I'm cleaning my M1A - Solid detail strip and clean. I have reviewed Benny6's detail lubrication video and will follow it.

I know not to lube the gas tube and piston; but,

1. In cleaning the gas system with Hoppes, do I need to use NC brake cleaner / lacquer thinner / mineral spirits, etc, to get any remaining, but dried Hoppes out of there?

2. Do I need to clean the inside of the gas piston, and if so, how anal do I need to be?

3. Do I use oil or anti-seize (the gray shit) on the gas plug threads?

4. How tight do I torque the gas plug?

5. The ejector face seems to be cut with three facets, not the two that I see online. Is this a Springfield Armory thing or a wear problem? Rifle probably has about than 500 rounds through it. No evidence of peening on the face of the ejector.

6. Not really visible to my naked eye, but I can feel a tiny ridge at the rear of the firing pin where it is contacted by the hammer. Is this peening, normal, or a manufacturing artifact? Firing pin moves fine in its channel, and the rifle is reliable. There is no corresponding markings on the hammer.

Bore is good, lugs are good, and I will properly pack the roller and grease the rails, lugs and hood. I've done the trigger assembly with Slip EWL 2000.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
2. Do I need to clean the inside of the gas piston, and if so, how anal do I need to be?

Not every time, but it does get heavily fouled over time. Sadlak offers a drill bit set that's sized to scrape the inside of the piston, and it works well. There's a larger P drill for the wider front portion, and a longer but skinnier #15 drill for the thinner and deeper rear portion.

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...-steel-m1a-m14-matte

They also offer a separate O drill for the gas plug too:

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...-drill-m1a-m14-matte

If you've never cleaned the piston, you might be surprised at all the crap that comes out. Do the scraping outdoors, or risk the wrath of your wife when you get a large amount of fine carbon powder all over her table and/or floor.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
4. How tight do I torque the gas plug?

There's a wide variety of recommendations (even differences between the Army and Marines milspec values), but generally somewhere in the ~15 foot pound range.

Be sure to use a gas cylinder wrench to hold it in place while torquing the gas plug.

Thanks Rogue, I had noted the difference between Army and MC specs when I did some searching. That's why I came here.

quote:

If you've never cleaned the piston, you might be surprised at all the crap that comes out. Do the scraping outdoors, or risk the wrath of your wife when you get a large amount of fine carbon powder all over her table and/or floor.

You weren't kidding. I have those drill bits, and damn, I got a lot of crap out of there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

#1,

if you want to use the chemicals, go for it,
just needs to be dry when put back together

#2

what Rogue said

#3

no need,

#4,

not sure if there is a spec, I generally do hand tight +1, as in tight enough you can't hand turn it loose

#5

may be USGI, may be Commercial, I have seen both, if it is working don't worry about it,

#6
may be slightly peened, is it parked or a chromed pin? either way, as long as it moves as it should and not bent or warped, no worries,

Thanks all.

I cleaned and dried the gas system.

I slightly lubed the gas plug threads.

The ejector works perfectly and the gun is reliable with what ever I feed it.

The firing pin is in the white; whether or not it is chromed; I don't know, but it isn't parkerized. Moves freely, and I'm not worrying about it unless it's a known failure point.

The gas cylinder is stainless steel and can't be blued, so it's a coating of some sort. I just clean the gas cylinder with a .50 cal nylon bore brush and clean it with patches until the patches are dry. You can use alcohol or mineral spirits to get it completely dry if you like, but not necessary.

Simply using the drill bits to get the solid chunks of carbon out is sufficient. It doesn't have to be spotless, but doesn't hurt either.

You don't have to use anti-seize on the gas plug threads, but it's a good idea and it will come off easier when you have to clean it next time.

Gas plug torque is 150 inch pounds. I use a 3/8" click-type torque wrench with a 3/8" torque adapter from Snap-on (https://store.snapon.com/Standard-inches-Chrome-3-8--3-8-Drive-12-Point-SAE-3-8-Standard-Torque-Adaptor-P631794.aspx) . You can just use farmer-tight and see how it works. Use a gas cylinder wrench from Sadlak to hold the cylinder while torquing.


The ejector has three different flats which are there for specific purposes. If they were not there, the rifle would have feeding issues. You'll have one small surface closes to the firing pin that is flat with the bolt face and two other angled surfaces that allow the next round to be chambered, depending on what side of the magazine the round is fed from. (see corrected post below)

The tail of the firing pin will have some peening, which is typical. Some have more peening than others and it all has to do with how the safety bridge is shaped. Usually Springfield Armory receivers will peen a firing pin a little more than LRB and Bula receivers.

After a few rounds, the firing pin will have "molded" itself to the safety bridge shape.

Your firing pin is chromed.

Tony.

Thanks very much, Tony.

A

You're welcome. I edited and added other info as well.

Tony.

Actually, I take it back about the ejector angle. The flat surface should be on the bottom of the bolt with the angled surfaces on the top, closest to the firing pin. These angles must be correct for reliable feeding.

The ejector on the left is correct and is a standard ejector. The ejector on the right was designed for a Bula Defense left handed M14 and was mistakenly shipped to me and was causing feeding issues when used with a standard M14.


Tony.

Thanks again. My ejector is properly set up like the one on the left.