M1 Garand Build

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I had a really good time at the AK Build a couple of weeks ago hosted by Adam & Nicole @ Acme Armament. It was fun to be with a large group of people being guided as to the correct building/drilling/hammering techniques for making AK 47/74s. But I also wanted to work on something on my own and at my own pace. I have collected US WWII rifles for a while now, but I have never "built" one from just loose parts. So I am going to start a new project.

I am building an HRA-IHC Springchester. I am going to use totally mixed parts (pre & post war) from all 4 USGI contractors and create the ultimate mixmaster that even the CMP would be proud of. I figure its going to cost me almost twice as much as just buying another Garand from the CMP, but I already have a bunch of them, so what the hell. I probably have at least half the parts already (collected over the years), including a nice WWII Springfield Armory receiver. I figure that as long as I headspace it properly I should be good to go.

I'll update this thread as I progress.


Ash
 
I used to buy rack grade rifles and replace the barrels with USGI barrels from CMP. Did one or two more with eBay barrels once CMP ran out. It's not difficult.
 

Excellent ebay-foo Flintoid. I may pick that up. I usually borrow Garand/Carbine tools from other members of the CMP forum when I have a need. They send them over to me and I use them and send them back (I pay all postage, of course).

Ben - I'm actually cheating on this one. I picked up a barreled receiver so I wouldn't have to attach the barrel myself. I have a feeling that the barrel is going to be pretty shot out though, so I will probably have to switch it out. Cross your fingers.

Boris - I will take some pictures when the barreled receiver arrives. Right now all I have is some wood and a bucket of metal parts......
 
CMP used to sell a barrel wrench, doesn't look like it's available any more. It was less expensive than the commercial ones.
 
Ok, so I finally completed my Garand build. I will post pictures when I get back to Mass on Monday. It looks great (from a distance), but I won't get a chance to fire it until probably next Wed. or Thurs. I'm still planning on swapping out the barrel for a better one that I have laying around, but I want to see how it functions as is. It has a WWII era Springfield receiver, a Korean War era barrel (which will be replaced with a sweet Danish VAR barrel from the 60's), and a conglomeration of other random parts from Springfield, Harrington & Richardson, International Harvester, Beretta, and Breda. I didn't have any Winchester parts, so I will probably pick something up in Wilmington and switch out a part, just to cover all the manufacturers.

I don't recommend doing this project for your first Garand, as it probably cost me as much if not more than just buying a field grade rifle from the CMP. But it was fun and I have a one of a kind, absolutely non-matching, US battle rifle assembled in my basement at the Wellesley Armory.....
 
Pete - Where did that AK come from in your avatar? Last time I saw you shooting, you were showing some 8MM mauser love.

Sorry Ash, didnt see this until just now. Its my brothers (new at the time) WASR-10 right after I bought him a set of tech-sights for it. Dont worry, I give the mauser some love almost every range trip haha. My SKS, however, has been getting a little lonely since I bought the Mauser [shocked]

Lookin forward to the pics
 
as you have fun in these projects prices are of no point.
Its funny how we will not pay X for a certain Y item BUT when we want to do something that in some way satisfies some strange desire to do a project we just do it.

Im like that with old 22s and pellet guns.
Current project is a late 90s vintage Bengamin 397PA.
 
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