Went to the range couple of weeks ago and had the opportunity to shoot anothers fellow's M1A. I have to say that this gave a very deep sense of satisfaction...it was something entirely different from AR and my AK. I don't know if was the recoil or the size of the round or the fact that I felt that I was able to really reach out there. Anyways, since that time, I cannot get the rifle out of my head. My funshop conveniently just got a SA standard M1A and I'm really tempted by it. This would mainly serve as a range gun...just to go and shoot holes and plates from the bench out to 300 yards. Might also be used for the occassional side match. Generally just a fun gun. But I would like the peace of mind knowing that it could also serve in a pinch should my other "go to" guns poop out.
I've read both good and bad about the SA rifles...complaints mainly about cast receivers, cast bolts, extractors, op rods, etc. The cast receiver doesn't get me worked up as all the other manufacturers use cast receivers aside from LRB (which is way out of my price range). Nothing comes to mind as far as reading anything about receiver and bolt breakage. The only complaint that I've read about the receiver is that its not to completely true to original specs and therefore there may be problems mounting optics. As I don't intend to do this, I am not that concerned. The main is issue is extractor breakage. However, aftermarket forged extractors are available and there are still GI bolts around as well, although not as cheap as they once were. I've also read about guys shooting thousands and thousands of rounds with nary a problem. I also like the idea of SAs lifetime warranty.
So my question to you all is how you feel about the M1A. Is it GTG?
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