M1A upgrade question

[jimijam]

I'm new to this forum. I have a 1999 standard loaded M1A that I plan to upgrade to Super Match specs (send to Springfield for upgrade) without the lugged receiver upgrade (not possible). I would like to get a stainless Krieger barrel. Is it worth paying the extra money to upgrade ($675 for Douglas heavy air gauged matched carbon barrel; $900 for Krieger Stainless heavy air gauged matched barrel)? Or should I keep it stock? I was told this gun may contain military surplus parts. Any advice would be helpful, thanks..

Steve

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Danny]

You'd probably be better off if you had a proper trigger job done on the rifle. I have M1 Rifles in .308 that have standard weight Wilson Barrels on them. I can't really tell a differnce (well, not much) between that and my M1A rifles with Springfield Armory's better heavy barrels (and I doubt even compared to a Krieger). My M1 is pretty much equally accurized. I can however tell the difference (a lot) when I go back to an M1 that's had no accurizing done and try to shoot it on a 600 yd. Highpower Midrange Match. I would even try having the gas cylinder unitized and the rifle bedded before putting on a new barrel, as long as the barrel itself was reasonably decent quality AND more importantly, in undamaged condition. You'd have to at that time decide if you wanted to expend the money on whatever barrel that you have on the rifle.

Danny

I'm new to this forum. I have a 1999 standard loaded M1A that I plan to upgrade to Super Match specs (send to Springfield for upgrade) without the lugged receiver upgrade (not possible). I would like to get a stainless Krieger barrel. Is it worth paying the extra money to upgrade ($675 for Douglas heavy air gauged matched carbon barrel; $900 for Krieger Stainless heavy air gauged matched barrel)? Or should I keep it stock? I was told this gun may contain military surplus parts. Any advice would be helpful, thanks..

Steve

[JAS]

I sent my barreled receiver in to Kreiger for one of their stainless steel medium weight DMR barrels. While they were installing the barrel I had them unitize the gas cylinder and line everything up. (My M1A already has an excellent 4.75 lb. trigger.)

After carefully following Kreiger's break in procedure to the letter, I moved all of my equipment over to the 200 yard line. I slung up lying prone on my mat and fired. The first three bullets were touching in the X ring on a standard SR target! The rifle fired a 98-6X the first time out and continues to be scary accurate all the way to 1000 yards using 175 gr. SMK's. I highly recomend Kreiger barrels as well as Kreiger's installation.

[jimijam]

Hey JAS,
What is Kreiger's break in procedure? Also how much did Kreiger charge for the installation? Finally what is unitize the gas cylinder?
One of my concerns is my rifle has a synthetic stock that I would like to replace with a Walnut one. Part of the cost I stated in my original post includes changing out the synth stock for a walnut, glass bedding the stock, changing out the trigger assembly, changing out the front & back sites (if needed), and finally changing out the barrel to a Kreiger heavy stainless or Douglas heavy carbon (not medium weight from what I was told by Springfeild rep). Have you heard anything about Springfeilds quality in upgrades? Thanks for the reply..

I sent my barreled receiver in to Kreiger for one of their stainless steel medium weight DMR barrels. While they were installing the barrel I had them unitize the gas cylinder and line everything up. (My M1A already has an excellent 4.75 lb. trigger.)

After carefully following Kreiger's break in procedure to the letter, I moved all of my equipment over to the 200 yard line. I slung up lying prone on my mat and fired. The first three bullets were touching in the X ring on a standard SR target! The rifle fired a 98-6X the first time out and continues to be scary accurate all the way to 1000 yards using 175 gr. SMK's. I highly recomend Kreiger barrels as well as Kreiger's installation.

[colt100]

M1Garand & M1A/M14

This shows the prices. I have been thinking of sending one of my garands in for a barrel swap/accuracy upgrade but it's been hard to save up the funds right now.

[LavaTech]

jimijam - if you change to a wood stock you also re-incorporate weather changes into the configuration....one of the benefits to a synth stock is the temperature/humidity stability.