The M1A is a good rifle if you are at least 6 feet tall and in good shape, as would have been a significant number of men in the military who tested the M14. This is true of almost all full size battle rifles.
If you are shorter than 6 feet tall and are not in good shape, it is not good.
I am talking about the people who in WW2 had a much better time with the M1 carbine than the full size M1 garand. This is particularly true of modern militaries with a substantial number of women and/or shorter foreigners.
Can they use the M1A? Sort of.
Will they have a good time? No.
This class of people are MUCH better off with intermediate caliber AR or AK derivatives.
The M1A also suffers as there are better options nowadays for full size battle rifles. An M1A is also relatively expensive, especially for how much you need to slap upgrades on it to modernize it.
I’d say it depends on what you want to do with it. If you want a cool wood stock iron with gun I think they are sweet. If you want a dmr that you can easily make 500 yard shots and beyond it’s not the perfect rifle for a few reasons. First putting optics on it is difficult,really the most common solution is a saddle mount and I just could never seem to get the damn thing zeroed in and then to hold zero even though I was using teller $200 Springfield gen 4 if I remember right( could be error on my part but never had that issue with my bolt guns or ar15s). This is where I quit with my m1a and sold it. But after that the gun isn’t mechanically that accurate, being piston driven and an old battle rifle design it just doesn’t lend itself well to be a crazy tack driver, many guys glass bed their guns in chassis which can improve the rigidity… the good chassis are VERY expensive. So from when I was building mine I ran the numbers you could spend 5k-6k on making one a good DMR and it would be about as good as a $1500-$2000 ar10. Mind you this was probably 5 years ago and ar10s have gotten better and cheaper as well. So in short no it’s not a bad gun it really just depends on what you want it for.
If we are going by definition of not being sold off to the public (because they can't, due to select fire receivers), then sure. But if we are talking about replaced and outdated rifles which every single milsurp rifle falls in definition of, an M1 Garand scaled down slightly and modified to take detachable magazines is mechanically similar to nearly all milsurp guns of the 20th century and thus should be treated as such.
It's a reliable rifle if you are looking to shoot white box ammo, run, gun and blast. If you want precise work then you are going to be disappointed. They are hard to mount optics. They are hard to make sub moa rifles. An AR10 platform is far superior for everything....cheaper mags, more accurate out of the box, just as reliable, easier to mount optics, easier to rebarrel yourself, cheaper magazines.
It will do what you want if you want to invest in it. And you can hunt with it out of the box with iron sights just as you can hunt with a 30-30 lever gun. If you got good eyes, you can stretch it out further. It will probably group as good as your eyes to the point where it needs an optic with magnificiation, at that point it might not have the accuracy you need.
I had an M1A. It's a great gun and a lot of fun to shoot. It's still in use in the military, but as a support weapon for those times when you wanna say 'screw you and the cinder block wall you're hiding behind." There is a trick to the M1A though, it's not a free floated barrel. This means how you hold the gun has to be extremely consistent shot after shot otherwise changes on the force you apply to the barrel will make the gun appear inaccurate.
Who should get an M1A? Anyone who already has 3\~5 ARs in various lengths, is looking for something new, and willing to spend $1500\~$2500\* is probably a good candidate. However they are also a good candidate for a CMP M1 Garand.
Are they "that bad"? No.
Are they worth what Springfield charges? Also no.
If you want a nice M14, go get a Fulton Armory. If you just want *an* M14, go find a used M1A.
If you mean the Springfield armory m1a’s then yea. I’d rather spend the money on a Fulton armory m14.
But if you just mean m14’s in general, then no. Not the best, but definitely not the worst
I have a Scout Squad, for me it became a money pit between chassis and sight mounts.
But for semi auto 308s the options are limited. AR10s are cool and the operation is the same as a
.223/ 5.56 / .300 blk etc AR. Id say it has more positives then negatives. If you're trying to stay consistent in battery of arms from the small cals to the full powers between loading, charging etc. then it's the better choice.
The M1A is different, looks good and is a breath of fresh air. The rock and lock mags, giving the gun a reach around to send the bolt forward then dumping rounds into target from the standard brake is sweet. The accuracy isn't the best mine is around a 2-3 inch gun but I'm cool with it.
I think the issue is that I tried to force a M1A to have the adaptability of an AR platform, and kina succeeded but for a hefty price. But it's only money, I'll make more.
The PTR 91 is cool too, I got one. But still like my M1A more.
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