Collecting and Shooting the Surplus Rifle

Mogadishu Mini-M1A

As I have written before, I get pretty weird about owning M1A rifles. It is a sort of strange love affair that I have. I never thought I would have the opportunity to own one, much less two. Recently I laid my eyes upon a really short carbine built on an ArmsCorp receiver. The barrel and permanently affixed muzzle brake together are only sixteen inches in length. The front sight is also very unique; very much like the front sight of a Mosin-Nagant rifle or carbine. The front sight and muzzle brake are both made by Smith Enterprise, Inc.

I have always been looking for that perfect "end-of-days" (EOD) rifle/carbine. You know what I mean? The rifle that is virtually indestructible, functions flawlessly every single time, and ammo is cheap, accurate, and abundant. If everything were to fall to chaos then this is the firearm you would grab. I am not a survivalist, I just like to hedge my bet and have a desire to survive. I know, I know, the firearm I just described is probably the SKS carbine. Not anymore, after owning an M1A, the SKS is what I would give my wife to carry (Chuckle, chuckle!).

I always wanted an M1A for this role, but discovered (and please note I am not complaining) that the M1A is too difficult to maneuver in tight surroundings (i.e. my living room). I am always hitting something (the lamp by my sofa) with it and the thought came to me - "Hey, I sure wish this thing were a little shorter!". But, alas I would rather cut off a body part before altering my M1A Standard. I liked the looks of the Springfield Armory SOCOM 16, but once I handled it I found that I did not like the fiber optic front sights or the integral scope rail.

I paid my new carbine off via lay-away and finally took it home with me! The one complaint I did have is that I did not like the brown synthetic stock that it came with. Plus the stock was somewhat banged up and that just would not do! I shopped around on www.gunbroker.com for a replacement stock and came upon some stocks offered by Mad Dog Camo Stocks. I had not really considered a camo stock before, but I was reminiscing (One who is addicted to indulging, narrating, or recording reminiscences - Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary) of the desert camo stocks on the M-14 sniper rifle in the movie "Blackhawk Down", and really liked the look.

The heroism of Gary Gordon and Randal Shughart (the two snipers that dropped down from the helicopter in Mogadishu to protect the four wounded) leave me in complete awe, in honor of the selfless sacrifice they made to protect their fallen comrades in arms. They had to know they were probably not going to make it.....yet they did it anyways. That is heroic!

Medal of Honor Recipients - Somalia

GORDON, GARY I.

Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Lincoln, Maine. Citation: Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon's sniper team provided precision fires from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crew's weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, "good luck." Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Master Sergeant Gordon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

SHUGHART, RANDALL D.

Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Newville, Pennsylvania. Citation: Sergeant First Class Shughart, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Sergeant First Class Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Sergeant First Class Shughart's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

Source: Congressional Medal Online

Heck, I live in a very dry environment and plan on retiring in the southwest. Seems like the desert camo stock would be an appropriate pattern to have. I contacted the vendor and he sent me one for my new EOD carbine.

To install the new stock I first removed the magazine and pulled back the bolt to ensure the firearm was unloaded.

Identical to removing an M1 Garand's trigger I pulled forward on the trigger guard and then pulled it out.

Once the trigger was removed I turned the carbine over and pivoted the receiver and barrel assembly forward and out of the stock.

Mad Dog's Camo Stocks Contact Information

Mad Dog specializes in refinishing and applying camo to the plastic or fiberglass stocks commonly found on "evil" assault type weapons. He also does some work on wood stocks from military weapons.

On the plastic or glass stocks, he uses the following process:

The stock is cleaned and degreased, and a commercial adhesive promotion agent is applied.
The texture coat (if used) is applied, and allowed to cure fully.
The base coat and camo colors are applied, and again allowed to cure fully.
A top sealer coat is applied for durability, and again allowed to cure.

He recommends the texture coat, because it helps cover any flaws in the stock, provides a non-slip gripping surface, and aids the camo by breaking up reflections off the surface of the stock.

He can do Woodland type camo in various shades of green/brown/black, Desert camo in earth/tan/brown variations, Urban grey/grey/black and various others, if you are interested in specific colors let him know. He can also apply just the black texture coat if you would like that.

Web Site: http://myweb.cableone.net/denneym1/riflestocks.html

Email: denneym1@cableone.net

Next I moved the connector lock out so I could disengage the connector rod assembly.

Then I removed the connector rod assembly and set it aside.

Pictured above are two essential tools to own for maintaining an M1A rifle or carbine. Pictured on the bottom of the above photo, a handy tool offered by Fulton Armory is a gas cylinder wrench for less than $10. The top tool is the typical combo tool that was issued by the military and carried in the rifle's butt stock. Fulton Armory also offers the combo tool for less than $7.

Fulton Armory Contract Information

Web Site: http://www.fulton-armory.com/

Email: garand@neo.rr.com

The gas cylinder wrench fits perfectly around a USGI gas cylinder lock and allows you to loosen and remove the gas cylinder plug without holding onto the handguard or other part of the rifle, while it gives you more leverage.

I placed the gas cylinder wrench on the gas cylinder lock and then while using the combo tool I loosened the gas cylinder plug.

Once the gas cylinder plug was loose I set the combo tool aside and used my hand to loosen the remainder of the way and remove.

Then I rotated the gas cylinder lock until it came loose from the threads.

I pulled the gas piston out and set it aside.

I turned the gas cylinder valve so the slot of the screw was set horizontal.

Using the handle of the screw driver I tapped the gas cylinder forward until I could remove it by hand. Note that the front band also came off when I removed the gas cylinder. This allows the handguard to come free.

I slid the handguard forward and off of the barrel.

I slid the new camo handguard and snapped it into place.

Next, I slid the front band into place holding in the handguard.

I tapped the gas cylinder back into place and turned the gas valve back to semi-auto position which is the screw slot running vertical.

Next I replaced the gas cylinder making sure to the the flat side pointing upward towards the barrel.

I pulled back on the operating rod to allow the gas cylinder to move back to its furthest position.

Then I replaced the gas lock and hand tightened. Then I replaced the gas cylinder plug and hand tightened. Once tightened as far possible by hand I used the gas cylinder wrench and combo tool to tighten.

I replaced the connector rod and spring.

Pushed the connector lock so the connector rod was held in place. It is a good idea to cycle the operating rod and bolt to make sure there is proper movement.

I pivoted the receiver and barrel assembly into the new camo stock assembly.

Replace the trigger assembly and locked the trigger guard into place.

Mad Dog does a really nice job on the match up between the pattern on the handguard and the stock. The color and pattern overall is superb. I like the textured surface of the finish as it makes it really easy to get a good solid grip on the stock while holding.

The stock pictured in this article was $129.95 plus $9.50 for S&H. Mad Dog will either sell you a finished stock or you can make arrangements to send him your stock to be finished. He also offers stocks for FALs, SKS, M1As, and AR rifles.

Boys and Girls this is quality work and as we all know - quality work takes time to produce. Be patient with Mad Dog as he has limited hours and can only produce so many stocks in a given amount of time.

Remember - anything good is worth the wait!