That is one beautiful Garand. Is that a Boyd's stock?
Yes, though I think Boyd's could have done better because the pistol grip is a bit rounded at the end. I want a square and longer grip for shooting.
This stock survived an out of battery slamfire.
At the time, when I was getting into Across the Course Highpower, and had built up a National Match Garand, conventional wisdom was “only high primers” and “your worn out receiver bridge” caused slamfires. Primer sensitivity was not even a consideration, there was no such thing as sensitive primers or primer sensitivity. Primers were all round and shiney and all the same and because Federal had stamped "Match" on their primers, these primers were in common use. I had a previous out of battery slamfire with Federal match primers in a early 30-06 Garand. It was during sitting rapid fire and it slamfired out of battery on the last round of an eight round clip. Conventional wisdom discounted primer sensitivity, I knew the receiver was excellent, so I concluded it must have been high primers. After that, and even now, I ream pockets to depth. This first slamfire split the GI birch stock from upper band through the pistol grip. It damaged the receiver, only slightly, but I replaced the receiver with a Danish and put on new wood.
On the second out of battery slamfire, I was testing an absolutely, like new receiver on this Boyd’s laminated stock. I was using 30-06 ammunition that had been sized in a Bonanaza match die (not a small base!) the primer pockets had been reamed and every Federal Match primer was hand seated. I could see a lot of distance between the case head and the primer, therefore primers were well below the case head. (about 0.008") One thing though, the sized cases would drop in to a reamer cut gage, but an occasional loaded round would stop just at the case rim. Inserting a bullet was somehow buckling the round.
This is a 308 reamer cut gage on the right. These are once fired range pickups, fired is some huge chamber. The Wilson gage swallows the case, the reamer cut gage shows just how fat the things are.
But, I was not worried. All the “smart guys” said the only things which cause slamfires were high primers, which I did not have, and worn out receivers, which I did not have.
Testing the new rifle, the Garand slamfired out of battery, from an eight round clip, blowing the receiver heel into my face, breaking my glasses, and cutting me. The whole event occurs faster than human perception, I remember a roar, feeling my face pushed back, after it was over I was simply stunned, not really knowing what happened. Looking down I saw blood and glass shards, I ran to my truck to look in the side mirrors to see if I still had a face.!
I was quite shaken.
After this I decided the “smart guys” were a combination of extreme idiots and total fools
, conventional wisdom was bunk
, and since then I have always small based sized for this action and I use the least sensitive primers which are CCI #34’s and Tula 7.62. I want cartridges to enter the chamber without the slightest hesitation due to friction, which reduces the chance of an out of battery slamfire, and I want the least sensitive primer, to reduce the chances of an in battery or out of battery slamfire. Since then I have found that these mechanisms will slamfire even with mil spec primers, but the slamfire rate is less. It comes down to, slamfires are 99.99% due to sensitive primers. The high primer idea is basically a canard, though, if you have exceptionally shallow primer pockets, or if you put spacers under your primers, you have created the condition for a firmly seated anvil, pushed into the primer cake, and then, and only then, will your high primer ignite. CCI has stated that high primers are the most common cause for misfires because in a normal primer pocket, the anvil is dangling in the air. Even so, I ream my pockets to depth for this mechanism and for gas guns in general.
This laminated stock survived. Might have been some chipped bedding at the heel, but these laminated stocks are much stronger, probably stiffer, and heavier, than conventional wood stocks. These are all good characteristics for a match rifle, which you want to be heavy to reduce recoil and stiff to reduce unpredictable vibrations. I recommend them for those wanting to build a match rifle.
