The Springfield Armory M1A Tanker is beautiful sight.
Springfield Armory's extremely popular M1A series has just been expanded even more, and it's a gorgeous looking rifle any collector would be interested in owning.
The M1A of course, is the ever-popular civilian version of the M14. If you're not up on your military firearms history, the M14 was the rifle that bridged the gap between the iconic M1 Garand of World War II and the M16 of Vietnam.
Here are all the details on the semi-auto "Tanker" version of the M1A.
What is the Springfield Armory M1A Tanker rifle?
Springfield has been turning heads in recent years with their classic throwback rifles and handguns. If you're immediately associating the word "tanker" with a slimmed-down version of a larger rifle, you would be correct. In reality, this is more of a throwback to a shortened "tank" version of the M1 Garand that was made and field tested. But the "tanker" Garand never actually saw combat in WWII.
Springfield Armory's new rifle is a variation off their extremely popular M1A SOCOM 16 rifle. These rifles are plenty famous, but have flown under the radar a little bit as a powerful semi-auto rifle great for range and ranch.
In any case, these rifles chamber .308 Winchester (7.62x51mm NATO) into a compact package. The Springfield M1A has a barrel length of just 16 inches and an overall length of just 37 inches. Compare the tanker configuration to that to the standard-sized M1's length of 44.33 inches.
This means you get full-size firepower combined with the maneuverability and ease of target acquisition you'd associate with a smaller "carbine" style rifle package.
The 10-round magazine and barrel of this semi-automatic are both made of Parkerized steel. The barrel does feature a short muzzle brake. The front sights are XS sight posts. The XS post has a tritium insert while the rear sight is a ghost ring aperture adjustable for both windage and elevation.
Although, we don't really see this as a super long-range precision gun. This is probably more of a "really fun day at the range" gun, where you and your friends can go through a whole lot of ammo in a hurry!
But the thing that really makes the look of this rifle stand out is the vintage walnut stock. This is what really echoes the famous garand rifles of WWII. The look of the new walnut stock combined with the dark 6-groove carbon steel barrel just screams vintage military hardware.
Springfield precision fits these wood stocks to the rifle components by hand, so you're getting the type of craftsmanship that isn't seen too often in these days. It's just another way Springfield Armory is doing a true throwback with these M1A rifles.
The whole package comes in at 8.75 pounds, which isn't too bad considering the type of rifle.
A rifle for military buffs
This would be a fun rifle for military history buffs or someone looking for an old-school style semi-auto for fun at their local gun range. The MSRP is around the $2,000 mark, but they can be found on Cabela's website for a more reasonable $1,600.
That may seem like a lot, but remember, they precision engineer the stocks and components by hand. It's hard to find that kind of classic craftsmanship that isn't mass-produced in a factory by machines anymore.
One thing is for sure, with the Springfield Armory M1A Tanker rifle, you're getting one sharp-looking firearm that will definitely turn some heads at the gun range!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and General Outdoor Youtube Channels.
NEXT: THE LEGALITIES, TRENDS AND EFFICACY OF DEER HUNTING WITH SHOTGUNS
