1955 HRA LMR barreled SG up for a rebarrel MAC1 special: Calling it DONE

[mac1911]

I will not buy a stock that has finish already applied. Learned the hard way. If your stock requires any fitting you now are stuck either trying to match the finish or trying to strip the finish.
It's not much of a problem when you just buy the stock and install it and that's good enough.
My 3 cmp/dupage/boyds all needed final fitting and re finishing the finish previously applied.
That stock is nice looking....I would love the grain that's on the front hand guard to match the stock.

 

[Sweeney]

The Minelli stocks that I have came with a very light oil finish only. So light that I oiled them after checking the fit.

 

[mac1911]

Stock

My stock will be in tomorrow...
The manufactures like to apply a finish to match up the hand guards colors better.

I would love to see a minelli vs boyds/dupage comparison. The boyds/dupage/cmp stocks from the cmp are ok for the money. They require some fitting the finish cmp applies is really light and not very deep and can easily be sanded off with out removing much material.

I will do my best to compare this stock with the new wood stock that came with my HRA from the cmp.

Received My stock thursday
1. for a Standard grain stock it has better figure vs any of my CMP stocks, the hand guards are a very close match to the grain of the stock and maybe even cut from the same blank?
2. not a single ding,dent,scratch or dirty finger prints. I also like this stock as it doesnt have the small "pores" my other stocks had.
3. The fit to receiver is very snug not tight but snug. Lock up on trigger guard is excellent so far no see issues, barrel channel is free and clear and the front ferrule looks to be correct.
4. Has relief cut on top off stock where receiver "rails" sit. The new wood cmp stocks do not have this and I'm a firm believer this is why so many new wood stocked M1s get reported as shooting high.
I will know more as I proceed. kids will be up soon so time to pack things up.

I "wet" the hand guard to get a idea of the color. I most likely will hit this with a mix of stain I used on last rifle. its a mix of red mahogany and dark walnut.

Finished up the final fitting 1/22/15

 

[mac1911]

Stock came today, from first glance the over all finish is much better than any of the 3 cmp stocks I have.
Very clean cuts and looks from my eye a bit "heavy" in the right places for just a tiny bit of final fitting.
I will do some side by side over the weekend.... the grain is decent for a standard walnut with no big visible issues. Hand guards are close in grain pattern also...I will wet it with mineral spirits to get a idea of what it will look like... ferrel location/position seems better than the early cmp stocks with issues.

If you are wondering about some of the issues with the new production problems here is so info. I am not nocking cmp or dupage wood they for the most part will function good enough for USGI use. Theys steps insure a little gain in accuracy by eliminating interference.

http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=147599

I decided to buy my stock from a source who does all these little fitting checks and fixes prior to shipping them. Once I feel a i have a solid opinion on the product I will post my likes/dislikes and cost advantages.

My main reason for this purchase as Im just not finding the time to do my projects any more. It was easy when the kids where little. So this is a time saving step.
http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=147599

 

[mac1911]

Stock Metal: since I cant get a complete set of dark parkerized metal out of all the parts I have I decided to purchase a New production set in the dark manganese finish..should be here thursday http://www.ebay.com/itm/M1-Garand-B...et-WITH-Lower-Band-Roll-Pin-New-/231288770728

I considered refinishing a set but I still would need a set to replace the curent set form this rifle..... getting closer

 

[mac1911]

just thought I would put up a little "fit" issue of some stocks.



its hard to see on the new stock on the right but in the outlines there is a slight relief cut into the stock its just a touch .005" or below the very rear 1/3 of the stock
the middle stock is a CMP new wood stock (CENTER) that I have not got around to fixing yet. There is zero relief cut in the proper area and as you can see by the outlines the reciever does not sit evenly its not even touching the right side rear of the stock. I will address this later. LEFT is a post war USGI stock it has the proper relief cuts and you can see the rear 1/3 of the receiver heel sits nice all around.



here is what the relief looks like when viewed from the side. You just need to see a slither of light. I cant tell in the pic if this is just to much light or a tad to much relief....i think the light makes it look wider and longer than it is....not my gun. I have not tried to take any pics of this section of my stocks yet.

 

[mac1911]

Getting Closer, Finally today the correct Finish Chamber reamer came in. I need to do a tiny bit of final cosmetic wood fitting and apply the finish and ream the chamber. Then I will be able to range test it.....

 

[xp220]

What is the purpose the the relief?

 

[mac1911]

What is the purpose the the relief?

It eliminates a possible pivot point for the reciever to rock on.

If you compare the pics above
CENTER: you can see where the reciever contacts the forward section and along the right side and makes zero contact on the rear right section VS the RIGHT pic you can see a nice U shape left from the rear of the receiver contacting evenly.
Have a high or low shooting M1 this could be the culprit.

 

[mac1911]

Final piece of the finisher reamer came today. All goes well I will have barrel finish reamed on my lunch break tomorrow.

 

[mac1911]

The Final Cut

did the final finish chamber ream this AM. I will Note that you will see directions and videos that say cut the chamber with tool until bolt closes. I personally would not do this. I started checking with the Go gauge when the bolt was aprox: 1/4 away from closing. It was very very close. Just a few more turns and the bolt was still not closed on the reamer but when tested closed on the Go Gauge. So what I eneded up with is a very nice snug chamber. Closes well on virgin HXP ammuntion also. Im eager to get it back together and test fire it.

 

[mac1911]

On the way to finishing it up. I decided on a standard walnut stain. I used a prestain treatment to try and hrlp out evening the color. I did something a bit different and tinted the stain with some amber and red dye. You can pick up a little of the red highlight on the rear hand guard. As it dries the color comes out a little more and I hope it will really pop with the tung oil applied. Im taking a gamble with the red tint. Im not looking to duplicate the "red" of the usgi wood. I want something a little different than my other guns. Im looking for a little red translucent look. I might even do a coat of tung oil with a drop of dye in it. over all the color came out a little dark. I may try to rub out some of the stain ?

Few issues: There is a spot on the front hanguard that has a shift in the grain "tighter" and just will not darken up. It will look fine once finished but its uneven color does stand out. I will let this dry for a week and do a splash coat of just red dye/water if the color doesnt stand out on the stock as it dries. Im trying in a way to get that red highlight that some of the russian and german laminated stocks have.

I almost considered a straight amber and red dye stain but just feel it would look a bit out of place on a M1. I need another stock for another M1 which will just be a CMP 118$ replacement i might do it on that.

 

[xp220]

Nice!

 

[mac1911]

I applied the red dye and although I think its a bit dark I think I will like it.... I have this thing for "red" right now ? Next stock is going to be something really different..... Its really hard to tell what its going to really look like until you get the finish on. Im still tossed between 100% tung oil and minwax tung oil finish. The tung oil finish is showing to be pretty tough on my current match rifle. Although the look of 100% TO is hard to beat.

 

[Mountain]

Nice work mac1911! Hope to see the finished product in the next couple months at a meet.

I need to tung oil finish my CMP Special stock. A bit dry from CMP. Was thinking of adding a little red or red-bearing stain as well. Still skiing / racing on the weekends- have not been to the range since December.

 

[mac1911]

I will have it @ pembroke for May match/clinic Going up to reading for the on the 26th for service rifle

 

[mac1911]

The mechanicals are done! Ready for test fire. Now it's on to several coats of tung oil. I will put rifle in stock I have for test fire. Going to be a while before I finish the stock.

2nd coat of 100% tung oil. This wood is sucking it up like a sponge. figure a good 6 coats at least! I will do one more coat then I will wet sand with 400grit and tung oil. This does a good job of filling in the grain pores a bit. I was going to use a grain filler but just decided to go with what has worked in the past

 

[Sweeney]

Your hand guards are mounted incorrectly.

Looking good!

 

[mac1911]

Your hand guards are mounted incorrectly.

Looking good!

No it's custom, geez you guys are so stuck on traditional lines!
The wood is sucking up the tung oil really well. I will be bringing the rifle to work with the hopes of getting out early at least once this week and giving it it's first run I will be using original stock for now.

 

[mac1911]

First eight rounds on target.

I was able to sneak out a few times for some function test. I started last weekend with just shooting into the berm. I did the one shot then clean barrel, 2 shots clean barrel, 3 shots, then 4 for a total of 10 rounds. All went fine.

Tonight I got out of work at 5pm went to the range as quick as I could between the rain, hail and loosing light I set up a target , rifle has original GI stock( new stock is still in finishing stages) no hand guards. 8 clicks up , distance 50 yards , Range bag for a rest, 8 rounds of 1967 HXP and I took about 20 sec between shots.

For the lack of time and the crappy weather im pretty happy as things can only get a little better with a tight stock and some good reloads.

 

[xp220]

Nice groups

 

[mac1911]

Nice groups

Im happy especially with the stock I used and being HXP. That one shot high left is the HXP flyer that comes with every box! If this rifle shoots 2-3moa consistently with reloads I will be happy.
Also I am,hoping the reload groups tighten up a smidgen when the bore seasons up a bit.

 

[Sweeney]

It will be a good shooter! Coming together nicely!

 

[xp220]

It may be good to check the grouping after putting on hand guards. I thought that it will impact accuracy too.

 

[mac1911]

It may be good to check the grouping after putting on hand guards. I thought that it will impact accuracy too.

I will, new wood fits very well. Don't see the new handgards being a issue.
I just didn't bother installing the hand guards as I plan on installing new ones over the week end?

That said if you have a M1 that has some consistency issues. Try shooting it with out the guards and see if things get better.

 

[mac1911]

1st M1 build calling it done for now.





You can see better here that the hand guards or any wood for that matter tends to do what it wants with the stain. You can see where some of the red color really took and other areas where the stain hardly took.... I used a pre stain treatment to help fight this. I could only emagine how blochy it would be if I didnt pre treat ?


The stock fits great nice and snug. Everything went smooth. I have been wanting to this for some time. Im glad its finished. I may at a later date put a few more coats of tung oil on it. For now 5 is enough........time to shoot.

 

[mac1911]

snuck out again after work, little dark slung up and a sand bag supporting my arm, banged out this 10 shot group, slow fire single round loading. The finished stock on it now. 100 yards with HXP 1968. I shot 8 rounds of some reloads but they where a little loose aprox 2.5" group. I have not the time to work up a load for this M1 and my favorite load for my other rifle I shoot is not this rifles favorite... I hope to do some better testing soon. I would like to do at least 3 to 5 8 shot groups and see how the gun runs as it gets hotter?
Also would like to try some different loads and see how it does. I wont be testing before the May 17th match at pembroke ma cmp though so I guess I will just shoot what I have left of the 1968 HXP ?

 

[mac1911]

Shot 1st garand match of the year with the build. Function 100%. I had some questionable scores or lack of but hey that's part of the game.... 2 misses completely off the paper with 5 tens 2 nines and 1 eight....then 2 misses on sitting position rapid fire( average is 94)...hmmm owell 20 points down.
Over all I pleased. Much better than a standard service grade.
The trigger is much smoother with a nice light brisk break of the 2nd stage. Caught me a few times in slow fire prone..... I was in a mad rush to get home to avoid more baby sitter fees don't even know my scores......413/500 5X . Glad I got this project done.

 

[mac1911]

Rifle has really been doing well and been getting into the top 3 this year locally


july 10th match at old colony

my personal high score shot back in april..... now I just need to get those offhand (awful hand) scores in the black!

 

[Mountain]

Congrats!