Just acquired one of these and I don’t really know much about these rifles. This one is New production built  in the last year and never fired. I  want to set it up to run my Sandman S or Harvester on it.

What are the options needed to get these suppressed and are there any needed GI parts that should be used to replace the SA parts as far as reliability / performance?

Thanks

Did some small swaps today. Added a new GI recoil Spring and a GI stock. I cleaned it pretty good and added a nice coat of BOL and let it cure. May add another…..

I much prefer the GI stocks feel compared to the newer stock that can on the rifle. Feels thinner and more ergonomic.

Before ….




After…..




Ordered an adapter and a gas block to move my front sight to. Plan on running my Harvester with a Cherry Bomb or my Sandman S. Hopefully everything lines up

You already got the first thing, a threaded muzzle adapter.

I won't pretend to be an expert, but I own the exact same rifle, and from a reliability standpoint I have not found a single thing I think should be replaced. Just maintain it, it will work. Springfield M1A parts are good.

The only other thing most do to run a suppressor is to adjust the gas system. Some claim to run them as-is with no problems, but I see no reason to do that. There's two common ways to do this, maybe a third. The first is to install an adjustable gas plug. Unfortunately Schuster is the only one I'm aware of, and they have some kind of family crisis that has stopped production for now.

The other method is to cross drill your gas spindle. I think that's the more sensible option as doing this limits the gas that goes to the gas system in the first place. Typically this spindle is an on-off valve. All you are doing is using the "off" position and drilling it with a smaller hole than the standard "on" position. This way you have a system that you can choose low or high mode, and it can be adjusted with only the rim of a cartridge. I feel like this is the most sensible option.

A kind of third option is to buy on a spindle with replaceable jets. https://shootingsight.com/?product=m14-spindle-valve-jets This is like the original on/off valve, so if you want to go back to original, you have to pull that spindle out, and put the original back in.

One last little bit of opinion. I am not a fan of that scout scope setup at all it's so tall, and way far forward. I found a pistol scope was the only thing I had that could work on it. It didn't take me long before I ditched it. It is the one part on the rifle I think you will benefit from replacing. If you really want a forward mounted scope, the Ultimak rail is a much better design. There's a ton of options for more traditional mounts depending on what you want. I am a big fan of the Bassett picatinny mount, it's crazy how simple and easy it is to mount. It's better than QD scope rings.

Can’t say I disagree with you on the current scout setup. Not a huge fan of the optic mount and the lack of being able to use the iron sights thru it.

This rifle may find itself part of the Iron Sight Mafia

Nothing wrong with that either. Mine sees mostly iron sight use. It is nice having a scope for easier load testing at the range though. That's where the Bassett really shines. You put it on in 15 seconds, shoot, take it off, in 15 more seconds, and you are back to the iron master race.

Got my new gas/sight block on and my KeyMo Muzzle Break mount and Sandman S. I’m waiting on the cross/tapped spindle and getting to my LGS to make sure all is lined up prior to testing it out

Some minor updates

Ultra cool rifle is ultra cool.

How come you put another rail over the receiver? Seems like extra weight and failure point.

I may pull the scout rail if my next plan doesn’t work….. not really a fan of that style or the optic being located there.  Put 500 rounds down range yesterday…. Zero issues at this point and it does helps deflect gas from the suppressor.

Removing the optic from where it can absorb heat via conduction from the barrel and relocating it over the comparatively cool receiver? Yeah, good idea.

A t1 isn't going to have an issue.
I never thought much about receiver rails on M1as until Garandthumbs video

Heat transfer on the Scout mount has killed a few CCO sights including M68’s.  Does the T1 have some extra thermal protection?

Anecdotally, I've heard of a couple T1s getting cooked.

I never even thought about the heat. I don't like that mount because it's so hokey. There's nothing but clamping force holding it on, and it's not even shaped that close to the barrel profile.

Wow, that's good to know.  Do you know if it was on high round count strings? I was thinking about a t1 on an ultimak on my m1 eventually

I have little additional info, but Garand and M14 barrels can move a lot of heat. That being said, it would probably be fine on a Garand that's not seeing clip dumps.

The Ultimak/M14.CA type rails don't seem to suffer from the same heat transfer issues. There is a scout type mount that has a longer rail section (GG&G?) that fits like the OEM mount but also doesn't seem to have the same heat transfer issues. So you can do it, it's just better to not use the OEM mount.

Did some accuracy testing with 147gr ammo with the suppressor .  Was getting an average of 2MOA at 100 yards with my red dot, bench/bag. Zero baffle strikes so No complaints overall so far with the reliability ( no malfunctions) and accuracy.

Nice!

See if the gas cylinder needs to be shimmed and feed it some good ammo to see what it can really do.

Awesome. You can check the gas cylinder fit if you want, but if you are really getting 2" groups at 100 yards, then you are at the good end of what an M1A is capable without more accurizing.

It doesn’t take a very high round count to make the scout mount too hot to touch.

The Ultimak would definitely dissipate heat better than the scout mount.  If I remember the Ultimak has several contact points with the barrel rather than one and it’s a larger chunk of metal so it will disperse heat better thsn a small dense mount like the SA factory mount.