[MasterChief2007]

I recently purchased a Standard M1a black polymer stock. I qualified and carried an M14 in the Navy in the 80's as the security weapon for submarines.
So I have some experience with them, finally broke down a couple of months ago and purchased one.
The ammo shortage has prevented me from shooting until last weekend.
Much to my disappointment I loaded 5 rounds of TulAmmo .308 Win 150 gr steel case ammo.
First trigger pull, click, no bang, ejected the round, it was dimpled, racked another round same result.
I emptied the mag loaded Silver Bear .308 Win 140 gr Bimetal SP Zinc Plated Case, first round fired second nothing not even a dimple.
Racked another round, click, no bang but dimpled.
Loaded Monarch .308 Win 145 gr FMJ, same result.
Broke the rifle down wiped it down, put it back together, thought maybe I did not seat the trigger group well enough, but nothing changed.
Out of 20 rounds tried, about 8 correct discharges and a lot of dimpled ammo.
I am going to call Springfield next week and probably send it back, just curious if I am missing something obvious?
Thanks

 

[WVSurveyor]

I don't have any experience with the M1a but here's my 2 cents. I know the TulAmmo and Silver Bear are renown for their hard primers. Don't know about the Monarch. Some handguns and maybe rifles are shipped from the factory with protective coating that can gunk up critical parts. These need to be cleaned and lubed prior to use in order to perform properly. Don't know if that's the case here, but I would look at the firing pin and its channel to see if it looks like it could use a clean and lube. Maybe the combination of hard primers and something around the firing pin are prohibiting it from properly discharging the round consistently. Did you try a second time with the rounds that were dimpled? Also might buy a box of standard Federal, Remington or Winchester .308 hunting rounds and see how they work. Those will have softer primers. Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes. BTW, welcome to the forum.

 

[MasterChief2007]

Thanks for the feedback WVSurveyor, I did get some of the ammo to discharge on a second or third attempt but not all. I do have some Federal ammo and may give that a go.
Thanks

 

[WVSurveyor]

I was just reading about the Monarch ammo. If the info is accurate the brass case is made by PPU in Serbia and the steel case in from Barnaul in Russia. So if you shot the steel case it will also have the hard primers like the Tulammo and Silver Bear. I've shot a lot of PPU brass case ammo in numerous weapons and have had zero issues with it. In fact, when I just want to go out and ring steel at longer ranges the PPU is my go to ammo for my .308 and .25-06 rifles.

 

[MasterChief2007]

Thanks again WVSurveyor, it may be partially the ammo, but I feel the M1a shouldn't have this kind of trouble with it. I will contact Springfield this week, I am sure it will get resolved.