My new old M1 Garand - Father’s Day Gift

[Pat Riot]

My daughter has given me back the M1 Garand that I gave her 18 years ago. She hadn’t fired it in 16 years and felt I should have it back. I am so very happy that she did.

I bought this rifle in 1990 as a cheap military curio. It was originally built in 1952. It had been in the lend / lease program in Korea until just before 1990. I paid $239 for it. It looked like a mistreated boat oar.
After a couple of years I had it restocked, rebarreled in .308 and accurized.

Here it is today. I plan to take it to the range next weekend.

 

[rabid wombat]

Beautiful rifle

...and high praise on the daughter. She shoots and is respectful. Well done!

 

[indy1919a4]

Very exotic wood coloring...

 

[Frulk]

Very nice!. Great Fathers day at Casa de Riot I'm guessing

 

[Pat Riot]

Very exotic wood coloring...

It is a laminate stock and the action was professionally bedded.

 

[rabid wombat]

It is a laminate stock and the action was professionally bedded.

still pretty...some laminates look like ​

 

[horsemen61]

Great looking gun op!

 

[Riomouse911]

Very nice.

Sometimes gifts just aren’t used all that much by those who receive them. I’m glad to see your daughter took good care of a rifle as nice as that one, and that it has come back home to roost.

Stay safe..

 

[Garandimal]

They grow up so fast...




Happy Father's day.




GR

​

 

[cfullgraf]

I like the stock. It is a nice looking rifle.

I bought a 308 Winchester Garand from the CMP a while ago. To more easily distinguish it from a standard 30-06 Garand, I put a green/brown laminated stock on it. I kept the original stock in case the next owner wants to go back.

 

[Pat Riot]

They grow up so fast...
View attachment 924761



Happy Father's day.




GR

​

Yes, they do. My “little girl” is now 36. Time flies.

 

[chicharrones]

That Garand looks fantastic. Happy Father's Day, Pat Riot.

 

[sage5907]

Here's a picture of yours truly in 1961 at age 18. I went to Camp Elliott north of San Diego for rifle training. As I was shooting I noticed all the instructors standing behind me and when the session was over they asked me if I wanted to join their rifle team, I was flattered. The only mistake I made that day was I was asked if I wanted to fire a magazine through a BAR and I declined. I haven't made many mistakes in my life but that was a mistake.

 

[hps1]

My daughter has given me back the M1 Garand that I gave her 18 years ago. She hadn’t fired it in 16 years and felt I should have it back. I am so very happy that she did.

I bought this rifle in 1990 as a cheap military curio. It was originally built in 1952. It had been in the lend / lease program in Korea until just before 1990. I paid $239 for it. It looked like a mistreated boat oar.
After a couple of years I had it restocked, rebarreled in .308 and accurized.

Here it is today. I plan to take it to the range next weekend.
View attachment 924729

View attachment 924730

View attachment 924731

View attachment 924732

Good looking rifle. Should be a shooter, as well.
I had a .308 Garand built by an ex-army match armorer for NRA XTC match shooting. If you reload you might want to try 41.5 gr IMR4895 behind 168 gr SMK's. Very accurate in my rifle (start low and work up).
Does your rifle have the magazine block installed? My armorer said it wasn't necessary, but I added later, when rifle started jamming on 8th round, then progressed to jamming on 7th round. I finally figured out it was due to worn op-rod spring (The weaker op-rod spring became, the less tension on the follower arm which allowed the shorter 308 cartridges to slide forward in magazine due to recoil. The farther forward the round, the more forward momentum bolt had when it contacted case head. This caused bullet point to rise too high to enter chamber and finally one round was actually batted completely over the receiver onto the ground.) Replacing op-rod spring and installing magazine block resolved the issue.

Here's a picture of yours truly in 1961 at age 18. I went to Camp Elliott north of San Diego for rifle training. As I was shooting I noticed all the instructors standing behind me and when the session was over they asked me if I wanted to join their rifle team, I was flattered. The only mistake I made that day was I was asked if I wanted to fire a magazine through a BAR and I declined. I haven't made many mistakes in my life but that was a mistake.

Since you said the "only mistake I made that day" was declining to fire the BAR, I assume you accepted the invitation to join the team. Shooting the BAR is a lot of fun, but being TDY to AMU is more fun and lasts a lot longer, too.



Regards,
hps

 

[Pat Riot]

Good looking rifle. Should be a shooter, as well.
I had a .308 Garand built by an ex-army match armorer for NRA XTC match shooting. If you reload you might want to try 41.5 gr IMR4895 behind 168 gr SMK's. Very accurate in my rifle (start low and work up).
Does your rifle have the magazine block installed? My armorer said it wasn't necessary, but I added later, when rifle started jamming on 8th round, then progressed to jamming on 7th round. I finally figured out it was due to worn op-rod spring (The weaker op-rod spring became, the less tension on the follower arm which allowed the shorter 308 cartridges to slide forward in magazine due to recoil. The farther forward the round, the more forward momentum bolt had when it contacted case head. This caused bullet point to rise too high to enter chamber and finally one round was actually batted completely over the receiver onto the ground.) Replacing op-rod spring and installing magazine block resolved the issue.

hps1, Thank you and thank you for the reloading tip.
I do not believe there is a “magazine block”, but honestly, I am not sure what that is.
I plan to try and get to a range this coming weekend provided I pick some ammo and the clips I ordered from Sarco come in. My daughter can’t seem to find the ammo box of clips I gave her. She will probably find them after the 40 I ordered arrive.

 

[hps1]

The magazine block is a spacer block that fits inside the front of the magazine box, making it roughly 1/2" shorter (difference in length of the 30-06 & the 308 cartridges).

https://www.fulton-armory.com/spacerblockf308cal.aspx
Understand some white plastic blocks are available as well. Sold my .308 over 30 years ago but IIRC the block is secured by #37 (Follower Arm Pin) on schematic:
https://fdocuments.in/document/m1-garand-rifle-blueprints.html
If present it would be visible from above w/bolt open.

If you haven't reloaded for the Garand, be sure to read up on importance of resizing cases properly to prevent slam-fires, as discussed here: http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7811043/m/7861067471?r=2251010671#2251010671 and here:
https://www.fulton-armory.com/faqs/AR-FAQs/SlamFire2.htm

Shooting reloads in your Garand can be done perfectly safely, but be aware of the pitfalls and enjoy your fine rifle.

Regards,
hps

 

[CapnMac]

I do not believe there is a “magazine block”, but honestly, I am not sure what that is.

It's generally a metal or polymer device which fills the forward part of the magazine area, and is split on either side of the cartridge lifter.
Not 100% necessary, unless you start getting 8th round issues.
There's a "fuzzy" time where the eight round is pulled through the en bloc clip, and while traveling forward to the breech, all before the case head is gripped by the bolt.
The block gives a surface to kick the point of the round up towards the chamber, rather than down.

 

[Pat Riot]

It's generally a metal or polymer device which fills the forward part of the magazine area, and is split on either side of the cartridge lifter.
Not 100% necessary, unless you start getting 8th round issues.
There's a "fuzzy" time where the eight round is pulled through the en bloc clip, and while traveling forward to the breech, all before the case head is gripped by the bolt.
The block gives a surface to kick the point of the round up towards the chamber, rather than down.

Thank you CapnMac. My rifle does not have this device. I don’t recall ever having issues with cycling of the 8th round. It’s nice to know there’s a device like this should I need one.

 

[Pat Riot]

The magazine block is a spacer block that fits inside the front of the magazine box, making it roughly 1/2" shorter (difference in length of the 30-06 & the 308 cartridges).
View attachment 924924
https://www.fulton-armory.com/spacerblockf308cal.aspx
Understand some white plastic blocks are available as well. Sold my .308 over 30 years ago but IIRC the block is secured by #37 (Follower Arm Pin) on schematic:
https://fdocuments.in/document/m1-garand-rifle-blueprints.html
If present it would be visible from above w/bolt open.

If you haven't reloaded for the Garand, be sure to read up on importance of resizing cases properly to prevent slam-fires, as discussed here: http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7811043/m/7861067471?r=2251010671#2251010671 and here:
https://www.fulton-armory.com/faqs/AR-FAQs/SlamFire2.htm

Shooting reloads in your Garand can be done perfectly safely, but be aware of the pitfalls and enjoy your fine rifle.

Regards,
hps

Thank you very much, hps. I do appreciate the links and will be reading them.
It’s been a while since I have read up on the Garand. It’ll be fun to relearn lost knowledge and to learn some new things.