New here, long time battle rifle owner

[ray55classic]

Glad to meet yall, I'm another old fart who's been shooting since the early 1960's ,
I'm mainly into battle rifles , M1A's , FAL's , Hk91's. I also love 22's both rifles and pistols especially MkII Ruger's
Been on the M14 forum so long I'm listed as "dodging the reaper"
so I decided I need to broaden my horizons and yall seem like a knowledgeable & workways group
This ones my pride and joy, a rare [one of 279 made]
made only in 1991 SAI M1A SportMaster , I've owned her since new , she's all USGI except for the receiver & stock
and just FYI the bipod is used for photos only [it ruins M1A's groups]
I also have a factory 1988' SAI M1A E-2 [model MA-9108] also owned since new

[SMOKEY]

Welcome sir. Don't be afraid to enter some of our heated exchanges, cuz they can be fun.

[Liam]

Welcome to the table, Sir!

[ray55classic]

Welcome sir. Don't be afraid to enter some of our heated exchanges, cuz they can be fun.

I look forward to it ,If I don't join in it's because I'm busy lighting a fire on another post here or on another site

[p246]

Ray any inch pattern FALs or all metric?

[ray55classic]

p246, sorry for the delay answering your ??

At the present time I have an Imbel receiver built with an early "unissued" Austrian STG58 kit that I bought in the mid 90's ,when they 1st came on the market
I initially bought 6 unissued STG58 kits , all of them, except for the one I kept, have long since been sold or traded .
[I'm still kicking myself for doing that]
and I also have a L1A1 kit with a 59' Enfield lower /CA1 upper kit , as soon as I find a nice Imbel receiver I'll build it

[M1Tommy]

Late here but, "welcome".

About where-bouts on the Gulf Coast? I was near the TX and LA coast for some years.

Tommy

[ray55classic]

I'm a 6th generation Texan , done a lot of traveling most of it work related ,
Hung my hat a few other places temporarily but I've always called Houston home.
I live south of Houston on the west side of Galveston Bay ,
just not south enough to be on the island.

[M1Tommy]

We lived in League City for 4 pretty good years. I worked at the MAP refinery. I shot matches at the Bayou Rifles range in Juliff, and the Golden Triangle Range in Beaumont.... lots of good folks down there.
Tommy

[p246]

At the present time I have an Imbel receiver built with an early "unissued" Austrian STG58 kit that I bought in the mid 90's ,when they 1st came on the market
I initially bought 6 unissued STG58 kits , all of them, except for the one I kept, have long since been sold or traded .
[I'm still kicking myself for doing that]
and I also have a L1A1 kit with a 59' Enfield lower /CA1 upper kit , as soon as I find a nice Imbel receiver I'll build it

Glad to see you at least have an inch kit, they are getting hard to find. Like you I bought several kits from What A Country in the 90s. I think they were 99.00 per kit. I built them on Imbel receivers and added the 922 parts. Think I ended up with less than 400 in each. Then in 08 after obumer got elected I sold em all for 1200. I have 1 R1 Rhodesian kit I never built. I think it was 89.00. I got the itch and ordered a Coonan 1.5 R1 receiver, and since my kits lower and barrel serial matched got that custom serial number. It should be here in 90 days.

My plane is to rebuild it as a Rhodesian, no carry handle or sling and the baby poop paint brush camo pattern.

The only down side to the kit was a non matching serial numbered bolt and carrier. They both also have Rhodesian electro pencil marks on them though. Oh well can't win em all.