Parts For Garand Build

[davedude]

Worried about the future some so am moving on my garand build. I have a reciever, 4320xxx(bought from the CMP) and just got a new citadel barrel from "what a country" for a good price, $155 delivered.
Bunch of different ways I could go to get the rest of the parts. I think I need to get as new as possible as cheap as possible, I have other projects going at the same time and so that kinda limits what I can do. I have about zero experience doing this so look to the wise ones here for testimonial.

I'm not going to buy another rifle from the CMP to get the parts, so let's forget that.

Looking for input on:

buying a parts kit, ( I've seen them for as little as $200)-very interested in this!
buying "correct" parts for my reciever-more expensive
or buying all new GI parts from the wrap-very expensive

Not too worried about the stock right now, but input is welcome. It has to look "new". I had thought I'd get a pepper laminate, but am considering stuff like a new unfinished birch stock with a "chip" defect for $25--wow thats so cheap!

Thanks in advance :beer:

Dave Dude

[davedude]

Here is what I have so far...


http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/1130/001dx6.th.jpg (http://img394.imageshack.us/my.php?image=001dx6.jpg)

Need a few more parts! ;)

Dave Dude

[Steggo]

Unless you are in it for the experience, the best, cheapest fastest thing to do is order a complete rifle from the CMP and sell your bbl and receiver to recoup some of the cost of a complete rifle.

The "best value" parts kits used to be CMP rack grade rifles, but those are currently not available

The $200 parts kits are the bottom of the barrel. From CMP rifles that didn't make rack grade. Traded off to an outside vendor.

Plan on buying several and you could piece together on decent rifle.

The other optionsl are also going to cost you more than a complete rifle.

[davedude]

Thanks guys, but I already have a CMP rifle. A greek return that I love to shoot. Sorry if I was not clear enough. I've chosen a difficult route I know, and it will probably not be the most economical. (sigh)

I was looking to find out more about the parts available out there. Steggo mentioned the $200 dollar set are CMP reject stuff, thats the kind of info i was looking for.

Some links to various sources for garand parts, info I've found:

https://ssl.perfora.net/www.garandcollectorparts.com/sess/utn;jsessionid=1549027fa6dbdc2/shopdata/index.shopscript

http://www.northridgeinc.com/m1_garand.htm

http://www.m1garandrifle.com/Garandparts.htm

http://www.chestnutridge.com/products/garand.asp

http://www.ammogarand.com/m1garandparts.html

http://www.smithenterprise.com/products05.html

http://www.fulton-armory.com/MParts.htm

http://home.att.net/~ra-carbines/parts7.html

http://www.scott-duff.com/

http://www.rcgunex.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl/SID=1224958990.14273/page=product.html/product=1

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2005/garand762proj/index.asp

http://www.dougsstockpile.com/garand.html

http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand/garandlinks.html

http://www.dpmsinc.com/store/products/?prod=649&cat=1785

http://m1garandparts.com/

http://www.dupagetrading.com/

http://www.garandguy.com/specials.htm

http://www.sarcoinc.com/m1g.html

http://www.usarmory.com/catalog.asp?PAGE=2

http://www.amherst-depot.com/garand.htm

http://raparts.com/

http://www.northcapepubs.com/m1gar.htm

http://www.nicolausassociates.com/M1_Garand.htm

http://www.reesesurplus.com/M1-garand-parts.htm

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=107223


Dave Dude

[Orlando8]

The Dupage Garand kits were very very far from bottom of the barrel. They were the best deal in Garand kits that have been around for a long time. Unfortunatly they are out , wether temporarily or permanatly I dont know. Since you are installing a commercial barrel I can see no sense in trying to assemble corect parts to go with the reciver. Just buy the parts as you can, any manufacturer any era.
in the last year there seems to be a flood of Garand parts on the open market and prices have come down some. Hang out on the traders/sale forum at CMP. There is always parts there at a good price

[ByronF]

If I was hell bent for leather on building a Garand it would be something quite different from USGI that are readily available from CMP. I'm thinking 338 Tanker with laminate stock, no front handguard. Might even try to make an M14 top rear handguard work, cut out on top for a scout mount. Then I'd just have to figure out what I'd shoot with a 338 Garand. Can't hunt with semi in PA. Don't need a 338 to kill whitetail anyhow. So it'd be a cool rifle that is expensive to shoot with no particular purpose.

[Ssarge]

I have an excellent SA t/g, HRA bolt and HRA op rod for sale if you are interested.

[TerryN]

I'd suggest keeping the barrel and receiver that you have - they're not going to decrease in value, that's for sure. I'd suggest having the barrel installed on the receiver, in fact, so it's ready to go.

I'd look here, at Jouster.com, and on the various M14 forums for parts. There are a couple of vendors on Jouster who come up with NIW parts for pretty reasonable prices from time to time - things like gas cylinders and some other parts.

Garand parts have become crazy expensive over the past few years, so you'll just have to watch for bargains. There are some out there from time to time. The trick is having the cash when you find them!

Just be sharp enough to be able to spot reparked junk parts, because there are a bunch of them out there!

[DABTL]

I have a new SA 55 barrel and a lot of other parts, along with a Garand receiver wrench.

If you need parts or assistance in the assembly, let me know. I have built probably 30 or so Garands. Easy as can be, when you have done a couple.

[davedude]

Thanks for the offers fellas. Fair warning, I might take you up on them!

I been trying to put my finger on the pulse of all that is garand parts, visiting the CMP and other forums in addition to parts searches. One thing I've found is there are lots of rifles being built!

I've found a few more websites with garand stuff which I'll post later, maybe it will help someone.

ByronF you mentioned the .338 garand, well I found who makes that and they also make a .458 magnum garand as well!:uhoh:

http://www.mccannindustries.com/rifles/458garand/458garand.html


I found a neat garand parts spreadsheet that you plug your reciver number into and it lists all the parts that are supposed to be correct for that reciver. Pretty cool. But when i plugged in my 4320xxx reciver it comes up with a late 45 manufacture date...which is wrong I think, my reciver is post war to the best of my knowlege. So...WTF? Here is the link:

http://www.cromwell-intl.com/garand/

Dave Dude

[aepgilli]

How late in 1945 would it have to be, to be considered "post war"? September or later would be after the war ended, or was there some significant change that would delineate "wartime " from "post war" manufacture?

[bykerhd]

My Garand was built up much as you plan doing with a new stock and barrel and used G.I. parts. I didn't build it.
Great shooter although I bought a .308.:rolleyes:
Cheap, cheap shooting at the time and surplus .30-06 ammo wasn't cheap or readily available at the time.

I would stay with .30-06 as a caliber that you will always be able to get and/or reload. As long as it is legal anyway.

You've got a good receiver and barrel.
You still need a stock of some sort. Use whatever you like as the rifle will be a shooter, not a collector piece.
The miscellaneous parts and pieces you still need will cost you what a decent Garand sells for.
There are still supposedly SOME "New, Old Stock" parts around for Garands. Other than for a gas cylinder and operating rod, maybe, I wouldn't bother.

[Survey Punk]

Excellent stocks!

http://www.dgrguns.com/

JB

[fry]

i have a box full of garand parts.
let me know what you want or need.
most all of the stuff i have is of the good stuff.

[Orlando8]

The Wenigs stocks from Deans have had alot of work done to them. They are not just a drop in fit from the factory. Dean does all the fitting to them. I have talked to a few people who have tried to do the fitting themselves and they said they would never attempt it again

[1MOR]

Midway had complete Boyd's sets on sale last month for $94~~. If you keep an eye on Midway, they tend to have sales on the stock sets every few months and Midway will take stuff back with out hassle. CMP sells stock sets, with and with out metal.
The Jouster sale board is a great place to learn about the Garand parts situation as is the M14 board sales section.
You might also want to keep an eye on Ebay, as they again have Garand parts listed.

[davedude]

Orlando8 I went ahead and ordered a incomplete kit from Dupage. It is missing the trigger, trigger pin, the bolt is stripped and the tip of the safety is broken off. They said op-rods were gauged good. Dupage added a handgaurd and/or something else and priced it at $189.
They mentioned their kits would go fast this week because of a bunch of barreled recivers becoming available and lots of building would be going on.

I found a new pepper laminate stock set and ordered it from this fella here:

http://www.gun-parts.com/militarystocks/

Sure hope when I get this built obama does not take it away from me.

Thanks everyone for the help and offers. Excellent! :beer: :beer:

Dave Dude

[fry]

havinging an op rod that guages good is only half of having a good op rod. check the lug that rides in the reciever, this is where they are usually worn out.

[davedude]

An update on my progress.

Got the kit from Dupage very quickly after ordering. Comes packaged nicely and interesting is a CMP logo on the inside cover of the box. Here is a look, click for larger image:

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/5052/s6302404wi9.th.jpg (http://img118.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s6302404wi9.jpg)

This kit is incomplete, it's missing handgaurd metal, hammer, trigger pin, extractor, firing pin, ejector and spring. extractor spring and plunger and the lower band pin. The buttplate is worn, not too far from bald. Fry dude the lug on the op-rod has a horrible ding on one corner of it but works smooth in the reciever slot, piston measures 0.524. The front sight has been beat on, i wonder why? The front of the gas cylinder is gouged where maybe some bubba beat the cylinder onto the barrel and there is no finish to speak of. The op rod spring is un-useable. The rest of the parts appear to be in decent condition but all will need to be re-parked.

So I am comparing prices on the missing parts, and those are all over the map. Sarco is looking best so far. I will hunt the boards first though.

Dave Dude

[davedude]

Ok, I figured it out...the front sight is beat on by bubba to get the gas cylinder off. Geez what a moron.....

Dave Dude

[julysol]

Hey Davedude
I just got back from my road trip to the cmp store. I picked up one of thier barreled receiver deals for 100 bucks too. Barrel looks to be in pretty good shape (the only decent barrel they had on that deal). I figured it would be a fun project too since I already had a decent stock set sitt'n around from a garand I replaced the stock on.
So I too am looking for piece-parts. The only part I think will be way high priced is a good op rod. There's a guy in italy that sells really good conditon assembly parts. The ship cost is high but he combines to get that down a bit. I found a few local guys that are at the gun shows that have good spare small parts and got a few of thier numbers.

I still think I can build this below the cost of a complete cmp rack grade since I've already got a good barrel and stock set. So far only 100 invested for rec. barrel, stock set. Time will tell :p
By the way, they DO have rack grade ($500) rifles still available. But maybe only for instore sales since thier web site said sold out when i last checked. I would say there were about 20 or more of them on the floor when iwas there on Friday. They also had $400 carbines too. But best if you hand picked it yourself as some of them were a poor fit in the stock. But all had great bores, looked like new bores just about. Yes, I looked at almost every bore. The rest of the parts looked in great shape. The only main issue was stock fit. If it wasn't for that I would be happy with any one of them.

[davedude]

Hey Davedude I just got back from my road trip to the cmp store.


julysol i am jealous. I am gonna look into making such a trip. I'd love to do that.

I'm thinking parts availability is not gonna get any better, so the time to move is now....
Best of luck..

Dave Dude

[julysol]

Find someone to go with and get there a day before you shop so you're well rested and coherent. Take my word for it. Don't do an all night drive to get there when they open like I did. I was so freak'n tired and wired both at the same time from caffine I couldn't think clear. Plus I was rushing to meet my old boss up in Huntsville, AL. that same day. I wish I could have taken more time to go through them all better. Plus calculate how much everthing you are wanting to get is going to cost you and ad at least one more rifle to that. There was one more I was really wanting but I didn't put enough into my checking nor had the time to go through them.
But, ya, its a great pilgrimage. Just call the store in advance to find out what they have on the floor first. The web site dosn't exactly match whats really there.
A lot of rack grade grands are actualy in great shape and in better cond. than some of the field grades if you over look the ugly stock (not all stocks were ugly). I just cleaned up the garand and carbine i got lastnight and the mechanics are in awsome shape. Not bad for 500 and 400 bucks!
Now I want to go back!
Also did the math on parts to complete mine (prices be-got from numrich catalog and gunbroker) so it looks like another $375 to get-er-done. Plus the 100 for the barreled rec. That beets the rack grades by 25 bucks. With ship'n costs figured in it'll brake even.

[StoneyCreekMrMauser]

So what's involved with a Garand rebarrel? Are these rifles all threaded the same and a new barrel just pops right in or is there a bit more fitting necessary? This thread got me to thinkin' of rebuilding mine (as well as getting in the CMP and getting one or two more!). Might help the conversation somewhat, I reckon.

[Orlando8]

Not as easy as spinning it on. It takes, barrel vice, reciver wrench, reamers,headspace gauges,etc
If you are only planning on rebarreling one rifle its cheaper to pay someoen to do it than buy all the tools

[StoneyCreekMrMauser]

Got a lot of that stuff already and what I don't I'll probably be getting here soon. What I'm really concerned about is the gas cylinder alignment geometry. Don't want to bind up the rifle's action over a hair too much rotation.

[julysol]

I didn't read every post in this thread, but the CMP sells an alignment tool if you don't trust your eyes for getting good alignment. I don't know of Brownells sells this tool also. I think it sells for 60 bucks plus shipp'n. Or maybe 50?
There is also a company that advertizes in shotgun news (or used to) that rents chamber reamers if you don't want to spend the bucks for a new one.

[shlomo]

Originally posted by StoneyCreekMrMauser
Got a lot of that stuff already and what I don't I'll probably be getting here soon. What I'm really concerned about is the gas cylinder alignment geometry. Don't want to bind up the rifle's action over a hair too much rotation.

You're not likely to bind up the op rod because of timing. There's a fair amount of rotational play before that happens.

But iif you're anywhere near that much rotational error, your sights will be off the charts for alignment. The method that has worked very well for me is to slide the gas cylinder onto the splines far enough to firmly engage, and use an accurate level to align it with the rear sight pocket in the receiver. Twelve dollar plastic torpedo levels from China-mart or Ace don't get it.

The front sight must be removed from the gas cylinder for this, and the bottom flat of the front sight base used with the level, not the top of the dovetail. The rear sight assembly should be stripped, and the bottom of the sight pocket in the receiver used as the basis for levelling. A lathe-turned cylinder or a 1" diameter wrench socket placed in the bottom of the rear sight pocket will allow you to use the level. Just check with a caliper or mic that the socket is dimensionally cylindrical.

When the level readings match exactly front and rear, you are there, and will be very, very close to mechanical center when you go to zero the rifle.