I picked this up in Jacksonville, Fl. in 1990. Nobody, including Springfield, Bobby Reese, or Elmer Balance have any record of it being made but it has a Winchester barrel with the complete Winchester logo, that's pretty unusual. The rest of the parts are all TRW except for the unitized gas cylinder that Mike Sadlak made for it, the titanium mount that was the second one that Mike Sadlak manufactured and the Leupold MKIV. I had a Boyds fat stock on it but decided that I just liked the feel of this one a little better. It's the sweetest NM M1A that I have ever fired and I'm sort of a M14 fan, having learned to shoot high-power with my Dad's NM M14 the National Guard rifle team signed to him. Lee Emerson has had a picture of it on his site for several years and once claimed to have gotten information from Springfield Armory about it being one of six that were special ordered for a mysterious political figure that wanted to remain anonymous. I don't know if that's BS or not, Lee did write a pretty good book called "The History and Development of the M14 Rifle". Anyway, I like sharing pictures of her because it always raises a lively conversation about the possibilities of her provenance. Enjoy
No doubt, that's one Sweet N.W. M-1A! The history must be something, would be Super cool to hear what might have been!
Hard to pick a "Fav" but my Ed Schillin .308 Win conversion Mod 8/81 Remington is near the top! It's not the best, nor is it the coolest, but damn, it's such a near little Rifle! Heavy, kicks harder then any other .308, finicky, and a constant mess to clean when used, but it's still an awesome rifle! Probably not worth much, maybe what I paid, maybe not, but then that's not why we like certain firearms! If I had to choose my fav, and nail it down for ever in history, it would certainly be my Grand Dads 1895 Winchester. 30/06 that he and Grand Ma custom built. It's a hunting grade rifle disguised as a show piece that put meat on the table for 40 years, and is still an awesome shooter! Cost me a fortune to get it and bring it back for the family to enjoy, but what the hell is money for if you can't spend it on what you love! Notable others would be my slow growing collection of Colt Revolving Rifles, I am determined to own them all if I can, such a fasinating part of history, one that seems to always get passed over, and yet such a important part of our nations history!
Home made? It takes no great ability to "forge" the mfr's markings, tho' whoever did it did it better than average, at least from an appearance standpoint. I might, if I had an M1A, see if the marks were symmetrical, or with the slight offset your example shows.
Springfield M1A s/n X004 ? - Gun Hub looks like this feller has X004 n another feller reportedly has X001 n X002 the X004 pic is awful uv cuz
The markings are correct for the very first runs at Springfield Armory and are perfectly aligned, even if my camera lens was a little skewed to take a shot under my rifle scope, Ghrit. It also has a particular anomaly associated with Elmer Balance's rifles from Devine, Texas that would indicate that it was one of the receivers that Reese bought when Elmer sold out to them. It actually seems sort of stupid and pointless to "forge" a rifle of this quality, especially since I have owned the rifle for years before they even became very popular.
Looks like that thread is being delt with by Lee Emerson, who still is being cryptic about the provenance of the six X00 rifles. I just called him out on Gunhub to see how he responds. Righthand knows him too and I suspect Ghrit does too since we were old Warrifles folks.
Looks to me like the stock may have been cut down on the left side. It could have been a parade stock. Back when ROTC was allowed to handle defunct M14s they cut thicker wood blanks to make the stocks. The idea was to stregthen them so if they were dropped from flinging them around in the air a lot, they wouldnt break. Used to see the bare stocks for sale at surplus stores sometimes.
