my M1As first testfire.

A

A.Rex

New member
Well, it's official I took my virgin M1A out for a shooting session today and all I can say is; WOW! What a great rifle! Nightcrawler, when you get yours, you are going to love this weapon; Smooth flowing cycling bolt, noticable but mild recoil, great sound and great hitter. I am pleased with the Springfield .308.
But I did learn some things. One mistake I was making was not letting the bolt slam shut from completely pulled back, I was gingerly letting it forward (hey, it's a new gun, right?) and the bolt was not rotating completely closed and locking... until I racked it to the back and let it slap shut. Then it worked perfectly and didn't give me anymore trouble. I learned not to "baby it" because this rifle is all business!
Lesson #2, listen to the vets... the aftermarket mags suck. I didn't know until AFTER I bought my gun, see, I'm one of those 'buy the mags, then get the gun' type of chaps. The 10 round 'happy democrat' mag supplied with the rifle worked cherry every round. The others went through about 6 before making problems. Now what to do with the useless mags?
Anyway, I see what all the fuss is about, this rifle was a joy for me and the boyscouts I brought with me. They loved it!
 
Congratulations! The M1A is awesome! It has its own sound and it is pleasant to hear. I can imagine the grins on the youngsters made it all worthwhile for sure.

I made the same error in the past in buying aftermarket magazines. I threw them away after realizing that if I can't have confidence in the magazine it has no business in my rifle.
 
I suggest you mail the magazines to Bill Clinton. Who knows, he might be depressed that day, buy an M1A, and off himself using one of your magazines.

I love my M1A too. How about that trigger? Mine breaks like a glass rod.

I might have stayed in the 'scouts longer if they let us shoot M1As instead of single shot bolt action .22s. Keep up the youth interaction. We need all the new members in the RKBA movement we can get. Make sure the kids know all about the founding fathers and the purpose of the 2nd amendment.

[Edited by Q-Man on 04-22-2001 at 06:07 PM]
 
More to this thread...

Of course, what would the day be without a little lesson of RKBA... and the gun-fearing public.

Upon leaving the property where we were shooting, two women were waiting at the edge of the woods by the road.
"What are you doing?" they asked.
I looked at them and smiled, "Calling it a day and going home." They weren't impressed with my attempted humor. "You're trespassing here," the older one said. "And you're not allowed to shoot guns here," said the other.

I was at a momentary loss for words. Here I was, with the boyscouts, loading the guns into my car that we shot legally on my brother-in-law's 20 acre parcel out in the woods, and these women (who *were* trespassing) are telling me what I can and can't do. So I laughed.
"I think you've got the wrong property," I said.

So we had a little talk, that all boiled down to 'these women didn't like guns.' It turned into a debate. I gave them my views; I was teaching the boys a valuable skill, respect of firearms, correct techniques and safety proceedures, use of backdrop... hey, I'm NRA certified for crying out loud.
The women didn't buy it. They didn't even believe I was a scoutleader, even though I had on a pair of BSA scout pants. In fact, they even came back with "Our husbands own guns but they don't go off shooting them in the woods where people could get hurt!"
"Get hurt? If you properly use a gun, chances are you will not get hurt. I taught these boys that, and we had a good backdrop the whole time-"
"But accidents always happen!" The older one shot back.

At this point I knew it was useless to continue. These women had husbands who owned guns, and they were still like this? I don't know what to tell you all, but that upset me. I got in the car and told the boys, "It is people like that, that will take outings like this away from you in the future if you do not vote when you are 18 and join the NRA." They were kind of making fun of the issue and laughing about it, but I think they will remember this at a later point in their lives, and think...

And for the fellows out there who own guns but their wives are anti-gun, I don't know whether to be upset with them or feel sorry for them. Fortunately, mine wants another Glock and an AR-15. God bless America.
 
I think I would have just called the cops to get rid of the trespasing "accidents" on the property.:) Some people are just too stupid to get a clue.
 
I thought of that, but I also wondered how the cops would have reacted when they eventually got there. Would it have been a witch-hunt because I was the one with the arsenal or would they have done what was right and got the problem off private property... -no signs posted.
I don't know. Any police care to give a post?
 
Excellent A.Rex!!! Sounds like you’re doing a wonderful recruiting and training job for the RKBA.

I’m surprised those women weren’t at home watching their taped collection of Rosie episodes. Their husbands must be whipped.
 
If you ever use your rifle for Service Match competition the el-cheapo mags are great for slow fire stages to save wear and tear on your expensive GI mags.

They are also good as "failure to fire" traiing devices.
 
I did learn something about those mags... Their problem seems to be that they 'slip' from the magazine well due to weight or a poorly built seating device. Keeping pressure on them to counter gravity solves the problem, but I wonder if something could be permanently done to the 'little rectangle' on the back of the mag to help is stay seated. Who knows. If I had a machine shop I could make some pretty great stuff.
 
I wonder if the little rectangle tab in back is to thin or if the body of the magazine is flexing to allow the tab to pop out of the catch.
 
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