AIA M10 B2 Rifle

[powdermonkey72]

I own No 14 of 25 of the original AIA M10 *T's. Mine was a Prototype/trials unit and has a couple of extra bits, including original L42A1 aluminuim bedding, fully floated full length fore end, monte carlo stock and is fully blued bar the trigger gaurd. The Barrel is also 25mm like the B2 Match rifles. There was originally 26 of the *T reciever sets made but one was rejected on the grounds the stock bolt assembly was 3mm out of square. Kyle Hadley, who is very helpfull, imformed me when i got mine,($1600AU unfired) I was entitled to a bedding upgrade and possibly having a low line stock with a cheek piece made for my rig if i desired. Im also waiting for a reply regarding a Repro Sniper/Transit case for my rifle as its the least it deserves. Kyle also said, the only bloke allowed to work on the 9kg *T's is the managing director, who affectionatly calls them "his golf buggy babies". He is generally overseas and is quite a busy man. A hell of alot of development went into the production of this line of rifles,and mine is an exceptional performer to say the least.
Sabre Defence Industries in the US, were supposed to import them to the but did not happen. I think thats been covered.
Incidentally, I found No.16 in a shop an hour from where I live. That was a surprise, seeing how all the others 1 to 25 are either in AIAs Reference Collection or privatley bought. I believe JollyGreenSlug has one of these also. They are a very well made, accurate plus, desirable firearm. I believe a very good representation of what the next generation of service rifles could have been. And they also cut a fine figure no matter how you look at them.
The 7.62x39 units are a great weapon also.
I better shut up and re-post some photos of mine again! Cheers!

[enfield303t]

I own No 14 of 25 of the original AIA M10 *T's. Mine was a Prototype/trials unit and has a couple of extra bits, including original L42A1 aluminuim bedding, fully floated full length fore end, monte carlo stock and is fully blued bar the trigger gaurd. The Barrel is also 25mm like the B2 Match rifles. There was originally 26 of the *T reciever sets made but one was rejected on the grounds the stock bolt assembly was 3mm out of square. Kyle Hadley, who is very helpfull, imformed me when i got mine,($1600AU unfired) I was entitled to a bedding upgrade and possibly having a low line stock with a cheek piece made for my rig if i desired. Im also waiting for a reply regarding a Repro Sniper/Transit case for my rifle as its the least it deserves. Kyle also said, the only bloke allowed to work on the 9kg *T's is the managing director, who affectionatly calls them "his golf buggy babies". He is generally overseas and is quite a busy man. A hell of alot of development went into the production of this line of rifles,and mine is an exceptional performer to say the least.
Sabre Defence Industries in the US, were supposed to import them to the but did not happen. I think thats been covered.
Incidentally, I found No.16 in a shop an hour from where I live. That was a surprise, seeing how all the others 1 to 25 are either in AIAs Reference Collection or privatley bought. I believe JollyGreenSlug has one of these also. They are a very well made, accurate plus, desirable firearm. I believe a very good representation of what the next generation of service rifles could have been. And they also cut a fine figure no matter how you look at them.
The 7.62x39 units are a great weapon also.
I better shut up and re-post some photos of mine again! Cheers!

Powdermonkey. Thanks for your posting and I have heard about the rifles that were prototype/trials but know it is viturally impossible to find one. I am so disappointed about not being able to get a rifle in 7.62 X 39 as it would be so inexpensive to shoot seeing as we have a abundance of this ammo here in Canada. I started all of this to try to give the guns built by AIA a fair and honest review by all concerned. Kyle has been more than helpful too me and great to deal with. I had a message from someone that a "39" is still available in a Gander Mountain outlet in the eastern US. Wish I could get it and so does bearhunter who like me was trying to get one into Canada. I found the negative comments about AIA and their rifles unacceptable especially considering the writer never owned or fired one. Stevo wrote a very good article on it.. he owns one and those are the type of posts I respect and put merit to.

[Pblatzz]

I have a No4mk4 AIA, great rifle, well made, Have to take it to the range and test it out.

I would like to know why all the neg comments from 303british on these rifles. I got the impression he did't get a free rifle and boggered the supplier for that.

Pete

[bearhunter]

Pblatzz, sadly that is what seems to happen to most of the AIA rifles in Canada. They get left in the safe because they are just to pretty. What a waste.

I recently picked up a new in box, unfired AIA M-10A bolt action carbine in 7.62x39. It was originally ordered from Wolverine and from the August/2005 date on the literature in the box, it's one of the rifles delivered to the US that were so controversial and maybe not paid for. The seller, let it go for 15% off the store price and included shipping in the price. Nice discount.

The rifle is beautiful. Fit and finish are perfect. It is no longer unused though. It shoots South African, Chinese, Russian and Czech ammunition into an inch at 100 yards, if I do my part. Compared to an SKS, it is a dream to clean. Nice tight chamber so no escaping gasses back into the action. The chrome lined bore is nice to clean as well. It shoots each different manufacturers cartridges to different POIs but they all group tightly. This is all from a bench rest of course.

The fellow that originally bought it, thought it would be nice to have a bolt action chambered in 7.62x39. He soon got over his notion when he felt the weight and saw how pretty the wood is. I think, like many that he was afraid of marking it up. After all, it is a substantial investment when compared to an SKS. For a while, there were several of these on the CGN EE. Most were unfired. People found out that they had made an impulse buy and had something they were completely unfamiliar with or they were semi auto devotees and the rifles languished in the safes.

I couldn't really afford it but I've been looking for one of these since I first read about them close to ten years ago. In all honesty, I would have bought one from Wolverine if this deal hadn't come up. I'm actually surprised Wolverine isn't cleaned out yet. They only had 48 units in total. I will admit they are a bit pricey but they are the Cadillac of Lee Enfield clones.

I was originally going to scope this rifle but I think I will just leave the mounts in the package and use it as is.

There is one other issue, the mags are pinned to 5 rounds. I am going to take them in and have them engraved "FOR USE IN AIA M-10A ONLY". The same thing was done for their big brothers mags in 308Win when they started to bring in 20 round mags for them and they were OK as long as they were so marked. The same should apply for the M-10A mags. We'll see I guess.

[A. F Medic]

I have one of the A2s. Bought it at Gander Mountain (USA) about two years ago. Three digit serial number. Modified by adding a scope and a cheek rest. 7.62x39

Great rifle but I wish I could find out what the true story was about how they got into the US. I was told that mine was one of fifty that made it in. Probably just a story. There was a Century International Arms bright orange unloaded breech indicator that came with the accessories kit.

Rifle looked unfired when I got it but not now. Turned down 1,000 USD for it.

[bearhunter]

A.F. Medic, get enfield303t to give you the whole story as told by the owner of AIA. He and I entertained the idea of bringing in a couple of dozen rifles and maybe flog them for just enough to get a free one for each of us. Our cost per rifle would have been over $1100Can by the time they got to our place. That means we would have had to sell them for $1320/rifle just to break even. Wolverine supplies must have gotten the existing rifles out of the US. 48 rifles. The original storey up here was that 250 pieces went into the states and none came into Canada. There is a Nato import mark under the barrel, just behind the brake. Looks like it was laser engraved in Australia. as it has an Australian acceptance mark as well. Wolverine is selling the for $780Can. They also say that's it, once their gone, no more. I also have the AIA M-10 B4 heavy barrel in 7.62x51. As enfield303t can verify, it will shoot surplus IVI ball into less than half an inch.

I have a lace on leather cheek pad for the 7.63x39 M-10A. I am looking for a cheek pad made out of teak, like the one that came with my other AIA. Both rifles, take mags that are common to other rifles. The M-10B4, shares an M14 mag but the two that come with it are only 10 rounders. The M-10A shares the same mags as the SKS D or AK47. Again, 10 round mags, pinned to 5 rounds. I will as mentioned get the mags engraved as being for the M-10A only and should be OK with removing the blocking pin. In Canada, bolt actions and 22 rim fire rifles don't have capacity restrictions.

There is one other thing. The M-10A1 has a 20 inch military weight bbl and the M-10A2 has a heavy target weight 16.25 inch bbl.

There is a "Note fo Customers in the United States of America"
I goes on to describe the Magnuson-Moss Act(public Law 93-637) and that US importers wouldn't elected not to provide any written warranties. They did this along with AIA because of the limited amount of rifles involved it was cost prohibitive to try to comply with all state regulations.

Both of these rifles are extremely accurate, right out of the box. I was going to scope the M-10A but have changed my mind. It is very handy just the way it is.

[A. F Medic]

The gun smith I know had picked up a cheek piece from another A1A . He asked me if I wanted it put on my A2. I said yes and now it it easier to use the scope as it aligneds perfectly with the eye.

Really designed to be a short range weapon in 7.62X39. I had a wood chuck at a measured 500 yards and I went through 20 rounds and the chuck never ducked! Could not see the bullet strike due to the clover in the field.

[bearhunter]

The A2 has a much shorter bbl than the A1 and IMHO, 500 yards would be quite a stretch for the 7.62x39 in its original loadings. Last June, I spent 3 days on my cousin's place in Southern Alberta. I shot over 1700+ rounds and quit counting hits at a thousand of the little tan colored rodents. His place is inundated with them. Mostly 22WMR but 6.5x55, 257Rob and 6PPC as well. I didn't even make a noticeable dent in the population. The magpies and crows were happy though. The A1 will probably go along this spring.
The A series and the B series receivers have identical outside dimensions. There is no reason that reloadable or even mislurp cases can't be loaded to higher pressures to achieve faster velocitis and with more streamlined bullets. I neve bothered with the SKS or Mini Mauser but with this AIA, that may just turn into a project.

A.F. Medic, if you beat me to it, please post your results. At ranges over 300 yards, especially in hot spring weather, mirage can make shooting difficult to say the least. We were shooting at 500 yard gongs while I was there and even if we hit them, it was hard to tell because of the mirage.

You say you turned down $1000 for your rifle. I think the same will happen here in Canada. They are uncommon and getting a reputation for their accuracy, repeatbility and reliability. They certainly draw the curious at the range and as I found out recently, in the field. The first comment after inspection and viewing of targets is "where can I get one?"

Because of the waterfalls of SKS rifles into North America over the last several years, people are surprised at how pricey the bolt actions are. They don't curl up their noses at the CZ offerings or even the Ruger but because the AIA rifles look like a fancy No4 LE, they are a bit taken off guard.

[A. F Medic]

At the beginning of this thread, is an image of a target I shot, off a rest, at 100 yards.
The final shots were the ones around the center as I dialed in the scope.

[enfield303t]

Well I must say I am very tempted to buy one from Wolverine as they are a great gun and very inexpensive to shoot. Bearhunter has been "on my case" to get one and who knows I may "knuckle under". It really is a shame we never were able to get them into Canada years ago as it was a problem about legalities over the magazine and what the gun will accept as a magazine.

Many of the ones that ended up being sold in the US were modified to Canadian standards but they never were imported into Canada. I am not sure where Wolverine bought theirs as from the email I had from AIA it is very doubtful they came "thru" the US.