I just picked up a Colt in a trade, trying to decide if I keep it or sell ot off. The idea of semi-auto .308s bites me now and again, the last time it meant I ended up with two M1As, one the SOCOM and the other a match gun.
I just picked up a Colt in a trade, trying to decide if I keep it or sell ot off. The idea of semi-auto .308s bites me now and again, the last time it meant I ended up with two M1As, one the SOCOM and the other a match gun.
Springfield's QC is a little spotty. I have seen one brand new one at the range that kept shedding its operating rod, but I have seen dozens that operated just fine. If you have the $$$ you might want to look at a Fulton or Smith, but you will be spending a lot for the gun. RockOla (name only) has recently come on line making M14 clones and seem to be a viable option to Springfield.Originally Posted by Dropkick
I have a early 90s vintage M1A NM which other than the receiver is pretty much all Winchester parts. If you can find a rifle of this vintage, I would say to purchase it as they are sought after by 400 lb M14 fanboys, but not everyone who has one knows their worth. Newer Springfield rifles are mostly commercial parts and as such are not theoretically of the same quality as the GI parts of years past. Whether it will ever be an issue is the question. Fulton and Smith guns are still largely built on GI parts and that dives their costs up to the $3000 range. I also have a Socom 16 of mid 2000's vintage. I purchased it over a Squad Scout because 16 inches was all the rage back then and have had buyers remorse ever since. It certainly has not met my accuracy expectations. It has a mixture of GI and commercial parts. Due to the moderate number of GI parts and because we now have longarm registration in Kalifornia for newly transferred rifles my plan is on keeping it and sending it off to have a new 18" Criterion barrel put on it as well as as many GI parts as I can afford.
I have a special place in my heart for the M14 series rifle. I also love the AR15 series. The M14 is iconic, a nice shooting rifle, and in places like Kalifornia, allow you to change magazines and skirt around assault weapons laws. At the end of the day however, my opinion is that unless you have some legal requirements or a distinct attraction to the M14 - you will be better served for less money with a 7.62 AR series rifle.
I ended up switching my Colt deposit over to a H&K MR762.
I took it to a 3-gun match and had mega satisfaction when I broke one of their steel targets at 200 yards.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
Any thoughts on the CMMG offerings in .308? The CBR seems like it might be a nice choice.
Downsides are low comb height and an operating system which hangs a ton of reciprocating weight off the barrel and pins a ton of weird parts to said barrel.
They flop around like crazy when you shoot them, in a kind of unpredictable way. So tuning them for accuracy can be a little frustrating (although it's totally possible, if you're patient enough).
The low comb height means that optics, which as previously mentioned are a pain to mount, also line up perfectly with your eye. Well, if you have an eye on the top of your head, at least. For everyone else it's either comb riser, which works but is kind of a kludge fix, or growing a beard long enough to get some kind of beard weld on the stock. But these days if I want .308, I probably want a low-powered variable optic, so it means I would have to raise the comb height. But then the irons are useless, and I am now conditioned to having access to back up sights, so I don't like the optic-only solution.
They're a weird in-between gun. If you want an issue-weapon-tough, open-sighted hunting rifle with 2-3 MOA accuracy and the ability to sustain a rate of fire that couldn't possibly be done with a bolt gun, the M14 is your machine. But who wants that?
If I had to pay US prices for them, I don't think I would have gotten into them. They just don't integrate well with most peoples' applications and preferences anymore.
This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff
Too late to the show on this, but Rainier Arms has a complete 308 option available for about $2,700. They (the company, not the rifle) have a pretty good rep and the price point seems to be somewhat in between the DPMS options and the Larue/KAC options. Weighs in at 8lbs, 0.6oz.
Speaking of M1A's, does anyone have experience with the VLTOR replacement stock ?
I got to play with one on a used SOCOM at the local fun store - it takes AR pistol grips and has an AR/M4 stock tube. What really caught my interest was the M4 stock tube appears to be adjustable for height. it appears the whole tube can be slid up or down where it attaches to the stock - eliminating the need for an add on cheek riser with optics.
Have you shot it for accuracy yet?
Curious to hear what sort of groups you get, and if it opens up with heat.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
I've put 5 shots into 1" at 100Y with a 3x ACOG and Hornady OTM and had no problems hitting a 6" plate at 200Y from kneeling at the end of a 35 round 3 gun stage with PMC Bronze.
That's good enough for me.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
Me, kind of. I was looking for something that would be semi-auto, >= .30 caliber, and legal up and down the East coast, that I could use to hunt with, and also be able to slap a full size mag for the rest of the time. However, I recently heard that semi-autos are illegal for hunting in PA... So there goes that. And if it wasn't for the NY SAFE Act, I'd be all over a AR-10 What's a dude to do?
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