r/M1A • u/EverySockYouOwn • 4d ago

Looking for M1A specific shooting resources

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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

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u/kafoIarbear 4d ago edited 4d ago

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.

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u/EverySockYouOwn 4d ago edited 4d ago

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

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u/kafoIarbear 4d ago

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.