Springfields Scout Squad M1A
I love any Springfield M1A and Springfields Scout Squad M1A is no exception. Over the years I have shot many M1A’s and military M-14’s and there just is no other firearm that will get your blood going like the Springfield M1A. When we contacted Springfield we asked for a standard M1A and they sent us the Scout Squad instead of our request when we told them what we wanted to use it for. It is our intent to do a review for 3 guns for of course Three gun shoots, Three gun matches, Three gun events, what ever you want to call them. Now for the rifle portion we picked a DPMS AR-15 with a match trigger that we ordered in as parts. (Ordered the lower receiver and Upper assembly separately.) Where the Springfield fit into this picture was for an upcoming division in 3-gun call Heavy Metal Class. The USPSA doesn’t have any rules for this class yet so it’s unofficial at best. For the 308’s you can bet that Springfield’s M1A, DPMS’s AR-10 and the new Benelli’s R1 while not a military looking weapon is gaining acclaim due to its design based off their Super Black Eagle.
The Springfield Scout squad rifle comes with a built in scope rail and anyone who is a techno-junkie for throwing the latest in optics on everything is going to love that feature. While I have some scope reviews that are WAAAY overdue the purpose of this shoot was for use at varying ranges in a competition/combat style situation. It was our goal to operate the M1A outside its design intentions and make it compatible with our style of shooting. What does that mean? Well the M1A is designed to shoot 7.62x55 NATO and most gun nuts will jump and tell you that is a 308 Winchester. They would be WRONG.
Winchester introduced the 308 in September 1952 as a sporting cartridge. It was a commercial adaptation of the Army Ordnance T65 rifle and machine gun cartridge. The origin of the 308 began after World War I. Following the close of this conflict, Ordnance devoted considerable effort toward development of light semi and full automatic weapons. It was obvious that a cartridge with shorter overall length than the 30-06 would permit shorter, lighter and more efficient gun mechanisms. One such development, the 276 Pederson, showed considerable promise. But in 1932, it was rejected because a .30 caliber was deemed essential for military requirements.
There is a head space difference between the two cartridges of .0075 and while this is not a real safety issue it does tend to stress your commercial brass. No big deal when fired only once but expect cases to snap clean in two eventually (1 round did during our test shoot) The good thing here to remember is that cheap military surplus 308 is readily available and this rifle is designed to shoot that cartridge. We of course had to keep all the brass we fired from this rifle separate in order to reload it back to 7.62 NATO specs and not 308 Winchester.
This will be the same for the DPMS but not for the Benelli R1 as it will be chamber for 308 specifically. Sorry no cheap ammo in that rifle.
How did our Springfield do? As expected…. Excellent. We were happy to see we had enough adjustments to move the sites to shoot 500yards with 150 grain bullets. The 1 MOA adjustments did not apply with this round it was more like .5 MOA but when we switched back to 190 grains the click adjustments were extremely detailed.
Once sited in at 200yards with 150 grains 10 clicks put us right on target at 500 yards. I was capable of getting a 4 inch group using the peep sites at 200 yards even though I couldn’t see any of my marks while I was shooting. Putting a big ‘ol cheesy grin on my face once I checked the target.
The Springfield Scout Squad rifle is very well balanced and I find that magazine release and engagement to be not only snug but very easy compared to older and import clones. The placement of the Optic rail out over the barrel will be seen as some as an inconvenience but the increase in accuracy on this type of rifle was apparent. The rifle shoots beyond the capabilities of any holographic optic we could mount and we found that a pistol scope was an outstanding enhancement to this rifle. Just keep in mind the need for long eye relief when choosing an optic for this rifle. My love for peep sights has my rifle bare and still capable of shooting 500 meters all day long.
We do have to knock the website at Springfield on this product model. The gun we tested couldn’t be found on the site. As we had a Walnut stock( I asked for it) and the site displayed a Camouflaged stock version. The link to request a price request sent me over to a plain synthetic stock
version of the rifle and not the one I clicked on. This confusion will no doubt cost some sales. Especially since the model we requested is actually in stock and the others are not. I prefer wood always have always will. I can’t refinish a synthetic stock only buy a new one. I also appreciate the character of the wood in different rifles and have paid more for guns based on a graining and color of the stocks.
If you have never shot a M1A I recommend that everyone give it a whirl. By far it is the most satisfying experience of any of the weapons we take to the range. Large caliber, Low cost, and Low recoil = BIG FUN.
Author: GunMuse Date: Thursday Sep 23 2004 11:14:27 am
