eye to compete with a high end scope with 14X magnification. I shot both rifles at 100 and 200 yards, and I shot the same ammo in both rifles. I just figured that if the ammunition shot well in the bolt rifle, it ought to shoot reasonably well in the M1A. Since the bolt rifle is extremely accurate, with a 26" heavy barrel and an extremely light trigger, I thought it would provide a good baseline for the comparison. The ammo chosen for today was Hornady's 168 Grain HPBT, and Black Hills' "Gold" Match topped with the 168 Grain A-Max.

Once I got the 700 zeroed for the load at 100 yards on a sighting-in target, I switched over to the hanging steel plate. The plate manfully absorbed the abuse, which was considerable, and with the optics on board, the 700 simply could not miss.

Switching over to the Springfield, I could not even see any of the red sighting dots on my paper target through the iron sights, let alone sight in on them, so I abandoned the idea of getting onto paper with it and switched over to the steel plate. The first shot was low and to the left, so I cranked in 8 MOA of elevation and 4 MOA of windage, and after that I was able to beat that gong like a rented rule. It was awesome.

Then we moved over to the 200 yard line and took another steel plate under fire. Again, starting with the Remington, it was a mere matter of using the bullet drop compensator on the reticle, and I beat that thing like a red headed step-child at a family gathering. Then I switched over to the Springfield. That particular plate is about a 10" square. At 200 yards, it appears about the same width as the front sight post on the M1A. All I had to do was crank in another 2 MOA of elevation, and it was awesome the way those 168 bullets tore at that plate. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that kind of withering fire.

Anyway, it is difficult to give an account of true accuracy on the M1A until I can get a scope mounted to it, but I can say with certainty that if I can see a pig out to 200 yards through these iron sights, he's mine.

Here is a video shot with my cell phone of my son's first shot on the rifle. I've already put about 20 rounds through it. Some guy who was there was asking me about my Remington while I was trying to record this video, so that is the conversation you hear in the background:
[youtube][/youtube]

Here are some pics of HighVelocity, my son, and me, on various of the rifles we brought along today...

Me on the Remington 700 VSF:


Me on the Springfield, after the first round ever fired in that rifle:



HighVelocity on the Springfield:

HighVelocity on his AR15:


My son on the Springfield:

On his Rock River Arms AR15 Varmint rifle:

And on his Savage 10FP-HS Precision:


It was a good day at the range, and then we followed it by convening at my house to consume the rest of the turkey I smoked yesterday, and the stuffing, and the potatoes, and the apple tart, and the....

I have to take nap now.

Anyway, I will post more once I can get the scope mounted to the Springfield.

[USA1]

Me on the Springfield, after the first round ever fired in that rifle:

Now THATS a Kodak moment.

Its like capturing "baby's first steps" on film.

[stevie_d_64]

11am - I was there buying some cheap plinking AK ammo to take my step-daughter to her first full-auto shoot:

Poor Leroy!!!

Soooo misunderstood...

[stevie_d_64]

Me on the Springfield, after the first round ever fired in that rifle:

Now THATS a Kodak moment.

Its like capturing "baby's first steps" on film.

Wait a sec...HE's A LEFTY!!!

[The Annoyed Man]

Wait a sec...HE's A LEFTY!!!

Oh yeah. Notice that the Remington in the first picture is left-handed?

[HighVelocity]

It was a pleasure having The Annoyed Man and Son as guest shooters today. I imagine both will be HCRPC members soon enough. It's a great place to shoot.

They also let me play with their toys and fed me some awesome post T-day grub afterward. Thanks again!

Gary

[Kevinf2349]

TAM

That is an awesome report. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a fun time.

I was going to go to the range today but frankly I couldn't be bothered to drive across to Marksman with all that crazy traffic and Texas City charges by the gun and we were wanting to take 6 guns along.