Orlando:"Welded receivers are even harder to spot. Years ago Garands were demilled (receivers cut in half) Interprising smiths bought up parts and receiver halves and welded them back together. Its hard to imagine but most of these can be hard to spot unless you really look for them"
This is true, but I wonder sometimes.
I say this because I've seen two of the most experienced gun men in this site each state that they own and shoot rifles with rewelded receivers. One of those two, at least, is a man who has apparently worked and owned a successful gunsmithing shop for upwards of twenty years who I've seen posting to gunsmithing sections in forums since as early as 1999, and the other is perhaps the single most prolific expert poster here and possibly the operator of the site. (Would those two gentlemen care to step forward, please
).
For myself - I came into possession years ago of a National Match rifle with bona-fides as a Type I NM. All parts of this one bespeak of it's correct National Match preparation - the barrel, the bedding, the screwheld forward handguard, the trigger work, the barrel markings, the grind to the rear of the gas cylinder, the quality, density, and grain of the stock, and the overal precise fit and finish of the rifle are impossible to mistake once seen a couple of times.
It also has a unique modification to the sight windage adjuster which I've only seen again on a stripped action being sold in the CMP auctions as a NM action. (It's the addition of a small spring loaded ball bearing under the windage knob intended to tension the sight and prevent the characteristic movement(s) that can disrupt accuracy).
The rifle was clearly prepared either by Springfield Armory itself (which I doubt) or by someone fully skilled in the procedures of Garand accurization (like an inservice unit armorer at the AMTU, Ft. Benning, GA?) AND who followed , to the letter, the stipulations of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. 1961 manual of description as well as TM-9-1005-222-12P/1 entitled Caliber .30 US Rifle M1 (National Match) in building the rifle.
The rifle also had quite a bit of copper in the bore and it wore a good very supple 1907 type sling marked "MRT 1965" and on which someone had marked in pen various holes to use for position shooting adjustments. There was a piece of tape on the stock with range/sight notes and a tape "No hold" sign on the forward handguard. It was very obvious that this rifle had been used in competion shooting even though it had a rewelded receiver. For all I know that competitor was unaware of the fact. It also shot like the dickens as reweld until I discovered the issue and freaked out over it. Happily it still does as a rebuild on another receiver and is my all time favorite Garand.
The receiver, a 1942 SA is detectable as a reweld only by the most careful measurement or by X-ray. The measurement that has kept me from building a rifle on it - I've long since rebuilt the NM parts onto another receiver - is that the bridge to barrel seat surface is .015" beyond the blueprint spec'd allowance. This COULD bring a slamfire but probably never would.
I think I could chuck the receiver and take back the .015" from the face to build on it or do other mods to make sure that the pin stayed clear of primers and I'm sure that I could reload in a manner that would prevent any problems but (so far
) I have the receiver sitting bare and I recheck my measurement of it about every six months or so in the hope that I got it wrong or that the thing has grown. LOL! I don't build it because it could then be obtained after I croak by someone unaware of the issue or incapable of resolving the problems that might ensue.
Still, in thinking about the whole problem I think that a good tig welder, a guy who's used to having his work certified when he goes onto a new job and understands his metallurgy, could put together two halves to make a safe to shoot whole. I'd advise anyone to avoid such a thing and generally adhere to the "There are NO good rewelds" credo but I'm not so sure that every reweld needs flatout condemnation in every case. The biggest problem for a young innocent would lie in finding anyone willing to accept the liability of telling him that any gun is safe for him to shoot.
