[TranH4]

I just bought a new M1A Standard from Springfield Armory and I’ve put about 100 rounds through it a few days ago. I have a Delta14 stock on it and I’m running OEM Springfield Armory 20 round magazines. The stock is a bit tight fitting, and sometimes the bolt will get caught while I’m hand cycling. But I’ve run cartridges through both the stock that came with the rifle and the Delta14, and both have been giving me the same problem, so I’m thinking it’s not a stock issue. I’m running new, brass cased ammo through the rifle. I have both .308 and surplus 7.62x51mm. Both run about the same, with the same issue.

The rifle will chamber and fire, but randomly, I’ll get failures to extract. Then, the bolt will try to chamber another round and jam. I can easily pry out the spent brass in the chamber with a knife so I’m thinking it’s not an ammo issue. I checked the rim on the brass and haven’t noticed any kinks in them.

Taking a wild guess, I’m thinking it’s an extractor issue that was common with what I’ve been reading on regarding the SAI M1A’s. I have a GI extractor on order and I’m hoping changing that out will solve my issue, but I’d like to see if anyone has any other insight on to what the problem may be. I’ll post updates as I get parts swapped out, and if anyone has any questions please ask. Thank you all for your time!

 

[chief on one]

Did you clean the rifle before you went shooting ?? you know SAI do not have maids to clean the rifle after they test fire it. !! you may have a DIRTY Chamber;; try cleaning the chamber with a chamber brush .

 

[KurtC]

Be sure to try quality ammunition, such as Federal 168 OTM or Gold Medal Match. M1A's have tight match chambers and often don't like some foreign or surplus ammunition.

The issue with SAI extractors was years ago. Some of the extractors were cast and would break when trying to force oversized cases into the tight chambers.

As mentioned above, scrub the chamber. Then try some high quality ammunition.

 

[TranH4]

Did you clean the rifle before you went shooting ?? you know SAI do not have maids to clean the rifle after they test fire it. !! you may have a DIRTY Chamber;; try cleaning the chamber with a chamber brush .

I’ll give that a try.

Be sure to try quality ammunition, such as Federal 168 OTM or Gold Medal Match. M1A's have tight match chambers and often don't like some foreign or surplus ammunition.

The issue with SAI extractors was years ago. Some of the extractors were cast and would break when trying to force oversized cases into the tight chambers.

As mentioned above, scrub the chamber. Then try some high quality ammunition.

I’ll try to find some and test them out after cleaning the chamber. Thank you!

 

[mercman]

Yup. Make that a common practice with any new weapon. THOROUGHLY clean the entire weapon, lube per manual.

I'd put it back in the configuration that you got it from the factory and only make ONE change at a time when diagnosing issues.

You'll do fine but remember SAI warranties their products.

 

[cruciantime]

Had this same problem with my second Springfield M1A.

Bought it and fired it immediately at the store range. Had several failures. Took it home, cleaned it good. Went back fired it some, no more problems.

 

[TranH4]

Update: So after some time getting bolt parts in, I’ve replaced the extractor, ejector, and firing pin with USGI parts from Fulton Armory. I also cleaned it and lubed/greased it the best I can following guidance from YouTube. Haven’t shot any rounds through it yet, but I wanted to test out the new extractor so I ran a laser bore sight through. Not sure if it causes any variation in the test as opposed to proper snap caps, but from what I’ve noticed (loading one in the magazine), the rifle will chamber the round nicely, but when I go to manually cycle, the round isn’t even attached to the extractor. It seems to be consistent so I bought some ammo and will be hitting the range to test live ammo soon. Will update but any thoughts?

 

[KurtC]

The weapon was designed to always feed from the magazine, with the bolt always traveling on its own from the rearmost position. Riding the oprod usually does not allow the bolt to lock fully into battery.

The resistance of the magazines lips is just enough to prevent slam fires. Putting a cartridge directly into the chamber by hand invites issues.

Snap caps are not always the same dimensions as actual cartridges.

 

[TranH4]

The weapon was designed to always feed from the magazine, with the bolt always traveling on its own from the rearmost position. Riding the oprod usually does not allow the bolt to lock fully into battery.

The resistance of the magazines lips is just enough to prevent slam fires. Putting a cartridge directly into the chamber by hand invites issues.

Snap caps are not always the same dimensions as actual cartridges.

I should’ve clarified. I usually do load snap caps/laser bore sights through the magazine and don’t load by hand.

 

[chief on one]

you said you GREASE it;; does that mean you grease the CHAMBER ????


you tube ;;; oh no !!!


And now you come here for the correct answers !!!! YEA !!!!

 

[TranH4]

you said you GREASE it;; does that mean you grease the CHAMBER ????


you tube ;;; oh no !!!


And now you come here for the correct answers !!!! YEA !!!!

Am I supposed to grease the chamber? I applied some grease to where the bolt meets the chamber.

 

[unkola]

DO NOT grease the chamber!!! Clean off any grease in chamber and feed ramps. Remember, a little grease goes a long ways. Lightly apply it. Parts that slide get grease. rotating parts get a dab of oil. Do not apply it on heavy so every time a part slides, you get a wall of grease building up. Don't know which you-tube instruction you saw, but look up the ones done by a forum member Tony-Ben. Good luck. -Lloyd 🍻

 

[bustedknuckles]

Was the tilt test mentioned? Yes your using too much grease.

 

[RAMMAC]

sometimes the bolt will get caught while I’m hand cycling

That's normal, the bolt rides over the hammer and when you feed manually there isn't enough energy to pass over the bolt smoothly.

randomly, I’ll get failures to extract

I applied some grease to where the bolt meets the chamber.

I suspect that these two are related. Don't put grease anyplace near the chamber. I suspect that you are getting some problems with grease going in to the chamber and cooking due to the heat generated when the cartridge fires. That makes for a thick, sticky fouling that can make the case stick, it might be sticky enough to prevent proper extraction.

round isn’t even attached to the extractor.

Normal, that's how the rifle works, it's not a controlled round feed system like some bolt action rifles.

 

[TranH4]

DO NOT grease the chamber!!! Clean off any grease in chamber and feed ramps. Remember, a little grease goes a long ways. Lightly apply it. Parts that side get grease. rotating parts get a dab of oil. Do not apply it on heavy so every time a part slides, you get a wall of grease building up. Don't know which you-tube instruction you saw, but look up the ones done by a forum member Tony-Ben. Good luck. -Lloyd 🍻

I’ll clean and relubrucate it again and be careful not to use too much. I’ll also check out that video.

Was the tilt test mentioned? Yes your using too much grease.

I’ll do the tilt test and check for binding with the oprod. I’m sure it’s not a gas system issue because it will cycle the bolt when I fire live ammunition. Problem is the extractor won’t catch the rim of the case to pull it out.

 

[bustedknuckles]

How does ejector look? Something worthwhile doing is disassemble the bolt and be sure to clean out all the crud from where the ejector and spring go.

 

[TranH4]

How does ejector look? Something worthwhile doing is disassemble the bolt and be sure to clean out all the crud from where the ejector and spring go.

Completely disassembled the bolt. Swapped out the SAI firing pin, extractor, extractor spring, and ejector spring with all new USGI parts.

 

[bustedknuckles]

But did you clean out where ejector and spring goes? Used compressed air and clean it out good.

 

[TranH4]

Did

How does ejector look? Something worthwhile doing is disassemble the bolt and be sure to clean out all the crud from where the ejector and spring go.

Didn’t seem so dirty when I swapped the parts out but I’ll take a look again and clean it out.