Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match – Superb Walnut 308 Rifle

Description

The Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match is the full specification version of the rifle, with the flash suppressor fitted and every National Match component Springfield puts in the Loaded line. It is the configuration a high power service rifle competitor would specify, sold as a complete rifle rather than assembled from a Standard Issue and a box of parts.

The National Match Components

Three things separate a Loaded from a Standard Issue, and all three are the components that decide where the bullet goes. The National Match barrel is a medium weight contour in six groove carbon steel, 22 inches with a 1:11 twist, held to tighter dimensional tolerances than the standard barrel and carrying more steel around the bore to resist heat wander through a long string.

The rear sight is a match grade aperture in a non hooded .0520 opening, and the important detail is that it adjusts in half MOA increments for windage where the standard military sight moves in full MOA. Across a 600 yard line that halves your smallest possible correction, which is exactly what you need when you are chasing the last inch of a group.

The trigger is a two stage trigger tuned to National Match specification. The first stage takes up the slack while you settle into position and the second breaks cleanly, and on the Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match the tuning is done at the factory rather than by a gunsmith afterwards.

Walnut, Weight And Handling

The walnut stock is what most people picture when they think M1A, and there is a practical case for it beyond looks. Wood damps vibration well and a walnut stocked rifle feels different in the shoulder from a composite one. The honest trade is that wood moves with humidity, and that movement changes how the receiver sits, which moves point of impact. Serious shooters bed the action, and on the Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match that is money well spent.

Nine pounds eight ounces and 44.33 inches makes this a large rifle by any modern standard. The weight is not incidental: a full power .308 fired from a nine and a half pound rifle is genuinely comfortable, and in a discipline where a match runs to eighty rounds from unsupported positions that matters more than the number on a scale suggests.

A flash suppressor is fitted at the muzzle of the Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match, which is what accounts for the extra three inches and five ounces over the New York configuration of the same rifle. Beyond hiding flash it also acts as a mounting point and protects the crown.

Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match Specifications

• Caliber: 308 Winchester (7.62x51mm NATO)
• Barrel: 22 inch National Match medium weight, six groove carbon steel, 1:11 twist
• Muzzle: Flash suppressor, barrel not threaded
• Front sight: National Match .062 inch blade
• Rear sight: Match grade non hooded .0520 aperture, half MOA windage and MOA elevation
• Trigger: Two stage, National Match tuned
• Stock: Walnut
• Operating system: Gas operated with long stroke operating rod, rotating bolt
• Overall length: 44.33 inches
• Weight: 9 pounds 8 ounces
• Magazine: One ten round magazine included
• Model number: MA9222
• UPC: 706397012229

One ten round magazine ships with the rifle; twenty round magazines are the standard M1A pattern and widely available where legal.

Why Buyers Choose The Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match

If you shoot high power service rifle, this is the rifle the discipline was built around and the specification you would end up at anyway. Buying the National Match barrel, the match aperture and a trigger job separately on a Standard Issue costs more than the difference between the two guns and leaves the rifle at a gunsmith for weeks.

Iron sights of the quality fitted to the Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match are also genuinely useful outside competition. A .062 front blade against a .0520 aperture gives a precise sight picture in light where a scope has stopped being usable, and there is nothing to fog, lose zero or run out of battery.

As a hunting rifle it handles anything in North America short of the largest bears, and the Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match will do it with a rifle that will still be working in fifty years.

Now the caveats. Ammunition selection matters on an M14 pattern rifle. Commercial .308 loaded with slow burning powder can raise gas port pressure enough to bend the operating rod over time. Stay with 150 to 175 grain loads using powders suited to the platform, or fit an adjustable gas plug. It is easy to avoid and expensive to ignore.

The rest are practical. Nine and a half pounds and 44 inches is a lot of rifle to carry. Mounting a scope needs a dedicated side mount or a scout rail and is never as clean as a modern receiver. Walnut needs bedding to reach the rifle full potential, and it will move with the weather until you do.

Who Should Buy The Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match

The Springfield M1A Loaded 22 Inch Match suits the service rifle competitor, the traditionalist who wants the M14 in wood with everything fitted, and the hunter who trusts iron sights. If you are buying into New York, the NT configuration of this rifle is the compliant one. If you want to scope it as your primary sight, the Precision variants are built for that. And if you would rather start cheaper and upgrade over time, the Standard Issue is the same rifle without the National Match parts.

Learn more about this rifle from the manufacturer, or see more firearms available at MAG5 Firearms.