That's why I suggest everyone replace their cast SAI hammer and trigger with USGI, especially if they plan on having a trigger job done.

Just about all M1A's made in the last 20 years will have cast hammers and triggers.

 

That's why I suggest everyone replace their cast SAI hammer and trigger with USGI, especially if they plan on having a trigger job done.

Just about all M1A's made in the last 20 years will have cast hammers and triggers.

Even in a M25?

 

Ted, is there any history on the hammer? How many rounds what year was the rifle/hammer? Thanks.

 

Here's another one same markings.

 

KurtC, same question, is there any history on the hammer? How many rounds what year was the rifle/hammer? Thanks.

 

The rifle was from about 15 years ago. I think I was on the first magazine when one hook broke.

 

MIM parts

 

That is why I remove all MIM when I build a 1911 carry gun.

 

I’ve seen that failure mid match.

 

Kurt’s hammer presumably indicates 2001 or 2011 as the date of manufacture.

Can’t tell from Ted’s picture but maybe he can tell us what number is being pointed to. I don’t recall seeing SAI hammers like that in commercial 201x trigger groups, they appear unmarked. My guess is SAI experimented with those cast hammers a couple of decades ago and had these results. I’d replace any unmarked hammers with USGI versions - as they are still plentiful and inexpensive.

One last thing to note, given SAIs lifetime warranty, it’s in their financial interest to fix these warranty issues as they pop up, and I suspect they have…hopefully.

 

I wouldn't use the warranty for a hammer or trigger. You are just going to get the same cast parts.

 

Ted and KurtC the meaning of USGI or Milspec has been ingrained deep into us. Guess not much more to say.
Pfc out

 

I've replaced a few of those broken hammers over the years.Cant beat a good USGI part.

 

Is this issue isolated to SAI manufactured trigger hammers? I ask becuase a few years ago I bought a couple m14 trigger groups and as the story goes they were allegedly manufactured by a contractor in Pennsylvania for a terminated overseas contract. I haven't had any issues with them but I haven't fired thousands of rounds either.

Has the manufacturing process for such parts switched to cast across the board, not just SAI?

 

Mine broke trigger pins until I got a different brand trigger group, then the bolt broke after about 5000 rounds. Springfield made it right both times but it was kinda silly. Parts like those shouldn't break.

 

What generation of SAI bolt was this? A bolt should never fail, unacceptable.

 

SA has been using metal injection molding for some of it's parts for several years. Today, there are no GI parts in an M1A. I have seen GI hammers break too, as well as op rods and most other parts, but GI parts only fail on rare occasions. The problem with Springfield is this happens all to often. At least their lifetime warranty is about the best in the industry.

 

Just take the guts out of a GI M1 trigger group

 

Cast parts have no business in a military rifle where life is on the line. All my M14s have one hundred percent USGI parts and the receivers while not USGI are forged!

MORE THAN A HOBBY, A PASSION!

REN

 

Cast parts have no business in a military rifle where life is on the line. All my M14s have one hundred percent USGI parts and the receivers while not USGI are forged!

MORE THAN A HOBBY, A PASSION!

REN

Yes! Me too! At least I think so. I'm guessing all the parts in my Polytech M14S, while not USGI, are forged. Making me feel better all the time with my blue light special purchase.

 

Also when I bought the rifle I noticed the cleaning tube things on the buttstock had a zip lock with a bunch of trigger pins in it, probably why the original owner said it had a "low round count" too much time spent replacing pins and not shooting.

 

Before the SAI forged bolts (F00XXX), they tried some cast (A00XXX) and billet (B00XXX). This was just after the turn of the century, when they were running out of USGI bolts.

You need to examine any M1A from that period very carefully.

 

Tolerances in Chinese M14 rifles was not too bad. However, they are known to have heat treating issues and many have excessive head space. I don't know if this applies to late production Chinese rifles imported into Canada.

 

Ted,
My experience with Chinese M14 rifles includes many US GI bolt swaps because the Chinese did not take quality control seriously. Head space varied tremendously from one rifle to the next, and though the rifles were marked as .308, often exceeded 7.62 NATO NO GO.

Some examples included receiver bridges that were too short, barrels that were too long at the threads, with barrels intruding too far into the receiver. The Chinese fixed this with " custom fitted/ shortened" bolts with modified lugs. These lugs looked like they were ground by hand, and any of the thin hard heat treatment was gone.

In most cases, a GI bolt would be an easy fit, but some cases, where the barrel intruded way too far, required more fixing ... like a US GI barrel swap

 

Fyi: One can not readily replace the trigger in an M25 Rader trigger. The sear is a modified part that contains two very small coil springs that are embedded and provide tension to the sear. SAI made that customized part for the M25 trigger group. Hammer can be USGI. Hard to see but here ls one of the two coil springs (the third large coil spring is hidden inside the added-on rearward part with the adjustment screw).

 

Anyone have an idea of what the serials numbers were when they started going to the MIM hammers?