Letter Re: Advice on M1A Rifle Assembly and Disassembly

Mr. Rawles,
Great information, as always.  I read with considerable interest the article on 308 battle rifles by Ulysses in Montana, and it made me think once again of my M1A and the one dilemma I have with it; how to break it down for cleaning.  I come from an M16/AR-15 background, having spend some years in the Army.  It is also very easy to find a wide variety of videos on the AR-15 platform,  many with great video closeups of how to break down and clean that weapon.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a similar video for the M1A rifle.  Do you have any recommendations for a video that I could buy (or YouTube would be even better, I find it hard to believe I can’t find one there!) that would give me good, detailed information on how to field strip and properly clean an M1A?

Thanks so much, – Terry G.

JWR Replies: I’ve always liked the videos produced by American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI). Their M1 Garand / M1A Rifles Armorer’s Course starts with field stripping and reassembly, but then it goes a lot deeper: Detailed assembly and disassembly to the very smallest parts, (even the rear sight–careful don’t lose those ball bearings!), bore inspection and gauging, glass bedding, the whole works! Reader J.W.J. mentioned this free illustrated PDF that is also quite instructive.