I would get either the Super Match or M21 and then get a JAE stock.

 

Guess I am one of the exceptions to the rule here. I have an 07 M21 and I recently built four more lrb's two of which are super match rifles. Both have heavy Krieger barrels just lime the M21. All other components are usgi except for sadlak spring guides and one has a JP tac comp. One of them is a double lug M25 and the other is a rear lugged M14SA. These were the first two rifles I built. M25 is in a mcmillan m3a adj and the m14 is in a mcmillan m1a. Comprable rifle sold on the LRB website went for 5200 and 4200 retail. Of you want a breakdown of the costs pm me. Now on the other hand I also built a match/rack grade rifle. It was less overall cost. It is not lugged or bedded but has all the match mods. It has a Krieger standard weight nm barrel from the 08 Krieger group buy. It hold the black all day long on a sr1 target iron sights at 100 yards. Nice groups to boot. The fourth is a heavy Krieger 18.5 in barrel hanging off a rear lugged LRB m25. I had it in a boyds type II sto k but after a week I decided I was not a fan of the monster wide stock. It now sits in a gi fiberglass stock I picked up for 10 bucks. It is painted black now. Building one more double lug heavy barrel now it should be almost the last one I am building for myself. So do I qualify to answer your question? I love the SAI M21. It has never hic upped once. It's a great shooting rifle. It also has a heavy Krieger 1/10. If you have the choice and the coin, I suggest yiu be patient and do an LRB build. I started collecting all these parts shortly after I bought my m21 three years ago. It takes time. Do yiurself a big favor and only buy what you need otherwise you are going to wind up building five like I did. It a maddness I tell ya. I am once again on order at LRB for a non lugged m14sa. I'll try and post a pic of them you be the judge

 

I took the boyds type II and swapped it fora gi fiberglass. Not sure what it will wind up in probably a mcmillan m1a or mfs-14
eventually the second double lug I am building now will probably go into a mcmillan m2a
open for questions

PS your budget will buy a whole lot of rifle! A rear lugged M25 and the heavy Krieger barrel will set you back about 1400. Toss in a parts kit and a stock and your looking at another 2k depending on the stock and I suggest if yiu get a new receiver get a new old stock bolt. Pleanty of trw's out there.

 

Well done! You have some nice rifles there.. and you're right about it being a madness. I already have two SAI's and I'm well on my way to some other M1A build. My friends think I'm .. well .. mad. "Why don't you spend that on some OTHER type of rifle?" to which I respond "What, like a Garand?"

PS your budget will buy a whole lot of rifle! A rear lugged M25 and the heavy Krieger barrel will set you back about 14k. Toss in a parts kit and a stock and your looking at another 2k depending on the stock and I suggest if yiu get a new receiver get a new old stock bolt. Pleanty of trw's out there.

Yeah, thats the plan! A whole lot of rifle

Let me ask you this.. if you had one shot to try and hit a quarter at 200 yds for a $10k prize. Which build do you take?
And saying you'd take a bolt gun is cheating

- Mike

 

M14 ebr-rinm-sei



Honestly.........for my $3500.00-$4000.00, I will not hesitate and call SEI for the most newest M14/M1A modern platform out there. Keep both of your loaded and Socom16 rifle and put'um in the back burner for now. What is that you say??............Check these photos out. This bad boy M14 EBR RINM (Rhode Island National Match) will now accept a heavy barrel with all the bells and whistle . As far as I know.............SEI is the exclusive armorer and or gunsmith to produce such a weapon along with its affiliate partners.

Now that's a Kick Butt weapon to be added to the proven Sage EBR weapon's arsenal used in the sand box of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just My Thoughts.DI5

 

I would choose the heavy Krieger LRB rear lugged m25 bedded into the mcmillan m3a stock. Scope of course. My personal preferance. Not a big fan of the mechanical lock up type stocks but the one Lester mention has cought my eye. I actually had the prototype in my hands and it is pretty nice. Like all new stuff I like to wait infill it's been around for aces months maybe a year. This way all the bugs and mods are worked out.

 

Yeah, I like the principle of the mechanical lockup .. but there isn't a stock out there that I would want. I'm not a fan of the "made of rails" tactical look, and I prefer a traditional stock.

The JAE would potentially be an option, but I don't really like the look of it. To many angles. I prefer smooth curves.

Now, if someone made a stock that looked more like a USGI stock, and offered mechanical bedding, I'd own it already.

 

I've owned both now and shot both, a SA M21 and now a LRB M25 built on the same stock as the SA M21. I've just posted a review and picks of the new M25 on the Modern Day Platforms threads.

I think with the budget you stated, and your excellent experience with SA, you should get the SA M21 Tactical and stick with the Barnett/Douglas heavy barrel. That rifle is made with a lot of love at Springfield and will serve you very well.

 

Yeah, I admit I'm sort of leaning towards getting an M21 as well; mostly because no one ever accused me of being patient. But I would like to try one of the offerings from SEI or LRB. Long island isn't that far of a trip for me.. when I get some free time, I'll email LRB and see if it would be possible for me to take a trip down one day and have a look in person.

Thats the other reason why all the fancy pistol-gripped tactical stuff doesn't interest me: I'm in New York a lot of the time, and NY still has the '94 ban, so I prefer rifles I have no intention to part with to be NY-legal.

 

I bought an SAI M1A M21 back in '07 new that was built in 3/04 according to the serial #. I new almost nothing about the platform before buying it - bought it on an impulse. It sat in my safe for two years before I had a chance to shoot it. Since I started shooting/maintaining it I discovered the following:

Trigger pull was 7.5 lbs not 4.5
Flash suppressor and front sight were canted to the right
Gas Cylinder lock was loose
Chamber was very rough with numerous tool marks

Fortunately I am pretty handy and learned a lot on this forum and recently got the books by Duff and Kuleck. Managed to fix the trigger and chamber. Will get around to fixing the lock and will live with the sight because I shoot it scoped. Can't wait to see what I will find next as I learn more. The bottom line is if you go for the SAI M21 check the rifle out thoroughly before you plunk down the cash - I didn't and got burned.

 

Not to be rude, but it sounds to me like you burned yourself on that one. You paid $4k for a product with a lifetime warranty, apparently never sent in a registration card, and let it sit for 2 years without an inspection? I can only imagine thats what happened, because otherwise you'd use the warranty system, rather than a private gunsmith.

I see reports here that 2-3" with milsurp is reasonable out of a SAI Loaded. I get 1.5-2" out of mine with british NATO and south african surplus and can maintain a 3" group firing pretty fast. I was amazed to see that others have such large groups. I've never put 'good' ammo through it.. just surplus; one day I'll buy a variety of commercial ammo and see what it can do. Maybe I just got as lucky as you did unlucky.

The SOCOM is too new to really tell.. we'll see how it pans out.

 

I like the SA M21 SA9131, the trigger is just amazing out of the box. It shot this during barrel break-in, 100 yards, benched with the iron sights. Top group is a 5 shot with168 gr match, bottom group is a 5 shot group with 175 gr match.

 

With a scoped rifle, those groups suggest to me a trigger pull issue, not a rifle accuracy issue. I've got a NM 4.5 tuned TRW trigger group going up for sale Sept 13 in the evening in WTS. Check it out. It may be what you need.