Springfield M1A issues

I have owned my Springfield standard issue M1A for around 3 to 4 months now.
It worked excellent when I purchased it and I love it for that.

However, recently the last two times I took the rifle out I had issues with it, which currently make it useless to use. I don’t want to accidentally cause any damage to the rifle, so I’m reaching out for input and see if springfield would take a look at the rifle. Issues are below…

  1. When inserting a loaded magazine into the rifle with the bolt locked to the rear. I return the bolt to the forward position. When I fire, there is a click and no bang. I charge the handle again and am allowed to fire 2 shots before the following happens…

  2. The spent case does not fully eject, often getting caught by the bolt half way out of the chamber.

In the last instance that I fired the rifle, the round fired, but the casing didn’t eject. In fact, I couldn’t pull back the charging handle at all. It was stuck in the forward position. I let the rifle cool for a bit, but made no diffrence. With the range officers permission, I took the stock off the rifle to get a better view of what was going on. I’m not a gunsmith, so I didn’t notice anything major. I had to let the rifle sit for another minute or two before I was able to finally eject the casing.

Upon observation of the casing, there were no dents to the shell, but there was a scratch mark running down the side of it, as If it was catching on something. (Could be form my forced ejection).

I have made no alterations to the rifle at all. I have taken the rifle apart and cleaned it, especially around the gas system.

Any insight would be a great help.

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What kind of ammo? Have you tried different ammo? Might it be an ammo issue? Ping @Craig6 . :us:

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Ah yes, so u have shot diffeent ammo. Steel and brass cased. And the ammo that I used at the time was Israeli surplus. I put a lot of that ammo through before it gave me the issues.

Thinking it may be a feeding/extraction issue?

Agree with Bruce that bad ammo could be the cause. From what you are describing there might also be a defect or some damage in the chamber that might be catching the round. This could keep the gun from going completely into battery some times and make rounds hard to eject on others. I would shine a flashlight into the barrel to see any problems that might be there.

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I will take a look at this. Is there anything specific I’m looking for other than unusual wear?

Some steel ammo has a coating that can gunk up the chamber and lead to issues. A really good cleaning might do the trick.

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Have you run a pipe cleaner thru the gas tube? :+1:

I have never shot a lot of steel cased ammo so not sure how visible the gunk they leave behind would be. If there was some damage to the the chamber you might see some metal burs or debris. But if you have been shooting a bunch of cheap surplus and steel cased ammo I think a good cleaning of the chamber and the gas system as @BRUCE26 suggested will likely get you back up and running.

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No I havent…I will do that

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I get a lot of surface marks on the side of the chamber, just above the charge handle. I’d post a pic if I was home at the moment. It’s streaks of brass coloration.

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A good picture is worth a thousand words;) But if you aren’t seeing gouges or raised areas it could just be some baked on lacquer coating from the steel cased ammo or maybe the copper from the bullets as they are being fed in??

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I thought steel ammo was fine to fire.

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In my humble opinion, it sounds like an ammo issue that caused other issues. If you have an air compressor
at home just hose it with your spray cleaner of choice and blow it out a couple of times, it gets the gunk out of the crevices that you can’t even see. I use air on all my guns for a deep clean and works to dry that gas tube.
Good luck. :us:

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It is! I shoot nothing but in my AK. Some guns just don’t like it and it can be a bit dirtier. :us:

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I have also read of some guns having issues if you shoot a bunch of steel then switch over to brass. The build up from the steel cases can supposedly cause the brass cases to stick when they expand after firing. Likely not an issue for many guns and should be no problem if you give it a good cleaning before switching.

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First, your cleaning process…keep gas piston and cylinder dry no oil. M1a’s love grease versus oil like the AR15s do. Are your mags factory Sprgfld or are they cheaper aftermarket? My M1a’s are picky about their magazines. Mil surplus ammo (foreign manufacture) varies greatly in quality from lot to lot. Personally I avoid steel case ammo except in an AK or SKS.

Sprgfld armory for me has always had good service, call and ask to talk with a technician. Just my 2¢

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What did you change from the first time you fired it ? Also did I miss it but you should stick to amo with military primers/nato amo. If you reload use military primers only re- slam fire. It’s important to clean and remove any oil from the chamber as well. If you get lucky it could just be a compacted piece of crap in the chamber. Good to have a chamber brush for the M1A, it’s a brush with a right angle handle. Other info re-reloading military/NATO amo are crimped in primers.
It very common to see oil not cleaned out of chambers, not only does it collect dirt and Debris it’s also a safety issue.
:paraguay::paraguay::paraguay:

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I would definitely talk to @Craig6 he’s excellent with rifles.

My M1a scout started off life failing to fire…factory grease on the bolt, in the firing pin channel seemed to be the culprit. Lately, after maybe 2000 rounds, a certain magazine was the issue, though in my case it’s the feed lips opening a bit and the rounds attempting a mass exodus into the chamber :laughing: These are pretty big rounds, however, and I could see inconsistent feeding being your issue, possible the 2 rounds going alright, then as the others move up getting into the train wreck formation. I do get occasional feed issues, possible the follower going a bit wonky.
FWIW, I grease (lubriplate) my garand action guns (mini 14/M1a) pretty liberally, and the chambers are generally pretty wet looking, but I do run a q-tip around them every outing with some ballistol, and brush on occasion.
Gas system should be cleaned every 500 rounds, a lot of carbon gets built up in the block…check out https://www.sadlak.com/ for the set of drills and wrenches to clean the gas system. If you’ve never taken the block off, first time is a beeyotch, as SA seems to overtorque the bolt by a factor of 100 or so… :face_vomiting:… I used an extension bar on the wrench first time out, gas block wrench jammed against a door frame…and now, at a proper 16ish '/lbs of torque, no longer have that issue. My guru when I first got my M1a…http://www.tonybenm14.com/
SA customer service is top notch I have heard.

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I have the three 10rnd mags that came with the rifle and one preban 30rnd mag

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