M1A National Match vs Remington 700 Tactical

[Farmer Dean]

I'm considering the purchase of the M1A in National Match grade.Anyone have experience using this rifle and how does it compare (in accuracy) to the Remington 700 Tactical.

[going hot]

Get both. The 700 user freindly for long distance work. M1A has slighly larger minute of angle accuracy, more difficult to achieve similar accuracy due to more moving parts.

Can use same ammo, however, each particular rifle may work better with it's own choice of grain of bullet and powder charge.

In skeedadle mode, M1A puts more lead on target in shorter time, quicker to reload.

[Chode]

i know they are extremely partial to Match Ammo... at least they were in the 80's

[ExpatGator]

I gunsmith for a living and build custom rifles. The odds of building a semi-auto as accurate as a bolt rifle is pretty slim. However, there are some very accurate semi-auto rifles. The M-1 can be made very accurate. Everything considered, the bolt rifle has more potential, on average.

[smokingfrog]

Save your money and get an AK.

[NVDave]

You’ll probably find that the 700 is more accurate, on the whole, than the M1A.

[OKSooner]

I've run a few rounds thru the M1A. I'm sure it was capable of much better accuracy than I was able to get out of it.

Seems to me that the choice you're looking at really is iron sights or glass. Each has their place, why not just buy one of each? Your wife won't mind.

(Then again you might consider the Savage instead of the Remington but you didn't ax that question...) :)

[OKSooner]

My goodness, what a pretty hunting rifle, with a Leupold scope even.

[wastoute]

When they make a 20 round magazine for the Remington it will be hard to choose...

[wastoute]

The probability of actually NEEDING something favors the AK. In fact for the same money you can get them for your neighbors as well which will be more useful “if needed”.

[Chainmail]

If you had served in Vietnam, the question would never come up. The M-14/M1A is accurate, dependable and serious firepower. Accurizing an M-14 isn't difficult or rare if you really are good enough for sub-MOA shooting and it is easy to find superior mounts for riflescopes if you are peep sight challenged. For years, the M-14 held service match 600m records and still are the weapon of choice for dedicated long-distance military shooters.

Bolt guns are dandy old antiques but they don't have an "emergency" mode like an M-14/M1A has.

[nonsporting]

If you want to mount a scope and do long range precision work, then the Rem 700 is the way to go. If you anticipate high volume of fire at intermediate ranges (not requiring optics or special mounts), then an M1A is fine (or an AR10 or any of the spate of 308Win/7.62Nato chambered SAs that are currently on the market.)

The M1A has deficiencies when it comes to LRPR, as is true for all military rifles designed for open sights, not telescoping optics. Sure there are mounts for it, but these mounts result in a very high cheek weld relative to the bore axis. To solve this problem either a stock with an adjustable cheek rest or a cheek piece must be installed.

It all depends what you want to do with it. An AR10 is more versatile when it comes to mounting optics.

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Love my M1A for what it is - a battle rifle.

Of my several M700’s, the one with the R5 MILSPEC barrel is one of the most accurate rifles I’ve ever owned. Handloads go into 1/4 MOA.

[Farmer Dean]

I have class3 weapons if the time comes that I just need raw firepower.

[Farmer Dean]

I own the 700 .308 with the factory heavy barrel and synthetic stock.It’s shot well right out of the box,better than my ability as a shooter.I’ll be going into semi retirement soon and will have more time to spend at the range,I thought that a match grade M1A might be fun.I will be looking into the R5 barrel for the 700-thanks for the info.

[Dutch Boy]

I also have both. Here are my observations and opinions

Rem 700 in .308 - Accurate, easy to clean and disassemble, weighs less than the M1A.

M1A - Accurate, harder to clean and disassemble, requires special tools for a thorough cleaning, weighs more than the Rem 700. It’s also very fun to shoot. I put a scope mounted with Smith Enterprise parts and a 3x-20x scope along with a bipod. I regret doing that. I should have kept it standard. All the extra gear makes it heavy when you walk around with it. A good sling helps.

I’ve hit coins at 200 yards with both rifles using surplus ammo. If I wanted the gun for hunting or single round shooting, I’d go with the Rem 700. If I wanted a SHTF gun, I’d go with the M1A. If sniping, remember, the M1A ejects a round and the ejected cartridge may flash in the sunlight if that is important to you. It’s also harder to find the brass after the shot.

Just my 2 cents.

[Georgia Girl 2]

The M1A1 (M14) is the finest MBR ever produced. With this rifle you are the sheriff out to 800 meters.

As to the Remington 700 it has some major design flaws. The greatest of these is an improperly designed trigger mechanism that has had thousands of reported cases of unintentional discharge. This can happen by either taking it off safety or operating the bolt to take a round out of the chamber. The USMC last year returned a whole shipment of M40’s which is the miitary model 700 because they were misfiring. Proof can be found on YouTube.

[Lurker]

I must concur with you, ma’am. If you get the M1A you have both bases covered as it were. It’s more than accurate enough for hunting purposes, fires NATO standard ammo, and can put out serious, accurate, volume fire should that ever be necessary.

If one were looking strictly for a hunting rifle I’d say go with the Remington, or look at the Savage line to save some money. But if there’s a choice between the two, then there’s no choice.

Gt the M1A. Hands down.

[Farmer Dean]

Just got home with my new M1A National Match.Nice fit and finish,and a pretty decent trigger out of the box.I’ve already got Gold Match 168gr ammo on the shelf,so I’m going out to the back 40 and see how this thing shoots.

[Lurker]

I’ve had mine for a couple of decades. Its an older original SA model with a serial number of under 25,000. All of the relevant parts have the NM stamp on them, and all are TRW manufacture.

I glass bedded it into a tiger birch stock I got from Fred’s. Topped it off with the correct 1st Gen SA Rangefinding scope. The stock was hand finished with 12 coats of Tung Oil to bring out the beautiful grain in that wood.

That thing is a no **** 800 yard rifle. I love it.

[Farmer Dean]

Shot the new rifle,my first impression is-I should have bought one of these a long time ago.Very smooth,light recoil.Two stage trigger,but good release-I don’t think that I’ll be doing anything to it at least for now.Overall I’m happy as can be with it.