Garand Project

[Doble Troble]

Well guys, we had another Garand match yesterday. This was a make-up for the the last one that got rained-out.

 

I shot a 253 which is about what I always shoot. It was good enough for third place, but the two ahead of me shot much higher scores. They're better shots than me and so I know I'm going to have to practice if I'm going to compete, but the problem is I know I shot pretty well but the scores just weren't there.

 

I've been suspecting that my formerly accurate Garand may be starting to age. I got some of the issue Lake City ammo that we shoot at the matches, and shot a box off the bench with my best technique. Sure enough, the group was about 6 - 7". About half of the shots held the 10 ring, but the rest scattered around it. I'm sure its not an ammo problem because I saw better groups than this during the match yesterday.

 

There may be some other operating problem because toward the end of the session there was a misfeed that dislodged the extractor and sent the ejector and spring down range somewhere. I've got it taken apart right now, and nothing obvious is wrong, and it shot flawlessly during the match. But I've got a new spring kit that I'll install and I'll lubraplate it up and give it another try after I get replacement parts.

 

I'm going to order and ejector and spring from Sarco tomorrow. They have some new Italian barrels for sale at very reasonable prices - $85. Since this is a shooter and not a collector I want a good barrel, not a WWII matching Springfield, and so this looks like just the ticket.

 

The question is, they have both Breda and Beretta, your choice. Is there any reason to think that one may be better than the other?

[Doble Troble]

Well, I tried to order a Beretta - they're out and don't have any 30-06 Garand barrels.

 

I wound-up ordering the ejector and spring from Numrich.

 

I also wound-up ordering another Garand and a 1917 from CMP. Clearly I need a back-up Garand, and I've been wanting one of the ugly British-designed rifles since the big flame-up that started with the 280 vs 7 x 64 thread.

[Clemson]

Well, I tried to order a Beretta - they're out and don't have any 30-06 Garand barrels.

 

I wound-up ordering the ejector and spring from Numrich.

 

I also wound-up ordering another Garand and a 1917 from CMP. Clearly I need a back-up Garand, and I've been wanting one of the ugly British-designed rifles since the big flame-up that started with the 280 vs 7 x 64 thread.

 

For what it's worth, Brownells has Wilson barrels for the M1 at $176 (dealer cost).

 

Of course the CMP appreciates your business, too!

 

Clemson

[Doble Troble]

Thanks for the tip, Clemson. I've heard good things about the Wilson Garand barrels, and I get the discount.

 

Midway has the Criterion barrels in stock for $149 with the discount.

 

Decisions...a big part of the fun.

 

I've contacted ChasMike about the -06 reamer from the co-op - I'm looking forward to finally making use of that worthy organization. I'll make sure to let you guys know how this Bubba makes-out shade tree gunsmithing a Garand.

 

 

[Doble Troble]

Well guys, it wasn't without drama, but there wasn't as much drama as I'd anticiptated.

 

The Criterion barrel needed a hair taken off the shoulder and a hair of the chamber reamed. Of course, being a Bubba I immediately cut and reamed two hairs respectively.

 

I cut the shoulder until when on the lathe it was about 10* from TDC by hand.

 

I'm kinda used to home made reamers that will cut a good chamber, but won't cut it very fast. So not wanting to waste time I reamed the chamber a bit more than I thought I I shoud - about 4 turns of the reamer total. I thought I should have done two (and was right).

 

After reaming the chamber and taking the shoulder back a few thous I took the barrel out of the lathe and tapped on the gas cylinder sans front sight.

 

Without the front sight the gas cylinder has a nice flat machined that you can get a bubble level on. I chucked it up level in the barrel vise and then screwed on the receiver.

 

The receiver screwed on a couple of degrees PAST TDC. The Bubba fairies must have worked their magic as I took it out of the lathe - either that or its much easier to torque by hand in a barrel vise. What ever the cause I took it back out of the barrel vise, tapped the gas cylinder back off, and chucked it back up in the vise and spider until no perceptable run-out was detected. I was just about ready to take off a little less than 0.1" ( one turn of the 1/10 threaded bbl) when I recalled a figure from the (archane to me) Kuhnenhousser M1 Shop Manual of someone increasing barrel draw by running a hardened roller into the end of the shank. Well I didn't have a hardened roller, but I do posess a small assortment of ball peen hammers and so I immediately took the small one and started smashing little dents around the shank rim.

 

With the denting accomplished, I reinstalled the gas cylinder and torqued it back in the barrel vise level. Viola! 10* of wrench-requiring draw. Now what about the damn headspace?

 

Headspacing the M1 is more complicated than a Mauser because the base of a guage (or cartridge case) is enclosed within machined areas of the barrel. Its hard to measure everything up before you start cutting, and cut-and-test is really the only option for shade tree smiths. The fancy breech machining would have made taking the shoulder back a thread a real project (thankfully I tried to pay attention to Kuhnerhousenerin's manual). So what about the headspace?

 

After getting the barrel installed with the front sight base level, I torqued the receiver on until, using a level on the bottom receiver surfaces, the receiver was level too.

 

Then I took the bolt apart so that the extractor and ejector wouldn't interfere withh head space measurement.

 

I inserted a Go guage, followed by the stripped bolt. Slam! It closed effortlessly. Damn! I'm still screwed! So much for zero headspace. Insert the the No-Go...It almost closes all the way. Well, at least it won't be unsafe. Then I chambered a Lake City round that we shoot in Garand matches. It won't close! Bubba pushes hard with his thumb and finally gets the lugs to engage. Maybe I'm not so screwed afterall!

 

I took it out to the range this pm and it looks like its going to do about 2" at 100 yds which I'm very pleased with. The first five rounds were in 2" and then the zero started to creep right. After about 20 rounds total it seems to have settled again. I hope that this really was some type of settling and that its not going to change zero as it heats up. Time will tell.

[Guest U.S. SFC_RET]

Do yourself a big favor before you bubba that M1. Make sure that your Barrel is not touching any wood. The M1 is supposed to be a free floating barrel or accuracy goes out the window by up to 40% or even more