Doble Troble

Tony, you're getting close to my part of the country! The good news is (1) deer hunting is very good with a long season and generous bag limit, (2) property is affordable, (3) no evil big cities, (4) the ocean isn't too far with VERY good fishing. The bad news is (1) hot, humid summers, (2) bugs, (3) sometimes can't understand the locals speaking Southern (they're probably complaining about all the carpetbagging Yankees moving in). I think the good outweighs the bad. At least its not DC with all the charm of a Northern city, and all the efficiency of a Southern city.

This is what we all should be doing...over, and over, and over again. Letters like this ARE effective when enough people send them.

I wonder if they can do that with a knife (or a hammer, or a stick, or a rock...)? This is the wrong approach, and a minute or two of thought would make this clear to any reasonable person. The problem is all of the unreasonable (and therefore irresponsible) people.

What are they asking for them? They sound like a desireable action.

I never thought I wouldn't care about a politician's position on gun control, but when he's the guy who replaces Ted Kennedy he's hard not to like. Although he's about the millionth good reason that Ted Kennedy is dead, it's fantastic to me! Of course now that he's elected, it's time to MAKE SURE that he understands what the Constitution means, even in MA. Could our fellow Americans really be recognizing the futility of cradle-to-grave entitlement? For awhile there I was convinced that most people were expecting unicorns to land and hand-out free gasoline.

It should do better than 5" at 80, but 4" at 100 is about what you can expect with a service grade mix-master, but most do better than this. A lot happens in these rifles when you shoot them. Each step can influence accuracy. The barrel is only a fraction of what contributes to accuracy in a Garand. Muzzle wear caused by cleaning from the muzzle (the only conventional way to clean a Garand) can cause problems and is usually easy to fix with a counter bore. Some people say you can't counter bore a Garand because of the gas port. The half dozen or so that I've done say they're wrong. I wouldn't bore more than you need to to get back to good rifling. A second common problem is the upper handguard fit. If its flopping around you're probably losing 2" of accuracy at 100 yards. Note: you can't tighten the handguard by tightening the gas cylinder - trust me. If you're not shooting in a Garand match you can shim between the wood and the rear ferrule with a piece of cardboard. An M2 Ball cartridge box is usually about the right thickness. If you want it match legal you can dimple the front ferrule where the barrel fits until it makes contact with the barrel. Another common problem is the op-rod hitting things that it shouldn't be. This one can be a tough problem. You can relieve wood, but not barrel steel. These things are real works of art and are bent in 3-D. It takes an expert to adjust them. A final common problem is not lubing the gun properly or well enough. I use a lot of lithium grease on these. I use a paint brush to apply it to contact points. I figure it provides a type of bearing surface by getting in between worn parts. Most of these rifles have seen a lot of action. Some people think I go over-board with the grease. Just keep it out of the chamber and gas port is my motto. Usually the stock triggers aren't too bad, but they're easy to make smooth, but setting them less than 4 lb makes them double prone in my experience. I shoot for a 5 lb trigger on these. Light enough for accuracy, heavy enough for safety. It's really embarrasing to have your Garand go auto in a match. You have 'splaining to do. If you don't have a copy of the manual that the CMP includes with these rifles I think you can download it on their website somewhere (although I can't find it right now of course). If you're within range of a Garand Clinic its a very helpful thing to do. There will be experts there who can help you check-out your gun and recommend what to tune up.

I like the M38s. Is the integral bayonet considered a good thing by the survival crowd? I guess its better than a sharp stick.

Obama is right. America is not the enemy of Islam. We have the opposite problem. What is the solution?

That's one I'll stand in the immunization line for !

Only wish I'd done an AK-74, but my go-to treatment for every milsurp, regardless of wood, regardless of previous finish, regardless of how kicked-around it might be.....is a run through the diswasher on the pot-scrubber cycle with full detergent. I take it out while wet and hot and give it a day to dry out. Then scrape shellac if required (you'll know if it's covered in white goo after the dishwasher) or straight to the 150 grit if goo-less. Then 220, then 320 grit. Then wipe it down with alcohol or mineral spirits to raise the grain. 320 again to get the wiskers. If the wiskers were bad, repeat the grain raising. Sometimes I'll go to 400. After the sanding I use the cheap Minwax Tung Oil Finish from Home Depot. It usually takes 3 or 4 passes with the Tung Oil until you can look into the grain. Two passes and its about a military oil finish.

Islam is a religion of peace. This is why the islamic community in the West doesn't need to speak out against these acts. This entire problem was created by WASPS and needs to be suffered by them, one way or another (if a few catholics are harmed along the way they probably deserve it too).

Wal-Mart here is still bare-shelved. I'm short of 380 that I never planned to reload for, but might have to change my mind. The only thing I don't have a comfortable amount of right now is small rifle primers - I'm down to 1K, but refuse to be ggouged. I'd rather shoot a Garand in the 3-gun match .

When I did my 376 Steyr AI on an M48 I opened the bolt face with a standard 1/2" 4-flute end mill. My plan was to open it up a bit more with a small fly cutter after, but it turned-out that the 1/2" mill was enough. That bolt was hard - it's been a few years and I still remember the ordeal - it was slow going with a lot of lube (Tap-Eze and lots water out of a spray bottle - I'm a Bubba). Grinding it bigger is probably a very feasable approach.

Sonic1, that was an excellent introduction to the concept of headspace. Jeffturk, you can make a rifle equal in accuracy to those 30-40s you have. If you stick with the 8 mm it can have more oomph too (but only if you reload, the American commercial stuff is weak). It may take a little work, or a lot of work - there's no telling at this stage. But when you get done making an accurate rifle out of an old war horse, how cool will it be to take a deer with it?

Well, profiling is discriminatory, and we wouldn't want to discriminate, would we? I wonder how many hands can be tied behind our backs before we lose to the terrorists? At what point did our American sense of fair play become nihilism?

Wow! Very informative post! I like those Nagants. With 303 bullets both of mine are accurate. My M38 carbine is scary accurate.

It's hard to beat O1 for homemade knives. They rust, but I prefer to think of that as a browned finish. It's easy to harden an edge with a torch and pan of used motor oil. It gets hard enough to keep an edge without abuse, and stays soft enough to sharpen after you have to abuse it (which if you really use it happens often). I've got a couple of Benchmades with D2 blades and I really like them, but they're hard to sharpen. Once you get an edge on them they hold it for a long time, but getting that egde sure isn't easy.

If you're shooting milsurp ammo that may be your problem (if you're going to shoot a Mauser accurately you're going to have to reload for it). If the barrel is cut down its not likely that the muzzle is washed-out from the steel cleaning rod. Have you got all the copper out of the bore? This can take several ammonia soaks with these old rifles. I just got a Carcano that's on its fourth night with Wipe Out. There's no telling how many more passes will be required. After you're sure that the cosmo and copper are out of the bore its time to give it a good look. I've had Turks with excellent barrels that have been excellent shooters, and barrels that were obviously bent and couldn't be zeroed. I've had excellent looking bores that haven't shot very well at all, and when cut down to make dies and other parts it was clear that the bore was VERY off center. These Turks can be excellent rifles, but are always a crap shoot. So once the bore is clean and there are no obvious problems, and you still can't get it to shoot with good ammo, it's probably time to think about a new barrel. The cheap surplus Swedish Mauser barrels are only a fond memory now. The good news is that you can get small ring barrels for reasonable prices from several sources. I've had good luck with the Adams and Bennet barrels from Midway. You'll need to farm the barrel work out to a gunsmith if you aren't familiar with using a lathe. If you don't have a local gunsmith (they're getting rarer by the day) there are several that can be recommended for mail order work here. Welcome and good luck!

You need one of these

FC, If I were you surrounded by ocean and mid-70s weather and without family responsibilities (other than the perros) I'd be GOING FISHING! You've got some excellent eating swimming all around you (the dogs would appreciate the left overs no doubt)! When you get full you can go to the range any time you want. IT'S PARADISE IN PARADISE!

I think Harley is thinking about something like the 338 Lapua. Which is a fine cartridge, but a bit much for an 1891 action.

I'll bite. You've got a great rifle for just about any modification you'd want to do other than a long range sniper rifle. Save your 91 for a hunting rifle - it's perfect for any standard Mauser cartridge you might want to chamber (I wouldn't run them too hot). For a long range rifle on a Mauser action you'll need at least a standard-length (not intermediate) 1898 action. These are still plentiful and reasonably priced. This would allow you chamber -06 class fairly easily, and magnums without too much more extra work. But you're interested in mags for long-range work, and will probably be better off finding a Savage or Remington 700 already in 300 mag (or maybe 7 mm). Personally, I'd go with the Savage, they come with good triggers. Being the mild sort that I am, I'd probably go with a 308 or (more likely) 30-06 for sniping, 300 mag or 7 mm mag if I was feeling like ammo availability wouldn't be an issue. You're probably thinking of some more exotic magnum, which is fine. You'll need a range finder and practice in any case. A standard commercial magnum action (still available at Wal-Mart, but for how long?) will handle about anything short of the 50 BMG, which of course would be a REAL long range sniper's rifle.

If memory serves, the 7 x 57 barrel I put on my 91 was a standard large ring shank. Barrels will be the least of you problems finding parts. The better news is that those 91s were so well made that you aren't likely to break anything.

I love my 91. I had to "dent" the magazine for it to keep down 7 x 57 rounds. I sure didn't like denting anything on that beautifully machined action (and it sure wasn't easy - those mag lips are hard). I didn't have anything against the 7.65 x 53, the action came without a barrel, and I had an unfired 7 mm barrel on hand looking for a receiver. It became a sweet little carbine, magazine and all.

Focus on the things you know now, not the things you would have done if you'd just known then. See, you're getting better along with the age (alright, so I think it sucks too).