JWR:
A couple of tidbits regarding the king of the battle rifles:
M14 magazines are now just $10 each at Midway - they have secured a lot of
Taiwan mags - these are made on USGI machinery
that we sold to the Taiwanese. Yes, I feel stupid
for having bought my supply @ $35 each! [JWR's Comment: If
they are blued, then they are Taiwanese. If they are gray phosphated (Parkerized),
then odds are 90% that they
are
mainland Chinese.]
The "chopping" of the barrel from regular length to scout length
is a very complicated operation requiring the re-milling of the spline [cut]
on the barrel, etc.. Fulton Armory has the gear/expertise to do it, but not
sure
of
anyone else. They are a bit slow due to their backlog of work.
USGI parts have become scarce so newly manufactured Scout & SOCOM [variant]s
should be checked out for having "real" parts and newly manufactured
ones swapped out accordingly. [JWR's Comment: Nearly
all Springfield Armory M1As made since the early 1980s have less than
half original USGI
parts. Up until about 1985 you could special order one with Springfield
Armory's "All
GI Parts" option. IIRC,
that cost an extra $200+. I bought my first M1A in 1981--a special-ordered
heavy barrel Super Match in an E2 stock with the "All GI Parts" option. That
rifle cost $880, which was a fortune in those days. But these days just
an E2 stock with all of the metal parts costs around $600. That
is one of the reasons that I switched to L1A1s. But
I still miss that Super Match. Sniff!]
If it would help, I could share some modifications that were passed on to me
by Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch/learned from use - let me know if you want
them. - D.B.
In a follow-up e-mail, D.B. added:
JWR:
These are what I have done to prep my M1A for Schumeresque use:
1. On the advice of Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch, I filed the front sight blade
down the point where the rifle is zeroed at 100 yards with the rear aperture
bottomed out. This way you don’t have to worry about the peep getting
bumped down/off your zero when you are carrying/using your rifle. You need
to determine what the best round for your use is – Talon demilled USGI
ball, Hirtenberger, Winchester
150 soft point, etc.. Depending on your anticipated engagement parameters,
maybe it should be set for 275/50/300 yards.
2. Again, per Clint, I put grab loops on the bottom of the USGI M14 mags [to
facilitate getting them out of magazine pouches quickly.] Clint originally
recommended the 100 MPH tape loops. However, knowing the life
expectancy
of 100 MPH tape under heavy use/heat/sweat/rain is 6-12 months, I went a step
better. Bought 1/8” stainless steel cable from the hardware store and drilled
a hole thru both sides of the magazine and created a loop of wire with a ferrule.
Then put JB weld over the ends of the clipped wire to prevent the painful little
poking that occurs from a frayed wire. Size them large enough to fit gloved fingers.
These are the “sack of hammers” approach – yes, there are commercially
made Mag-Pulls, but if my life is on the line, I want it Russian/11B grunt/Jarhead/sack
of hammers tough. Clint was OK with the arrangement on my next trip. Also, can
them clip empty mags to a carabiner after a magazine swap--as opposed to using
a
dump
pouch – just
my way of skinning this cat – YMMV.
3. Skateboard tape on the USGI metal butt plate so it doesn’t slip off
during MOUT ops/movement. The recoil
pad that Springfield Armory put on doesn’t help me use
the rifle for it’s secondary purpose (a pugil stick – WARNING – those
who insist on using the varmint round .223 platform, you can only use that miserable
excuse for a rifle to butt stroke the bad guy one time – better make it
count!)
4. Krylon wasn’t around when I did it to mine, but that is what I would
use now to stripe/disrupt [camouflage] the solid black of the rifle. Paint the
metal
too – keeps
it from rusting – the Brits are famous/infamous for it.
5. Take a Dremel tool and put air holes in the top hand guard to ease cooling.
I don’t have any empirical data showing “X%” cooling rate improvement,
but it makes me feel better that I am caring for the rifle as best I can. Recommend
removing it B4 drilling so you don’t go too far/into the barrel.
6. The insides of the ears protecting the front sight blade are painted gloss
white to reflect as much light as possible onto the blade as long/as soon as
possible during reduced visibility.
7. I drilled holes in the side of the foreend and using 1” rings mounted
a 6P Surefire to the stock. According to Surefire, they won’t withstand
the recoil, but I have only replaced one bulb over the course of Urban Rifle,
a symposium at Gunsite, and lots
of training. I use the G2 [light] now, it is cheaper by
1⁄2 - I used Brownell's bedding compound to epoxy in the nuts on the inside
of the stock so they meet the 11B level of reliability – while mine is
on the correct side of the stock (right hand side since I shoot the weapon the
best way/as a southpaw) it works just fine for the wrong sided use (right handed)
as well – guess you could try on the bottom, but could affect your prone/barricade
shooting/get in the way more
8. I don’t hang an extra mag on the butt – you need to be able to “switch
hit” from right to left shoulder to properly operate in MOUT scenarios
and one of those is prohibited by having a mag on the butt stock
9. Consider heavily training opposite handed – the rifle “sings” when
you run it left-handed – you can see the breech without removing the weapon
from your shoulder – you can run the bolt from a better mechanical advantage/keeping
your left hand on the pistol grip – I am left eye dominant and fairly ambidextrous,
so this rifle rocks for me - YMMV
10. I have an M60 sling on it to hang the rifle from my neck/be able to drop
it in case of malfunction to transition to sidearm – need a one point hook
system, but haven’t been able to develop that yet
11. Use the cleaning kit area in the buttstock for it’s intended purpose
12. Have a ruptured case extractor on your line one level of gear – if
you have any reloads in your BOB replace them with factory, and better yet, USGI
rounds to preclude ever using the tool
13. Learn to use a spoon [stripper clip guide] and stripper clips so you don’t
have
to
carry
so many mags
14. Only use USGI mags on this weapon!
15. I drilled out my aperture to make it into a true ghost ring after shooting
my first scout rifle – you can still be precise, but it really speeds up
your ability to hit closer targets quickly
16. The second M1A (remember the motto: Two is one, one is none) is set up with
a
Leupold
M3
scope
on
SWAN/ARMS QD levers. (Sorry, but SA’s
mount is not stable.) Unitized gas system, stainless match barrel and trigger,
bedded stock – I made out of
leather with USGI sleeping pad padding, a cheekiest to get my eye socket aligned
with the scope – there is no such thing as a “chin” weld – you
must have a secure place to lay your face behind the scope to get accurate shooting.
At Precision Rifle, I ran the tower drill getting 2 hits out of 20 rounds trying
to use the chin weld – after 2” of sleeping pad and athletic tape
were added, the group shrank to .75 MOA out to 600 yards. This rifle has a M1907
leather sling and skateboard tape on the buttpad for slippage prevention. I have
not drilled the handguard on this one as it would contribute to mirage problems.
17. Remember – you sweated and cussed humping the ammo for this 9-to-10
pound
pig – it turns cover into concealment, so make every one
of them count--get
a hit! Hope these help our patriots out there! - D.B.
JWR Adds: The only other modification that I recommend for an
M1A
is
painting
the
handguard FLAT black. The original brown finish on USGI .fiberglass handguards
tends
to
reflect
as
they
get
older and worn. OBTW, speaking of handguards, you mentioned: "Take
a
Dremel tool and put air holes in the top hand guard to ease cooling" Personally,
I
don't recommend that. Ventilation holes or slots will put "mirage" heat
distortion
lines
up
into your
sighting
plane. (This is primarily an issue for long range match shooting with iron sights.)
Also,
avoid
the early USGI
ventilated
handguards (the ones with the parallel rows of slots)--they
were discontinued because they tend
to
be
fragile.