Sighting In The M1A

[BrokenolMarine]

Have been upgrading the range over the last week or so, and this would be the first time I have been able to get on the range in over a week. My guy had to take the Backhoe home to have some servicing done to the hydraulic lines and replace a pin he wasn't happy with during an inspection he did at the end of a workday. Gotta take care of your equipment.

I have had a bucket list item in the safe, calling me, for a month or more, and I wanted to get 'er sighted in. I hadn't shot it sooner as I was waiting for a Brownell's order, lube, tools, and the like. I found an unfired M1A and I didn't want to damage it without breaking it down, cleaning off the factory lube and properly greasing the gun.

The day has arrived. Of course, it rained like cats and dogs for ninety minutes starting at 530 this morning.
Hasn't rained ALL week. The range was slick as ice with mud from one end to the other, so I went off to the side at the 40, and set up about ten yards off the side in the grass. This gave me a shot of somewhere around 45 yards.

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Here is the M1A, posing while she waits to show her stuff. I preferred the nylon stock, no changes with humidity, and don't have to worry about banging it hauling it in the UTV. Came with the Bipod, I planned to make good use of it. It came with a scope mount, took that off. I'm good with the military sights, just did my orange paint trick to the front post.

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First three shot group was at 10 o'clock and a bit high. I cranked in six clicks windage and six elevation. Fired three more. Wrong way on elevation. (Gibbs slap for me.) Made the adjustments. Six more right windage and down 12, duh.
Three more and a couple clicks down, fire for effect. I'm good.

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I'll go back down when the range dries and shoot at 90 yards, length of my range. Til then, I know it's a shooter.
With a more precise target, I'm sure I would hold a tighter group. Say, a six inch bull, floated on top of the front sight... booyah.

[Cofisher]

I have always loved the appearance of the m1a. And, it's later iteration, the Socom 16. I'm not in the market to buy. But, maybe someday.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have always loved the appearance of the m1a. And, it's later iteration, the Socom 16. I'm not in the market to buy. But, maybe someday.

I have been "in the market" for years. I was waiting to find a good deal on the right rifle. Hoping for a Friend Price if I could find one. Watching Estate Sales, checking with friends downsizing their collections, and twenty years later, it happened. It was one of those guns on my "Like to have, but don't need" list. I shot one on the rifle team in the Corps, but had plenty of actual rifles I'd use. This would be one I would shoot for the fun of it.

That Bucket List has slowly shrunk, just a couple more to go...

[fortyshooter]

Great shooting BM! Who makes that rifle?

[BrokenolMarine]

This is one of the base models offered by Springfield Armory. It came with the nylon stock and the bipod as options at the time of purchase. In addition, it had the odd device under the flash suppressor, which I asked about here on the forum.

I sent a pic and my serial number to SA Customer Service, the young lady did some research and said it was a factory installed muzzle brake / Compensator which they offered for a short while.

It didn't seem to affect the accuracy, so I'll leave it.

[Hatchdog]

Just looking at your M1-A sitting proud on the table shouts “Classic”. Such a good looking rifle.

[BrokenolMarine]

Just looking at your M1-A sitting proud on the table shouts “Classic”. Such a good looking rifle.

Back in the 80s we shot the Match Grade M14s in the National Match courses. Those courses went back to 600 yards. Many would be surprised at the groups you can attain at 600 yards with iron sights. Good sight picture, a solid prone position, breath control, and then slow smooth trigger squeeze until the shot broke and Boom... another fine hit on target.

I really enjoyed shooting the matches. I was young then, didn't have experience of the top shooters, though I didn't MISS the target. My groups and scores didn't win me any medals at the time, but they were coaching those of us with less experience and I learned something with every practice session, every match. I built my skill sets. I WAS shooting expert in the Marine Corps each time we went to requalify. All that extracurricular long range shooting certainly helped.

I was only shooting on the base teams, never left my squadrons to shoot on Marine Corps teams. Aviation Personnel, especially Avionics techs, Crew Chiefs, Pilots, etc rarely were spared for those duties.