Ammo for an M1A

/ hsoi

From Steve over at The Firearm Blog, Federal is making ammo specifically for M1 and M1A/M14’s.

Looks like it’s intended to be a target/match round. Now if they could just do the same for a hunting round!

The thing is, while a Springfield M1A may be chambered in .308 Win / 7.62x51mm NATO, it can’t use just any .308/7.62×51 ammo. I found a posting at The M14 Firing Line forum that states what Springfield themselves says about ammo for use in an M1A. Note that the following is based upon the forum posting; I haven’t confirmed if it actually is from Springfield. What’s written is basically what’s in there and not from me; anything that’s my comment will be noted. NB: this list is obsolete. Scroll down to the 20 October 2009 update for updated information.

  • For best accuracy, 168 grain Federal Match or Black Hills
  • Any factory .308 Winchester ammo made to SAAMI spec is usable.
  • Any military surplus 7.62x51mm NATO (as long as it’s manufactured to NATO specs) is usable.
    • [Hsoi: All “7.62” is not the same. You want 7.62x51mm NATO, not 7.62x39mm (like you’d fire out of an AK) or 7.62×54 (like you’d fire out of a Mosin-Nagant)]
    • [Hsoi: XM80 is your 7.62x51mm NATO 149 grain FMJ, so it works]
    • [Hsoi: XM118 is your 7.62x51mm NATO 175 grain HP, intended for longer range; it should work]
  • Any grain from 147 to 180 is usable.
    • 168 grain is recommended for best accuracy
  • Use FMJ, HP, or “ballistic tip” type rounds [Hsoi: i.e. plastic tiped bullets; note that the term “Ballistic Tip” is a registered trademark of Nosler, so it shouldn’t be used as a generic term for “plastic tipped” bullets]
    • Avoid soft points. The lead can shave and wind up down in the action and jam it up.
  • You can not use .308 Magnum
    • Hornady Light Magnum can be OK for short-term use, but certainly not a steady diet. The 110 grain may not be enough gases to cycle the action. [Hsoi: Hornady themselves says to not use these rounds in semi-auto and/or gas-operated firearms; IMHO, I wouldn’t use them in my M1A.]
  • Avoid steel-cased ammo (not necessarily SAAMI spec)
  • Avoid Hornady TAP [Hsoi: not sure why this]
  • Avoid Cavim ammo as it’s not very accurate and varies in size
  • For hunting
    • Winchester Silver Tip is OK to use [Hsoi: I’m not sure if they differentiate between Winchester Super-X Silvertip and Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip, and/or if it matters. The Silvertip is an aluminum cap whereas the Ballstic Silvertip is a polycarbonate tip. Don’t know if it matters, and it probably doesn’t.]
    • Hornady Ballistic Tip [Hsoi: technically Nosler makes Ballistic Tip, as it’s their registered trademark. Are they meaning A-Max or V-Max? I don’t know, but you get the idea.]
    • Winchester Failsafe [Hsoi: Winchester doesn’t make this any more, replacing with the XP3 line.]
    • 168 grain for deer
    • 175 grain for moose
  • Moly coated bullets are OK to use but when you start to use them you must stay with them. You will have to clean the gas port more often. SAI does not recommend. If you do use them, it will gum up fast, and you’ll have to clean often and clean well.
  • Tracer and armor piercing ammo is OK, as long as it’s NATO spec.
  • Frangible ammo is too light, won’t work.

There’s a few other things in the posting, but it’s a bit redundant. Their terms are a bit informal so it’s difficult to know exactly what’s what, especially regarding hunting ammo. The key thing seems to be that you can NOT use anything with an exposed soft point. The reason is any exposed lead will shave off, get down into the action, and jam things up. I have read of people using exposed soft points in their M1A’s “without any problem” but one round may not a problem make.

Updated 20 Oct 2009: Prompted by this thread at m14tfl.com, I contacted Springfield Armory for further information. For historical purposes I opted to NOT change the above list but instead reprint SAI’s email here.

Springfield Armory: Recommended ammo for our rifles that are chambered for .308

Any commercially produced, new .308 ammunition that meets the following requirements:

  • Is a 110 grain to 180 grain bullet
  • Is a full metal jacket (FMJ), hollow point (HP or BTHP), or ballistic tip type bullet.
  • Do not use soft point (SP) bullets.
  • Do not use “light magnum” type ammo.
  • We do not recommend the use of any steel case ammo.
  • We do not recommend the use of any cast bullets.

You can also use surplus 7.62×51 ammo that meets the following requirements:

  • Is clean and from sealed containers.
  • is NATO spec. It will have a NATO spec mark on the case head and/or on the packaging that looks like a plus sign inside of a circle.
  • Avoid using surplus ammo that is “loose” or “bulk”.
  • We do not recommend the use of any steel case ammo.

To get the most in accuracy we recommend:

  • Federal Match or Black Hills match 168 or 175 grain.
  • Hornady Match / custom 168 grain or Hornady TAP 110 or 168 grain.

I am seeking clarification on a few points and will update this when/if I receive that clarification.

Updated 11 November 2009: I guess my emails to SAI went to /dev/null, so I contacted them again about clarifications. I finally got a response. Here’s a rundown:

  • I asked why not soft points
    • The response was as I had thought, that lead can shave and gum up the action.
  • I asked why not surplus, or ammo that is “loose” or “bulk”
    • The response is just because it could be of questionable status. So my personal feeling is, if you know the story behind the loose or bulk or surplus ammo, go ahead and use it (hey, it’s your gun… if you blow it up it’s your fault). If you have any doubts about the ammo, don’t use it.
  • I asked why not “light magnum” (thinking it may not cycle the action), and also asked why not steel case (thinking it may not be SAAMI spec, it may be hard on the extractor).
    • The response was “to be perfectly frank, we don’t recommend those types of ammo because they don’t work well in our M1A’s.”
  • I asked why not cast bullets, but didn’t get a specific response to that question. My guess is it’s the same as why not soft points.

So there you go. Hopefully this puts things to rest regarding what ammo you can and cannot use out of a Springfield Armory M1A. Of course in the end, it’s your gun so you can do what you want with it. Just remember that it’s your choice as to what you do (you’re the one that put the cartridge in the chamber and pressed the trigger), so you are responsible for whatever happens good or bad.

Happy shooting.

21 thoughts on “Ammo for an M1A”

  1. I have fed my M1A SOCOM II (arguably one of the more tempermental M1A platforms out there, given its shorter barrel length and proprietary muzzle brake) nothing but Prvi Partizan milsurp ammunition its entire life… The worst thing that has happened is that the red crap around the primers gets everywhere, but a few pulls of a boresnake and a little scrubbing after every shoot, and I have had no problems.

    *shrugs* The gun was once a military platform – so long as you are not remarkably stupid with it, it should be ok :).

    • I’ve got the Scout Squad model and I’ve been feeding it mostly Prvi match ammo. Once I got the gas cylinder problem fixed (the nut wasn’t tightened all the way down from the factory, so it wasn’t getting all the gas that it should have to cycle… lots of short stroking), she’s been doing great. I’ve shot some old Australian milsurp (older than I am) and that worked fine.

      I would think any milsurp should be OK. But as you can see from SAI’s list, not everything is ideal. I am curious why not the Hornady TAP.

  2. Useless 7.62/.30 caliber trivia …

    7.62×39 and 7.62x54R bullets are .311″ in diameter.
    7.62×51 bullets are .308″ in diameter.

    7.62 mm == .300 in

  3. Back in the good ole days of 15 cent/round milsurp 7.62×51 (only about 5-6 years ago really) Dock and myself used to put THOUSANDS of rounds of milsurp 7.62×51 downrange through our M1As and FALs, mostly at the now defunct Hill Country Rifle Range (aka Crazy Richard’s). From this I have gleaned some practical experience:

    Not all .308/7.62×51 is the same, HOWEVER don’t let the bastards try to convince you that your rifle wont run on anything other than overpriced glossy boxed commercial factory ammo. Main Battle Rifles will happily eat a wide range of ammo… this is especially true of the FAL which has an adjustable gas system. The M1A is slightly more temperamental, but the Garand design is still quite robust.

    The warnings about steel cased ammo are for the most part unfounded. The steel used in these cases is very mild and will NOT cause accelerated extractor wear. The only real problem I have seen is with the LACQUER coated steel cased ammo, which will sometimes cause FTE problems when the chamber heats up after long strings of rapid fire and causes the lacquer to melt and adhere to the inside of the chamber. So far as I am aware, this problem does not exist with the polymer (Tula/Wolf), nickel (Barnaul) or copper wash (Chinese/Norinco pre-96 import ban) coated steel cased ammo.

    For awhile it was possible to obtain Indian OVF headstamp M80 for as low as 8 cents a round delivered. I happen to have bought a good deal of that stuff back in the day. Some of the vintages were notoriously bad with out of round case heads and cracked necks… these were easily culled with the use of a Wilson chamber gauge and then pulled apart for components. Some people had nasty KBs (KABOOM!) with these, but I never experienced that. the only time I ever had a KB was with a catastrophic case-head separation from the dreaded TZ80 headstamp Israeli M80 from southernammo.com. I wanst injured but it blew apart the FAL magazine well right under me and shook me up pretty bad. I then proceeded to disassemble all of that stuff i had in the collection. Fortunately, theres just about none of that stuff left anywhere as far as I know.

    In short, if you can fine ANY milsurp or steel cased 7.62×51 at a decent price, BUY IT. If it doesn’t work in your particular rifle (which is really not likely) then it can always be disassembled for components or sold at a profit later. As always, as long as the price of loaded ammo is high, it makes sense to reload, so I highly encourage you to do some of that if at all possible… that way you are the one doing quality control on your ammo. If you need some Lake City brass or bullets to start out with, let me know and I might be able to work something out.

    • Rog, thank you for your input. Very welcome stuff!

      Don’t get me wrong. I understand this is SAI’s list, which is a mix of “yes, this is really what will run well” and a healthy dose of “CYA”. I don’t blame them at all for that approach because if someone asked them what to use and it screwed things up they’ll go back and blame SAI and SAI just doesn’t need the headaches and b.s..

      Milsurp is fine, as long as it’s fine milsurp… as you describe. 🙂

      Steel cased… I don’t care for it, only because of how things can heat up, the coating comes off, and what a pain. But yeah, I’m not against if in these hard times of finding ammo. There’s some good XM80 and XM118 available right now, but I just don’t have the money for it. 😦

      Reloading… not now, but it’s on the agenda.

  4. I was going to throw in my comments but Rog more or less said what I was going to say, and more.

    I suspect that if you wanted to hand-feed soft-points into the M1A you could do so, one at a time. Seems silly but if that’s what you have on hand…

    I was there for the FAL KB. I learned a few things:

    1) Rog is a brave fellow who literally GRABBED a second rifle (after we figured out that he was largely unharmed) and started shooting IMMEDIATELY afterward. Might have been my FAL. He didn’t want to let fear get a toe-hold. Good on him. That was an impressive display of heart.

    2) I never trusted Entreprise receivers after that.

    3) After watching the FAL mag get blown apart (rounded like a tomato can, and the floorplate and ammo blown clean out of there) I NEVER NEVER NEVER support a rifle with my hand under the magazine, regardless of how nice it balances when I do. One semi-crippled finger is enough for me, thanks.

    4) Seeing your friend enveloped in a cloud of KB sucks real real bad. I’m amazed he wasn’t hurt, and I’m glad of it too.

    I think the main difference between .308 and 7.62 x 52 is that .308 has a more powerful charge. I’m glad to hear that there will be M1A specific ammo out there – I’ll have to weigh whether it’s worth what will surely be a higher price than WWB 7.62, which in my mind is a very safe choice.

    • I’m not sure about hand-feeding the soft-points, only because they say not to do that… there’s risk of slam fire. You must load via the magazine. I’m fine with it. I mean, there’s more hunting bullets out there than just soft points.

      The FAL Kb! story is one helluva story.

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    • I’ve shot at least 150 rounds of Federal 150 gr. soft points out of my M1A with no problems.

      • Like I’ve said, this is a list apparently obtained from Springfield Armory. Lots of people shoot the soft points out with no apparent problems, so it’s nice to hear another case of that. Thanx for the contribution!

    • Yeah, cost is a factor. 🙂 I do like 75 grain .223 Rem. TAP in my AR.

      I’m not saying that one couldn’t use these things as I’ve read more than enough stories of folks using “non-recommended ammo” in their M1A’s without problem, e.g. lots of people are happy using soft-points for hunting with their M1A. Just note that the above list comes from SAI themselves and that is what THEY say for whatever their reasons are.

      Nice article too. Thanx for mentioning it.

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  10. Man, I thought I knew a little about guns until I just bought the M1A Socom. I have never been so lost before as what ammo to shoot. I had always thought the 308 Win. to be the same as 7.62×51. Now everything I read confuses me more. Thanks for the tip on ammo for the M1A

    • .308 Win and 7.62x51mm NATO are close but no they aren’t the same. Just like .223 Rem and 5.56x45mm NATO are close but not the same. And they are not necessarily interchangable (.308 and 7.62×51, and .223 and 5.56×45).

      Sounds like my post cleared things up a bit for you tho. 🙂

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