Installing A Shooting Sling On An Wood Sa M1a Standard

[Religious Shooter]

Looking to install QD studs on a wood M1A Standard. Will probably be utilizing a V-TAC sling so I will be installing the studs on top of the rear buttstock and on the left front of the stock.

I'm concerned about the barrel not being free-floated on the M1A Standard. Will putting tension on the sling cause a significant change of POI with this set-up?

Any suggestions?

[Dan Sierpina]

An M1A barrel can be floated. You need a double lugged action, and it bolts in like a bolt action. Then you can float it. However, with the normal assembly methods, even for match guns, ie, tensioning the barrel, sling tension on the side of the stock will have an effect on the bullet impact.

I was once told by a match armorer for the Ohio National Guard, that when testing M14's in a machine fixture, the simple resting of the eraser end of a pencil caused a point of impact change of 6 inches. It messed with the harmonics of the barrel.

[George]

The M1A will take sling tension if setup properly (they used them successfully in NRA High Power), it just requires applying the sling tensio in a repeatable manner.

That said, the VTAC sling doesn't need a rear stud if you get the wraparound/strap-on harness for attaching to the buttstock without a stud. I tried an upper rear stud with A VATC a while ago, didn't work for me. I like the strap-on method better because the stud on top of the buttstock sometimes hits my ear in certain positions.

You can also get one that just ties on up front too.

Check with someone who has built M1A's for High Power to see what the tricks are for slingin' em successfully. I have always shot the mousegun (AR-15) in High Power and never had to figure this secret handshake out ;-)