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M1 Garand build??
- Thread starter stefan73
- Start date
Re: M1 Garand build??
If money is a concern I'd pass on the receiver-only you'd end up with after pulling the crap barrel and just buy a complete rifle of documented condition. You'll be money ahead.
If money is a concern I'd pass on the receiver-only you'd end up with after pulling the crap barrel and just buy a complete rifle of documented condition. You'll be money ahead.
Re: M1 Garand build??
I think it might be a fun project for my son and I.
I have been away for about 4+ years now doing various things for the Army (2 years Iraq plus the 3 month train up for this last one, 1 month in SERE school, and then the prior with train up and 2 years TCS'd away from home etc etc etc)and have a bit of time since I will be going to school. So I would like to try and do something fun.
Has anyone dealt with Orion?
Thanks,
Stefan
I think it might be a fun project for my son and I.
I have been away for about 4+ years now doing various things for the Army (2 years Iraq plus the 3 month train up for this last one, 1 month in SERE school, and then the prior with train up and 2 years TCS'd away from home etc etc etc)and have a bit of time since I will be going to school. So I would like to try and do something fun.
Has anyone dealt with Orion?
Thanks,
Stefan
Re: M1 Garand build??
Anyone contemplating building, shooting or owing a M1 or M14/M1A needs Jerry Kuhnhausen’s book, THE US 30 CAL SERVICER RIFLES, a shop manual , volumes I & II.
I have the AMU National Match Builders guide, and have attended the NGBMTUs clinic on building NM M14s.
They are great recourses but could be a bit complicated for the novice where as Kuhnhusen’s books is easy to read and understand.
Brownell’s sells them fairly reasonably, well worth the investments in any dealings with these 30 cal service rifles, whether you are shooting, building, or building an accurate service rifle.
Anyone contemplating building, shooting or owing a M1 or M14/M1A needs Jerry Kuhnhausen’s book, THE US 30 CAL SERVICER RIFLES, a shop manual , volumes I & II.
I have the AMU National Match Builders guide, and have attended the NGBMTUs clinic on building NM M14s.
They are great recourses but could be a bit complicated for the novice where as Kuhnhusen’s books is easy to read and understand.
Brownell’s sells them fairly reasonably, well worth the investments in any dealings with these 30 cal service rifles, whether you are shooting, building, or building an accurate service rifle.
Re: M1 Garand build??
I just purchased a Douglas barrel for an M1 project of my own from Dean's Gun Restoration. I am having it reparkarized and will put a new stock on it. Check out DGR.
I just purchased a Douglas barrel for an M1 project of my own from Dean's Gun Restoration. I am having it reparkarized and will put a new stock on it. Check out DGR.
Re: M1 Garand build??
I bought two H&R M1 Garand barreled receivers at Camp Perry about 3 years ago. I already had the M1 books by Scott Duff (not for telling me how to build but telling me history and what the parts should look like/be labeled like).
I had a ball "roving" through the gunshows and the internet vendors looking for and buying H&R M1 parts to build up those two barreled receivers. I did buy a set of headspace gauges, too, so I could be sure the bolts I bought were fitting safely/correctly. I bought some parts from Orion, some from gun shows, some from vendors on e-bay, and the stocks/handguards from Doug's Stockpile (gone out of business now I hear).
Anyway, the rifles were put together by me (I was so excited about the parts coming in that my wife would call me at work to let me know a new box/envelope had arrived at the house that day - it was like Christmas) and they shoot just fine. My youngest son helped me with them and one of them will be his to keep (he already has a May 1943 SA M1 Garand to shoot when he wants to shoot an M1).
If it wasn't so expensive I'd do more. I started accumulating Winchester parts with the idea of buying a Winchester receiver (or two) from the CMP but by the time I got the money saved up they'd sold out of them (a couple of years ago). If them put more up for sale I'll probably get at least one....or maybe two.
I'd recommend taking pictures while your and your son build the rifle. Its all about fun and memories.
I bought two H&R M1 Garand barreled receivers at Camp Perry about 3 years ago. I already had the M1 books by Scott Duff (not for telling me how to build but telling me history and what the parts should look like/be labeled like).
I had a ball "roving" through the gunshows and the internet vendors looking for and buying H&R M1 parts to build up those two barreled receivers. I did buy a set of headspace gauges, too, so I could be sure the bolts I bought were fitting safely/correctly. I bought some parts from Orion, some from gun shows, some from vendors on e-bay, and the stocks/handguards from Doug's Stockpile (gone out of business now I hear).
Anyway, the rifles were put together by me (I was so excited about the parts coming in that my wife would call me at work to let me know a new box/envelope had arrived at the house that day - it was like Christmas) and they shoot just fine. My youngest son helped me with them and one of them will be his to keep (he already has a May 1943 SA M1 Garand to shoot when he wants to shoot an M1).
If it wasn't so expensive I'd do more. I started accumulating Winchester parts with the idea of buying a Winchester receiver (or two) from the CMP but by the time I got the money saved up they'd sold out of them (a couple of years ago). If them put more up for sale I'll probably get at least one....or maybe two.
I'd recommend taking pictures while your and your son build the rifle. Its all about fun and memories.
Re: M1 Garand build??
send the rifle to Clint Fowler...he is a living legend when it comes to building m1's and m1a's...you might say he wrote the book. I have one of his m1a's and its nothing short of a work of art and a ragged hole shooter...
http://clintfowlerrifles.com/
here is one for sale on the hide
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1773612
send the rifle to Clint Fowler...he is a living legend when it comes to building m1's and m1a's...you might say he wrote the book. I have one of his m1a's and its nothing short of a work of art and a ragged hole shooter...
http://clintfowlerrifles.com/
here is one for sale on the hide
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1773612
Re: M1 Garand build??
If you are planning on doing the work yourself, here are some suggestions.
Tools needed:
Barrel vise. A standard round vise will work, but there is also one made specifically for the Garand barrel.
Receiver wrench.
Pull through reamer. If starting with a new barrel, a pull through reamer really helps. A used barrel may or may not need a reamer depending on its headspacing.
You probably will not need a lathe to install the barrel.
Parts:
CMP carries brand new Criterion made barrels for $179.00. PreParked, short chambered and ready to go. Criterion is a division of Krieger, so they are good quality.
You can find complete bolts on GunBroker for cheap. I just picked up one for my build for $53. I missed the one for $49. Very hard to beat a price like that.
You can also find complete trigger units on GunBroker, and often eBay.
Get the spring kit from Orion7. Good value, and good springs. Stay away from Wolf spring kits as they tend to be over powered and that is not good for a Garand's system.
You just missed the stock sale that Boyds had. Complete unfinished stock set, slim WW2 cut, for $84. But you can pick up a complete similar set from Dupage for $99.
Finishing:
The Criterion barrel will be finished in dark grey/black park. If you need to match the color, you can do almost all the parts in a pot on top of your stove. Zinc Phosphate gives a smooth, medium to dark grey finish. Manganese gives a very dark grey to black finish and tends to be rougher. Zinc Phosphate would be the proper color for WW2 and right after. Manganese would be the Korean war to current color.
Bead blasting works better than sand blasting to get rid of the old finish. Leaves a smoother finish. Garand receivers were tumble polished to prep them for parkerizing. You might also try Muriatic acid to remove the finish, but that might darken the parkerizing color.
Roughly what is the serial number of your Garand receiver?
WW2 Garands often had a lead dipped heel, which shows up as a very dark grey to black color. It looks really nice contrast with the medium grey of the gun. Often found on Springfield Garands under 2.1 million(I don't know the cut off for Winchesters).
I am currently working on restoring 2 Garands, one for my #2 son, and one for a friend. A 1.18 Million Springfield with lead dipped heel for my son, and a 3.2 millon for my buddy. Manganese phosphate tends to hide the lead dipped color and makes it harder to spot.
You can also pick up a fitted, but unfinished stock set from Deans Gun Restoration for about $175. I got a really nice maple stock from him that is just gorgeous.
If you need more help, PM or email me.
Dupage stock on #1 son's Garand.
Lead Dipped Heel with a zinc phosphate finish.
If you are planning on doing the work yourself, here are some suggestions.
Tools needed:
Barrel vise. A standard round vise will work, but there is also one made specifically for the Garand barrel.
Receiver wrench.
Pull through reamer. If starting with a new barrel, a pull through reamer really helps. A used barrel may or may not need a reamer depending on its headspacing.
You probably will not need a lathe to install the barrel.
Parts:
CMP carries brand new Criterion made barrels for $179.00. PreParked, short chambered and ready to go. Criterion is a division of Krieger, so they are good quality.
You can find complete bolts on GunBroker for cheap. I just picked up one for my build for $53. I missed the one for $49. Very hard to beat a price like that.
You can also find complete trigger units on GunBroker, and often eBay.
Get the spring kit from Orion7. Good value, and good springs. Stay away from Wolf spring kits as they tend to be over powered and that is not good for a Garand's system.
You just missed the stock sale that Boyds had. Complete unfinished stock set, slim WW2 cut, for $84. But you can pick up a complete similar set from Dupage for $99.
Finishing:
The Criterion barrel will be finished in dark grey/black park. If you need to match the color, you can do almost all the parts in a pot on top of your stove. Zinc Phosphate gives a smooth, medium to dark grey finish. Manganese gives a very dark grey to black finish and tends to be rougher. Zinc Phosphate would be the proper color for WW2 and right after. Manganese would be the Korean war to current color.
Bead blasting works better than sand blasting to get rid of the old finish. Leaves a smoother finish. Garand receivers were tumble polished to prep them for parkerizing. You might also try Muriatic acid to remove the finish, but that might darken the parkerizing color.
Roughly what is the serial number of your Garand receiver?
WW2 Garands often had a lead dipped heel, which shows up as a very dark grey to black color. It looks really nice contrast with the medium grey of the gun. Often found on Springfield Garands under 2.1 million(I don't know the cut off for Winchesters).
I am currently working on restoring 2 Garands, one for my #2 son, and one for a friend. A 1.18 Million Springfield with lead dipped heel for my son, and a 3.2 millon for my buddy. Manganese phosphate tends to hide the lead dipped color and makes it harder to spot.
You can also pick up a fitted, but unfinished stock set from Deans Gun Restoration for about $175. I got a really nice maple stock from him that is just gorgeous.
If you need more help, PM or email me.
Dupage stock on #1 son's Garand.
Lead Dipped Heel with a zinc phosphate finish.
Re: M1 Garand build??
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DiGGer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">had Tony pucci do a 7.62 M1 from a cmp rifle. shoots great! Orion 7 on the web. he's in middle Island NY
</div></div>
Tony builds an ok gun. I say this because I own one.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DiGGer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">had Tony pucci do a 7.62 M1 from a cmp rifle. shoots great! Orion 7 on the web. he's in middle Island NY
</div></div>
Tony builds an ok gun. I say this because I own one.
Re: M1 Garand build??
Just got my M1 back from DGR and it's fabulous. I took it to the range and am getting 2MOA with surplus ammo, compared to 5MOA before I had the new Douglas barrel installed. I realize 2MOA on this forum does not raise eyebrows, but for an M1 with no accurizing (glass bedding, match sights, etc.) 2MOA with forty year old greek ammo is not bad at all. I suspect I can shrink that down significantly once I reload some match grade ammo.
Just got my M1 back from DGR and it's fabulous. I took it to the range and am getting 2MOA with surplus ammo, compared to 5MOA before I had the new Douglas barrel installed. I realize 2MOA on this forum does not raise eyebrows, but for an M1 with no accurizing (glass bedding, match sights, etc.) 2MOA with forty year old greek ammo is not bad at all. I suspect I can shrink that down significantly once I reload some match grade ammo.
Re: M1 Garand build??
As a father and son project, the build will be priceless. Looks like Sailor posted some good info.
Finding the parts and doing the build will be fun! However, you might want to send it out for the rebarrel/headspacing. Jon Wolfe and Ted Brown are Gunsmiths that will be able to help out in that area.
Good Luck and Have Fun!
As a father and son project, the build will be priceless. Looks like Sailor posted some good info.
Finding the parts and doing the build will be fun! However, you might want to send it out for the rebarrel/headspacing. Jon Wolfe and Ted Brown are Gunsmiths that will be able to help out in that area.
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Re: M1 Garand build??
I would also suggest Dean at Dean's gun restorations. He does some very fine work. I have a copy of Kuhnhausens book and some small Garand parts from the CMP, Orions, DGR and other places if you are going to piece it together yourself. I would suggest buying a complete rifle as some of the parts are quite expensive, such as oprod, trigger group.
Randy P
I would also suggest Dean at Dean's gun restorations. He does some very fine work. I have a copy of Kuhnhausens book and some small Garand parts from the CMP, Orions, DGR and other places if you are going to piece it together yourself. I would suggest buying a complete rifle as some of the parts are quite expensive, such as oprod, trigger group.
Randy P
