Socom II Rifles
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Springfield Socom II Rifles: A Brief Intro
The original M16 rifles are preceded by the .308 Win caliber M14 rifles in the U.S. Army and the Marine units. The M14’s power to awe and draw respect still keeps it in business; appreciate an outstanding reliability over extended ranges with the power of accurate penetrations and an overall terminal performance, it becomes a habit hard to break. But then again, more recent additions (such as the M4 carbine) make a full-size M14 feel something like a sledgehammer and manageably handled only by small, specialized units. Light was fine, but the firepower also diminished with that; from 7.62mm to a mere 5.56mm. Nobody’s denying the latter’s massive wounding capacity (yawing in tissues and fragmenting) and the power to deliver intense hydrostatic shocks (through rapid transfer of energy from the fragmented bullets), but terminal effects of the 5.56mm was found unimpressive in case there’s no fragmentation.
So, a more compact version of the M14 was born; Springfield Armory’s abbreviated commercial model (M1A) was further shortened for the commercial market and named M1A SOCOM.
Why the M1A Socom?
The M1A SOCOM has been drastically chopped and reconfigured from the M1A, imparting it a lot more quick handling with maneuvering ease. A perfect harmony in reliability, robustness and lethality stands the prime forte of this 7.62mm SOCOM, a 5.56mm package with a .308 heart!
What makes the SOCOM?
The Springfield Socom has a standard weight, 16.25 inches barrel with a 1:11-inch RH twist, six-groove rifling, an additional, specialized muzzle device operating both as a muzzle brake (for reduced recoil and minimum muzzle rise) and a gas expansion chamber (maintaining the volume of gas for a zero failure loading). It also vents away the blast and the flash (a big problem if any in the line of sight of a shooter). Controls are as that in the M1A and so is the SOCOM’s operations.
The Springfield M1A Socom puts a special emphasis on the sights and the optics; apart from the steel optics base bolted to rear-barrel (mounts anything from scout-styled scopes to red-dot sights), it has a special set of sights with a wide blade, marked white vertically with tritium for low-light shooting. The rear aperture is now .125 inch (formerly .074 inch) with 1 MOA adjustments.
A rugged synthetic military stock and hand-guards in black crinkle-coat finish completes the scene. However, this does not have the Springfield’s Cluster Rail System (to mount anything that mounts a Picatinny rail); it’s only to be found with the SOCOM II.
Ammo talks
Be it the Wolf 150-grain FMJs or the Hornady 168-grain; the Black Hills 165-grains or the Barnes 170-grain Low Recoil, it is impeccable accuracy (2.1 inches) that manifests through this .308 gas-operated autoloader. Lighter loads; however, has resulted at just 1.45 inches.
All in all
The Springfield M1A SOCOM is undoubtedly a simple solution to complex problems in marksmanship; an even blend of well thought out ideas functioning flawlessly embodied in an impressive carbine.