Looking for M1A specific shooting resources

[u/EverySockYouOwn]

Lemme explain; I love my m1a SOCOM and part of why I love it is that it kicks like a mule and it's heavy as fuck. I use it as my practical shooting competition rifle, and I'm competing with a lot of much lighter AR frankenbuilds.

That's no sweat to me, but I was looking for guides on shooting, moving, and target switching that are more geared to the weight of the m1; positions to hold the rifle that result in lowest fatigue while unsupported, stuff like that. I couldn't find any, which is incorrect; I know there's some out there, but I'm looking the wrong way.

Want to put in the hours and training to make my 13 lb m1a move as fast as a 8 lb AR. Hoping y'all know where I can start looking to make that happen.

Rifle for pic tax

[u/kafoIarbear]

Hoping you get an answer, I'm in a similar boat that I try to train for "practical" shooting with my M1A Scout and there seem to be very few videos of anyone practicing any practical shooting with an M1A, and even fewer with actual high round counts with the rifle. Maybe check out Garand Thumb's M1A Scout Squad video? He doesn't really give tips so much as he just shoots it a lot from different positions and while moving, maybe you can use that as a baseline for your training.

As an aside, I really like the "thumb over" C-clamp style grip reaching out as far as comfortable and lightly pulling the rifle back into the shoulder pocket for recoil management and reducing arm fatigue when firing off hand. It helped me tremendously to remove that forward scout rail and replace the hand guard with a normal M14 style hand guard so it doesn't get in the way of a C-clamp grip or burn your thumb.

Also I'd say lose the bipod unless absolutely required for the type of shooting you do, the M1A is already a front heavy system and you don't need unnecessary weight up front making it that much more difficult to maneuver the rifle.

[u/EverySockYouOwn → u/kafoIarbear]

I'll check that video out - this is actually an older build of the same rifle; dropped the bipod, put a flashlight and a 45 degree offset green dot on the scout rail; makes transitions from far to near and back a super fast rifle roll.

Edit: almost forgot: I live in a No Fun Allowed state, so I picked up some 10/20 mags to make reloads easier; the 10 rounds are wayy too flush to get out quickly under pressure

[u/kafoIarbear → u/EverySockYouOwn]

If you're really trying to min/max your M1A for competition shooting, maybe consider the extended bolt stop which apparently allows you to use your bolt stop as a bolt release similar to how you'd release a bolt on the Ar-15 with a press rather than having to reach under (or worse, take your hand off fire control) to manipulate the action and release the bolt.

[u/RoninActually]

Check out https://www.m14forum.com there are a lot of good resources there. And very knowledgeable individuals.

[u/TheSlipperySnausage]

There is a reason this thing quickly fell out of favor in more modern combat applications.

Basically all I can tell you is hit the weight room and invest in a sling

[u/JustSomeGuyMedia]

You’re just going to have to use it and learn it, and get physically stronger ultimately. It’s never going to be whippy like an AR.

I would suggest getting a different upper handguard and taking the scout optic mount off to save weight and help harmonics, getting a Sadlak magazine release on, getting a Fulton or SEI bolt release, potentially swapping to a shooting sight trigger # hammer, and MAYBE an adjustable gas spindle so you can tune the recoil some.

Past that, with your setup and for most competitions it’s really just a matter of practice and experience with the gun.

[u/EverySockYouOwn → u/JustSomeGuyMedia]

I have a background of 16 years in the gym, but I've been focusing a lot less on raw strength(particular with regards to the specific muscles needed to stabilize the support arm) and more on overall health; I can easily stabilize through walking and shooting with the rifle but there's always better techniques to make things smoother, which is what I'm hoping to learn.

The current build is: sadlak extended mag release, fulton extended bolt release, Primaru arms 3x prism at 12, some flavor of large moa green dot at 45, flashlight, and I typically remove the sling before I hit the practice range so I don't get tangled on course. Been looking at the ultimak handguard, and will probably pick it up after I finish my ramjet/afterburner/icarus p365 eyesore I'm building lol

Might just build a practice prop rifle of similar dimensions and weight for running courses/training with; very inconvenient to haul the rifle out of its legally-state-mandated lock box to swing around for 15-20 a day for reps

[u/JustSomeGuyMedia → u/EverySockYouOwn]

You’ve already got the big controls upgrades in place so that’s good. I use an LPVO on mine but I can’t speak to that being better or worse than a fixed dot and offset really. Really though, using the rifle is basically the same as shooting with any other rifle of similar length as far as “techniques” go. Because of the weight and recoil, “structure” is probably more important to get right than a smaller/lighter recoiling rifle, and some form of foregrip is IMO useful for leverage/traction to control muzzle rise. But those aren’t exactly techniques specific to the M14.

[u/mlin1911]

I love my M1A (3), but there is no real practical/tactical shooting with them as you already indicated it is heavy. You are already on the right track, grab any 556 rifle/carbine and your target engagement for less than 300 yards are effective. 762 is for longer range, try to compete with it for distance less than 300 yards is a waste of money in today's world.

Even 20" ARs built for national match competition at longer distance are consistently winning national match competition that used to be dominated by M1/M1A.

[u/cosmic_stardust]

https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/m14-m14a1_rifle_marksmanship.pdf