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#1 |
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BM59 - build vs. buy
Any reason to build one, other than the challenge of it, rather than buy a James River Armory model?
I see the name Tim Shuffin mentioned - I suppose he can build one better than the JRA for me?
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#2 |
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Tim is an artist. I have three built by him. Get a kit, barrel and Garand receiver. You won’t regret it. For the barrel I had him convert 308 Garand barrels.
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#3 | |
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Quote:
Eli |
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#4 |
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Tim will build on a Beretta or Breda receiver if you can still find one. He built mine on a Beretta from the Danish contract. Not correct but beautiful and accurate.
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#5 |
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I never had any BM59 fetish until these two yay-hoo's above started the "here shoot this one" on me every time we shoot together.
Damn nice sticks and these two know their stuff on them. Listen closely, their advice on this topic is rock solid.
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#6 |
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#7 |
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Oh man, just what I need now that I'm retired...something else to Jones for.
![]() Wow, those rifles look good gentlemen, all of them! ![]()
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#8 |
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Picked this one up from Shuff and I love it, I would highly recommend him to do one for you.
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#9 |
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So, is every BM59 posted in this thread an ITAL variant?
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#10 |
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Yes. Except my one Italian Para
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#11 |
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As answered, yes with the exception of the Para. What Sarco is calling 'Argentine' are from Argentina, and were modified M1 Garands that came on ships given or sold to Argentina under aid programs. When Argentina standardized on 7.62 NATO, eliminating numerous calibers, and re-calibered nearly everything in inventory, they sent the Garands to Italy. I've never confirmed it, but I believe they went with the 'BM59E' simply so the guns would fit the existing racks!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BerettaBM59/files/ has PDFs, but you need to join facebook and the group. Eli |
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#12 |
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Anyone interested in a BM59 (or cold war battle rifles) should pursue a build. Its really hard to convey just how great these rifles feel and shoot. They are very soft shooting, even with a para/folding stock. Softer than my FALs, M1As, and PTR91. Magazines are top notch and rock right in. Overall its a sweet design.
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#13 |
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Have to warn you, while the Para and Alpini look cool, they suck to shoot.
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I have one that was built for me by Tim Shufflin of Shuff's parkerizing. I provided him a Beretta Garand receiver (by way of the Danish Navy) and an E model kit that I assume to be Argentine. I also had the receiver engraved by a place in Sarasota that has a FFL and replicates the markings made by the Italians when they converted them. Came out so well that I'm looking for a new E model stock-because the rest of the rifle looks pristine. Couldn't be happier. Tim also delivered before the promised due date.
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#16 | |
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Quote:
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#17 |
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What’s so special about yours that’s different from mine or any other folding stock 59?
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#18 | |
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Quote:
The BM-59 was Mel Tappan's favorite gas-operated, box fed .308 back when he wrote his books on the subject (early '80's). I've seen some nice ones around here at gun shows but I was feining for M-14 and FAL clones at the time. Jarhead |
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#19 |
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Get up on your two feet and shoot the wire stock isn't bad. Its when you shoot them off the bench.
Now I couldn't imagine shooting one full auto no matter what postion |
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#20 |
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Build! Tim Shufflin crafted both of these for me
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#22 |
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Tim built this one for me before they became popular and parts easy to find and cheap ,. Took me awhile to get all the parts for the build. There wasn't any parts kits then
![]() Picture was taken of rifle before I installed the Para comp ![]() |
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#23 |
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Where can a guy find kits??
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#24 |
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Google BM59 kits
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#26 |
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What's up with all the kits missing the same 5 small parts? Are those difficult to find now?
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Texgunner, I haven't been on their site in a while, but Standard Parts had the missing 3-5 parts ( I thought it was 3?)
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#28 |
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Thanks for the info! Hey, can you post a link? I'll check them out. This one is missing five parts but that may be the exception, I only saw these.
https://www.centerfiresystems.com/p-...ord=kit-bm59ii It looks like four are missing from these? https://whatacountry.com/italian-bm5...parts-kit.aspx They are just very interesting rifles to me and I would sure love to have too! ![]()
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"The rock of democracy will founder when people think of people unlike themselves as the "other"-Teddy Roosevelt My daddy was a cowboy in his younger days, wild as the west Texas wind. He once told me, "Son, death is a horse you got to ride. So you better get your saddle ready." heavily armed, easily pissed. |
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#29 | |
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The only place I'm aware of selling 'complete' ITAL kits - less receiver and barrel - is Numrich Gun Parts: https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1572160 The 'small parts' missing from most kits are not currently available from any vendor I'm aware of! Eli |
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#30 |
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Thanks Aliyahu, gonna order 1 now. I’ve delayed buying 1 of these kits for far too long
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#31 |
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Get a nice Garand receiver. As for barrels, when I did my kits there wasn’t any Ital barrels available. I got a .308 Garand barrel (e.g. Criterion) and sent it all to Shuff.
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#32 |
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![]() Build. Both top and bottom ones were built by Tim on Garand receivers. The bottom one is a BM-14, his creation which takes M-14 mags. The one in the middle is a JRA, the small run they made in the beginning with modified Garand receivers. I would not buy their cast receiver.
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That’s Awesome
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#36 |
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I was thinking of buying one. Why would you not buy one from them?
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#38 |
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I bought one with the cast receiver
FWIW it has done well for me, I originally had a recalled serial # and James River made it right. I have nothing bad to say about them.
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#39 |
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Except these rifles never should have been out in the publics hands. Have someone who knows BM59's do your build, Shuffs
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#40 |
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When did you purchase yours, if you don't mind me asking.
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#41 |
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When
I had actually bought a receiver from them when they had the preproduction sale. I was putting the parts kit together when I received notification. I sent them back my barreled receiver and parts kit, they sent me back an assembled rifle. So the receiver I had was a very early one. While I would agree Shuffs is an excellent way to go, I wanted to point out that the JRA rifle isn’t as bad as some would have you believe.
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#42 | |
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#43 | |
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It's like using an Imbel FAL receiver against a Hesse. Yeah, you can make a Hesse work, but would you trust it? Eli |
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#44 | |
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#45 |
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There were more issues than just the recall. If you google theres a lot of reading on them and problems people had ,failure to feed, failure to extract , etc . I am guessing Shuffs had them in his shop to fix these issues . Once he saw the recall he no longer wanted to be responsible for them. Who would?
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Recall/ejection issues
From the info I received the recall was about the receiver. There were some issues with ejection due to a chamber finish problem with the Bula manufactured barrels. I think they had some issues with some of the M14 guns also. Art showed the solution to this issue in another thread being use of a chamber hone.I beleive he reported that bula had fixed that problem. I had not heard any failure to feed issues.
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#47 |
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This thread has me going, think I need one of these. I see Sarco has the Italian barrels...
Guys with USGI receivers, did you tear apart working rifles for receiver or source them separately? |
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#48 |
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This thread has me thinking I need a BM59 also.
Has anyone received a Sarco BM59sl kit lately? Just wondering what condition they are in.
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#49 | ||
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Quote:
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My Sarco SL kit also came with a current aftermarket rear sight, or at least some of the parts were aftermarket. Eli |
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#50 | |
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