M14, M1a, M14SA, M25, M14K

[charlie echo]

Tell us about your M14-type rifle, for the 7.62x51MM NATO ("308").
Made by Springfield, LRB Arms, Fulton, 7.62..., Polytech, etc?
Reliable?
How far do you typically shoot?
What barrel did you choose(SOCOM16, Scout/Bush 18.5, standard 22)?
Where do you buy your bulk surplus ammo?

[chemsoldier]

Springfield M1A Scout/Squad- 25-400 yards with South African ball ammo. I am about out of the SA though and the ammo monster is threatening to take all my lunch money.

Cool rifle, more of a fun toy though. The army, in its infinite wisdom still insists I use AR platforms.

So between these factors it spends a lot of time in the safe.

[TEA]

Springfield Armory Inc. M1A. Started life as a "Loaded Standard" but is now fully match tuned.

Upgrades in order of when I did them or had them done:
Repeated soakings of stock in Tung Oil topped of with three coats of Minwax Tung Oil finish
Brookfield Precicion NM op-rod guide
Fulton Armory unitized gas system
Hooded NM rear site aperture (I have since gone back to standard for hunting)
Match stock ferule and "horse shoe" mod.
Barnett Medium Weigh NM barrel (installed by a friend who match tunes rifles and is a High Master shooter)
Glass bedded stock (by same friend when he installed the Barnett barrel
USGI NM rear site base

[TEA]

Forgot to answer some of the other questions in the OP.

Reliable? Absolutely.

How far do I typically shoot? That depends. If I'm hunting, however far the game is from me. With iron sights, I feel comfortable in taking a shot from standing out to 200 yards. Usually, I can get within 100 yards of my target, though. For target practice, I usually shoot from 100 to 300 yards. Same for competition shooting, which I haven't shot in a while. I've shot out 600 yards in a few matches, but I wouldn't call that typical for me. The longest I've shot was probably about 1,000 yards, but I'm guestimating.

I buy bulk ammo from whoever has it cheapest at the time. I've found Wideners, Outdoor Marksman and Miwall to be good sources. Since I stocked up on several thousand rounds just as ammo surplus ammo prices started to increase as a result of the wars overseas, I haven't bought any in a while. Last time I did a bulk purchase (DAG German surplus) the prices had already started to increase and I think I paid around $0.25 a round for 2K rounds including shipping.

[TEA]

Just because all threads are better with pictures.

[MarJoe]

No M-14(Marine) yet. I have severval other rifles in >308. My AR-10 by Armalite is seeing a lot of usage. Like Tea anywhere from 25 to 500 yards either kneeling or supported( tree, big rock or Bogstick. I use Ammoman. com for bulk practice ammo. Handload my hunting rounds with the new Barnes tipped tripleshocks 150grs. Ammoman is one price which includes S & H. They carry the majors and surplus Mil. also. Joe

[Vorpal]

Thanks jerks, this thread is going to cost me over 1K. Now excuse me while I go to the SA website.

[Tom .C]

Thanks jerks, this thread is going to cost me over 1K. Now excuse me while I go to the SA website.

Goddamn TEA is a super secret M1 sales force. That is a beautiful rifle.

[TEA]

No M-14(Marine) yet.

Uncle Sam's Misguided Children led the way in keeping the M-14 up to date in the '90s and re-introducing it in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Thanks jerks, this thread is going to cost me over 1K. Now excuse me while I go to the SA website.

If you can afford to spend a bit more, you may want to check out what LRB has to offer or even getting a receive from them and sending it off to someone like Ted Brown to build you up a custom rifle to your specs. If I had it to do over, I'd probably have gone with the latter option, but when I bought my M1A, Springfield and Armscorp were the only games in town.

[nrmillsap]

I've been looking at either a scar 17A or an SA SOCOM...thoughts?