Advice needed from M1A owners

[Smithhound]

I've been fortunate enough to finally acquire a SA M1A, walnut stock and carbon steel. Since I don't plan on shooting competitavely I settled for a standard model. What a great looking rifle this is! Brand new, never fired and just screams 'old school'.
Here is my question, the stock which is a rich dark chocolate brown walnut I'm assuming has been finished at the factory, but still looks rather 'dull', almost to the point that I wonder if has been. Should I put a light coat of Tung Oil on it right out of the gate? The manual recommends this every so often and I can't see it hurting, just want advice from others who own one of these.
Really looking forward to getting this to the range, I've saved and waited a long time to own one so this is a pretty special rifle to me.
Any other advice or guidance of these guns is welcome as well, I'm not too proud to ask or accept good advice.
Thanks
RD

 

[PH-2]

Smithhound,

My Standard has a composite stock, so I'm no help on your "tung-oil" query, but, I will advise you to put a Turner Saddlery sling on your rifle.

Mike

 

[Waldo]

I purchased a used M1A a few years ago. It was a pre ban with bayonet lug. I got it in a gun broker auction. It had supposedly been in a safe for many years. The stock looked dry, so I put some Tung Oil on it. It looks much better now. There is an M14 forum that is very helpful. I got into a group buy over there and saved a bunch of money on new magazines. You need to be careful about mags, there are some bad one out there.

 

[Bat Guano]

When I got mine about 15 years ago it had the military tung oil finish which I added to. That was ok until I shot a match during which time it rained constantly. By the time it was over that stock looked like a piece of waterlogged driftwood--pretty sad.

I had always had good luck with Tru-Oil, and when I got the stock dried out again I refinished it with about seven coats of T-O. It looks nice, is tough, is easy to touch up, and if I want to kill the shine I can hit it with some fine steel wool.

The tung oil may be traditional, but other than that and low cost there's no advantage that I know of.

 

[msinc]

+1 on the Tru-Oil...I have used it for over 25 years. Keep plenty of grease on the op rod where it slides with the receiver and plenty of grease on the bolt roller too. On the op rod, specifically at the little square thing that holds it in the slot. That little milled on thing that you have to line up with the relieved area of the receiver slot to take it apart for field stripping, that is the piece that will wear first if you dont keep it greased well. Op rods are not cheap...they aint exactly easy to find either. When that little square area wears the op rod will separate from the receiver while you are firing the gun...not fun at all. I have seen the slot wear too and it all comes from shooting the rifle dry. Oil will not cut it...you have to use a high pressure type grease.
Dont count on getting too many loads out of the brass either. The M-14, like the Garand, is a violent action. Many shooters used to say "never reload your brass more than once," 3 or 4 times is more like it. The action stretches the brass alot more than other rifles and it will need trimmed alot. Shooters of the M-14/M1A worry alot about a case head separation {as well they should if reloading.} Just know you cant get 8-10 reloads out of the same brass. Make sure if you reload that you are sizing to dead on headspace. Invest in a RCBS case mic. Good luck.

 

[gunblade]

I use boiled linseed oil on my M1A...I think that was the military standard of the day.

 

[growr]

m1a

Very good advise on getting an RCBS case Mic. I shot an M1A for 20 years in NRA High Power Matches and reloaded succesfully for a very long time.
I moved and had most of my reloading gear in storage. Needing to reload for an upcoming match, I bought another set of dies and ran a batch that was fine for awhile. Turns out the die was not correctly setting the shoulder back like my Dillon dies were. BTW, 3-4 loadings is about the max. number of reloads on an M1A regardless of what brass you are using.

The end result is that at a NRA Regional High Power Rifle Championship in 2009 my rifle fired out of battery and blew things apart very dramatically. Cracked the reciever, destroyed the stock, only thing that was good was the op rod, gas system,sights, trigger group and barrel.

Had a fair amount of tiny shrapnel in my face, fortunately I had good shooting glasses on that paid the price so that my eyes didn't have to.

The rifle was re-built and I now check every dimension thoroughly before using it. This includes using the RCBS case mic on every round as well as my Dillon case gauge..

Be diligent with every aspect of your re-loading process, Stay with the standard powders and bullet selection. Full length sizing is imperative, trimming to length is imperative. Making sure that the shoulder is in the right spot with the case mic....imperative.

Do this and you will be fine..

Randy

PS. Invest in all of the cleaning tools( rod guide, cleaning drills for carbon removal, Stripper clip to hold action open and good brushes) for an M1A and be dutiful in cleaning it including gas piston and lubing it properly with something like Plastilube.

+1 on the Tru-Oil...I have used it for over 25 years. Keep plenty of grease on the op rod where it slides with the receiver and plenty of grease on the bolt roller too. On the op rod, specifically at the little square thing that holds it in the slot. That little milled on thing that you have to line up with the relieved area of the receiver slot to take it apart for field stripping, that is the piece that will wear first if you dont keep it greased well. Op rods are not cheap...they aint exactly easy to find either. When that little square area wears the op rod will separate from the receiver while you are firing the gun...not fun at all. I have seen the slot wear too and it all comes from shooting the rifle dry. Oil will not cut it...you have to use a high pressure type grease.
Dont count on getting too many loads out of the brass either. The M-14, like the Garand, is a violent action. Many shooters used to say "never reload your brass more than once," 3 or 4 times is more like it. The action stretches the brass alot more than other rifles and it will need trimmed alot. Shooters of the M-14/M1A worry alot about a case head separation {as well they should if reloading.} Just know you cant get 8-10 reloads out of the same brass. Make sure if you reload that you are sizing to dead on headspace. Invest in a RCBS case mic. Good luck.

 

[Smithhound]

Thanks for all the info, I've been reloading for over 30 years and would like to think I've built up a bit of knowledge, but every bit of advice I can glean from others is noted and appreciated.
I'll try the True Oil, got some handy. Also I've used the RCBS gauges on other calibers and will invest in that and the correct tool kit. As far as magazines go I learned that along time ago. These are one of the things that truely fall into the 'You get what you pay for' area.
I've been wanting one of these since the 1970's when I was a teenager so want to learn all I can about it. Even tho' this is a 'standard' model the front sight is marked 'NM', so may have got a bonus there, other than the initial bore cleaning I haven't had the time in the past two days to really examine it in depth, but will this weekend.
Thanks again all,
RD

 

[LouisianaJoe]

If I want the finish to be on the wood, I use tru oil.

If I want the finish to be in the wood I use a tung oil mix like min-wax or formby's. These have solvents in them that make them penetrate better than 100% tung oil. I use a 3m white pad to apply the oil and I use a clean white pad to polish the stock down between coats. I wait a day between coats and apply 4-5 coats. I wait several days and then wax the stock with feed-n-wax. I have used Renaissance Wax also on the wood and the metal. Used on metal will make it shed water.

Here is a Garand I did with the tung oil. The table was finished with 13 coats of tung oil over 30 years ago.

Be sure to coat the inside of the stock also. This will make it more waterproof.

 

[m1gunner]

The old saying about stock oil (BLO mostly, but works for Tung also) is:
Once a day for a week
Once a week for a month
Once a month for a year
Once a year there after.

If you want 100% real tung oil, RealMilkPaint.com is the only place I have been able to find it for the last 10 years or so.

If you get one of the "Tung Oil Finishes", it will have added driers and other finish products in them. They work well and only several coats are needed. But they will have a more glossy finish than what was on the military stocks. That may not be a bad thing, though.

BTW, the Marine Precision Drill Team does NOT have a traditional "military" finish on their rifle wood, it is a very high gloss finish.

 

[Kinman]

I had a "loaded" M1A for a couple years, had always missed my M14 from my Army days, never really caught onto the M16/M4 thing. Tung oil is the way to go, just don't overdo it...it will continue to soak its way into the wood like boiled linseed but doesn't get that oily feel of bl, if you want to seal the pores of the stock you can with any of the stock finishes, then dull the finish with steel wool.
My loaded rifle would easily print a 1" group at 100yds with the iron sights, if iron sights are your thing you can get the NM rear sight aperature, its a real nice hooded peep style.
There are scope mounts aplenty, the best advise I ever got which made good sense at the time was to stick with a steel scope mount, as steel and aluminum do not always work together well under heat and stress...like aluminum heads on a cast iron block.
I traded my M1A and some stuff for a very sweet 1886 Winchester in 45-70 and equally nice 1948 K-22, in my opinion it was a good trade, he's currently trying to unload it and not doing very well.
Have fun with that M1A, they are a real joy to shoot. I installed a rubber butt pad on mine and could shoot it with a t-shirt on.

 

[DeadAye]

A *finished* rifle stock can sure be pretty - but there's a reason that mil rifle stocks aren't shiny.

 

[growr]

Sorry about getting off topic in my reloading thing...

I have had good success with tung oil on one stock and tru oil on another. Both give very nice results.

Randy

 

[BruceM]

Another vote here for pure Tung Oil instead of BLO or Tru-Oil.

You cut the Tung Oil in half with mineral spirits or even one third (1 part TO to 2 parts mineral spirits). You put on numerous light coats instead of one or two heavy coats and break any raised grain or dust with oooo steel or bronze wool. Each coat must be fully dry before the next is applied so patience is a must. The more coats you apply, the more gloss you get. Personally, I prefer an oiled look on a service rifle instead of a satin or high gloss.



Bruce

 

[brucev]

Congratulations on the purchase of an outstanding rifle in one of the most useful accurate calibers ever developed! As to the stock, US infantry rifles were originally issued with stocks that were dipped in tung oil and allowed to air dry. There was a bit of red dye used in the era of the Krag and Springfield. This was later eliminated. During WWII, boiled linseed oil was used as tung oil became difficult to obtain. For field maintenance BLO was used.

The dull look of the finish is normal and correct, typical of what such rifles would have displayed when new. I have a Springfield Armory M-1 (5.4 million range) produced in 1955 that is about as close to new/unfired as one can get. The stock finish is in every respect arsenal new. The finish is "dull" as no one wanted a shiny rifle in combat.

It will hurt nothing to rub a bit of tung oil onto your stock. Put a bit on the palm of your hand and rub it on the stock "stretching" it rather than allowing it to build up in a thick layer. If you should decide you want a high gloss finish using the tung oil, just keep applying successive layers of tung oil at intervals of several days allowing the prior application to dry thoroughly. HTH. Sincerely. brucev.

 

[kraigwy]

You need to coat the gun with Hawkeye firm grip.

 

[Ron H.]

You need to coat the gun with Hawkeye firm grip.

Ah, yes--"position in a can."

FWIW, I've used both boiled linseed oil and Tru-Oil on different rifles (mainly Garands), and I much prefer the Tru-Oil. About two coats of Tru-Oil will seal the wood without making it shiny. If it does get shiny, you can dull it down by rubbing with a green scrubby pad like those sold by 3M. As has been noted, be sure to coat the inside of the stock, too, including the end grain under the buttplate and the two cleaning gear traps in the butt.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[Ironhand]

The stock on my M1A was pretty dry when I got it, too. I rubbed it down with fine 0000 steel wool first, and then did the "once a day for a week...etc" drill for awhile. The grain started to look very nice after a few weeks, and the wood became almost silky to the touch. Much nicer than how it felt when I go it.


I wish I still had the rifle, but I'm a FAL-guy now.

 

[Bob R]

I have a synthetic stock on my M1A, but in a box box is a wooden stock for it.

While not on topic, this isn't totally off topic. Springfield Armory is having a 30% off of everthing in their web store this weekend. I pcked up a NM Front/rear sight set for 112 dollars, not a bad price.

bob

 

[Smithhound]

Got her stripped down and ready to start with the tung oil, really looking forward to getting this finished. In the process of laying in some ammo, I want to start with factory loads (been awhile since I've bought factory, WOW $$$), have an RCBS precision mic on it's way along with a couple thousand CCI milspec primers, have tons of brass and after getting acquianted with factory, cronographing a bunch for a base line, will start working up handloads.
Been doing alot of reading, sadly not much shooting. My work schecule is really eating into my free time lately.
RD