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Tonight's Saturday Night Gun Pron [tm] is a bit abbreviated, because I'm writing it from work, and the subject itself is somewhat abbreviated.

Here it is, the Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM-16, along with a special guest appearance of the crate of 7.62 ammo that "went dark" underneath my work bench for about 10 years.

So far I haven't done a thing with it but tear it down and clean it up. The parts are a mix of SA, H&R, and TRW, plus the new investment-cast receiver. The barrel and gas cylinder are also new production, being shorter than GI.

Immediate plans include an Urban-ERT sling, and a national match round operating rod spring guide. The round guide is intended just to improve operating smoothness, not for any accuracy improvements.

The next big item is optics. It looks like I'll be using an Aimpoint, because there is no magnifying optics that has the eye relief to work from the mid-barrel mounting position. I could get a 3x magnifier, but it would have to go over the receiver, just like a regular scope.

If I need a scope mount, I'll go over to Smith Enterprise, Inc. It looks like the place for M14 pron:

And, I discovered that a Maxpedition "slim line" gun case, bought on closeout due to color change, works perfectly with the rifle. With ACU being the "in" pattern, OD and Woodland are patterns on the way out, and are greatly discounted.

It's a snug fit, but it was designed for shorter weapons. I guess the M1A SOCOM qualifies:

I have a SOCOM 16 and the SOCOM II (as well as a new SA M1A and a old TRW M1A built for me when in the service) and they are great ! The downside of the SOCOM II is the rail system that is super sharp. Too sharp......it alone is a great CQB tool if the person carrying the thing is wearing gloves. I have decided to leave the SOCOM 16 w/o optics. Stone cold stock with exception of a sling.

BTW what is your brand of mags ....I have bought nothing but SA factory mags since retirement. I have about 30 of the GI issue mags of unknown manufacturer. All flawless thus far.

Anything mag wise cheaper and more or as reliable ?

That is niiiice.

So we went by the gun shop to get ammo for our range trip yesterday and the owner was talking to us about how we want to get CCW permits and basically convinced us that we should go ahead and get them now (in Iowa, it goes by county. Our current sheriff is a jerk who will give you one if you say you regularly carry $500 in cash, and write “only valid when carrying $500 or more in cash” on the permit) We were planning to wait until after the new sheriff is elected but the gun store folks promised us that either of the new candidates will fix that.

So the problem became what do I want to use to qualify? The county test is really strict, involves a target at 25 yards which is way farther than I usually shoot. Talon’s got a couple .45s but I don’t like them. My XD40 and the 380 are not full size and so are not as accurate. We mentioned that to the gun shop owner and he went off to the back room and came back with his 9mm glock and said here, borrow this. We went to the range and shot two boxes of 9mm. I liked the gun a lot, but the grip is a little wrong for me so we’re going to see about getting me a different 9mm.

And ordering Talon an AR15 to match mine too. The gun shop guy says they’re taking between 8 and 16 weeks right now so anyone who’s looking for one should order - the wait’s only going to get worse before November.

Since we’re back on line, wanted to say that is one nice rifle, though it looks short enough to qualify as a carbine. That case looks like a good one for that rifle. Now I’d really like to have one of ‘special’ models but somehow, don’t think that’ll happen.

Met my shooting buddy at the range today, figured there wouldn’t be a long line to get in. Well, there wasn’t..range closed due to Mother’s Day. Hmm. what about the sons/daughters that wanted to take Mom to the range/ OB