The M1 Garand Build Thread
- Thread starter Don Kael
- Start date
Well out to the range today! Functions amazingly, shoots 3" @ 100m once on the paper. Need to work up a load for this rifle (and remember to bring tools to adjust the front sight next time). I am going to get an adjustable gas plug to ease the ejection of brass, a consistent dent in the neck, usable but if it can be avoided...
Finally got to take a picture of the Garand. Breda receiver, trigger group, NOS Springfield bolt, barrel 3/55, NOS gas cylinder, a few PB parts including the front wood. Boyds stock was ok, required allot of usual issues to be fixed. Head spacing was done by Nick at Vulcan as well as the parkerizing (which was awesome). Repro bayonet.
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Bird Blaster
Regular
- Location
- Northern Ontario
Mine ended up around 1700
here's some info from a bud in Italy who knows a bit about garands:
Now, some info about Breda
Garands, that you have to know: the Breda firm had three
factories: the Breda meccanica romana (BMR), the Breda
meccanica bresciana (BMB) and the Breda siderurgica
(B.sid).
Well,
these factories made only SOME Garand parts each and
then these parts were
assembled together. So, the hammers were made ONLY by
BMB,
while the rear sight pinions (for example) were made ONLY
by
BMR. The B.sid made ONLY barrels. So, you will not
find
a Breda Garand marked ALL BMB or ALL BMR. The parts will
have mixed codes, but a certain part will have always the
same code. So, for example, the cylinder lock will be
marked
ALWAYS BMB. The BR code was assigned to Beretta armi Roma,
while the Brescia factory of Beretta retained the code
PB.Hope that this will help
you!
Now, some info about Breda
Garands, that you have to know: the Breda firm had three
factories: the Breda meccanica romana (BMR), the Breda
meccanica bresciana (BMB) and the Breda siderurgica
(B.sid).
Well,
these factories made only SOME Garand parts each and
then these parts were
assembled together. So, the hammers were made ONLY by
BMB,
while the rear sight pinions (for example) were made ONLY
by
BMR. The B.sid made ONLY barrels. So, you will not
find
a Breda Garand marked ALL BMB or ALL BMR. The parts will
have mixed codes, but a certain part will have always the
same code. So, for example, the cylinder lock will be
marked
ALWAYS BMB. The BR code was assigned to Beretta armi Roma,
while the Brescia factory of Beretta retained the code
PB.Hope that this will help
you!
I've had quite a few Breda r. sight covers, all marked BMR. Same for the apertures. All the Breda r. sight bases that I've seen were marked BMR. It appears that there was quite a bit of production sharing done with the Italian Garands. For example, Beretta receivers above s/n 5000 or so show BMR, not PB, in the drawing number indicating that Breda produced them for Beretta. Tool marks on these are very similar to the Breda marked receivers as well. There are also safeties marked with both PB and BMB. All of the Italian made parts were made to a high standard and are entirely interchangeable with the US made parts. The only production boo-boo that I've seen on a Breda was one gas cylinder which had the hole for the stacking swivel screw threaded all the way thru. These are normally a clean hole.
Got mine out to the range today. I`m using an adjustable gas plug, and after some tinkering it was running quite well.
Small issue. I bought a wolf spring set from numrich, and didn`t realize the op spring is an extra power. the action was very stiff, and it was about 1" longer than a spec spring. I clipped an inch of the spring and i blive it helped.
When loading the clip, near the bottom it is very stiff, and it will not load the first round unless you push it forward with the op rod handle most of the way in. The first and second rounds do not cycle consistently, however the last 6 do. I'm thinking the spring is still too much and is putting too much upward force on the follower? Any opinions on this? I'm going to get another spring.
I put 48 handloads through it, 168gn speer hpbt over 47 gr of varget
Also 20 rounds of winchester ballistic tips 150 gr and they ran fine. there was noticibly more recoil with the winchesters.
Here's a shot of a grouping at about 60 yards
Small issue. I bought a wolf spring set from numrich, and didn`t realize the op spring is an extra power. the action was very stiff, and it was about 1" longer than a spec spring. I clipped an inch of the spring and i blive it helped.
When loading the clip, near the bottom it is very stiff, and it will not load the first round unless you push it forward with the op rod handle most of the way in. The first and second rounds do not cycle consistently, however the last 6 do. I'm thinking the spring is still too much and is putting too much upward force on the follower? Any opinions on this? I'm going to get another spring.
I put 48 handloads through it, 168gn speer hpbt over 47 gr of varget
Also 20 rounds of winchester ballistic tips 150 gr and they ran fine. there was noticibly more recoil with the winchesters.
Here's a shot of a grouping at about 60 yards
did_b wrote: "When loading the clip, near the bottom it is very stiff, and it will not load the first round unless you push it forward with the op rod handle most of the way in. The first and second rounds do not cycle consistently, however the last 6 do. I'm thinking the spring is still too much and is putting too much upward force on the follower? Any opinions on this? I'm going to get another spring."
There is a maximum uncompressed overall length for the op rod spring which is 20.25". Do not exceed that dimension. Conversely, there is also a minimum length which is 19.0". The op rod must be able to retract to it's rear most position before the spring becomes totally compressed (bottomed out). Check also that your enbloc clips are not warped causing excessive tension on the rounds when loaded.
There is a maximum uncompressed overall length for the op rod spring which is 20.25". Do not exceed that dimension. Conversely, there is also a minimum length which is 19.0". The op rod must be able to retract to it's rear most position before the spring becomes totally compressed (bottomed out). Check also that your enbloc clips are not warped causing excessive tension on the rounds when loaded.
Min/max length on the op rod spring is 19.5" - 20.25". The "extra strength/extra length" op rod springs are a solution to a non-existent problem and should be avoided. Using them will create the problem that you are experiencing. You might also check for a bent follower arm causing interference with the bullet guide. The rifle needs to be lubed with grease at all specified lube points for smooth and reliable functioning. The op rod spring also needs to be lubed. Just put some grease on your thumb and forefinger and run the spring thru them.
You might try one of IMR4895, IMR4064 or H4895 for better accuracy without needing an adjustable gas plug. It appears that your op rod is impacting the rear handgd on closing. This is a common problem with the Boyds handgds. Wood should be removed to provide clearance from the metal here.
You might try one of IMR4895, IMR4064 or H4895 for better accuracy without needing an adjustable gas plug. It appears that your op rod is impacting the rear handgd on closing. This is a common problem with the Boyds handgds. Wood should be removed to provide clearance from the metal here.
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A few of the parts on early rifles were blued incl extractors and butt screws, but all metal was parkerized except for some of the clip ejectors. The other exception were the "blue Marlin" replacement barrels made by Marlin arms company during WW2. Springs were left in the white. Parkerizing was the standard US military metal finish for small arms starting in 1918. After that about the only blued things seen were various magazines-Thompson SMG, M1 Carbine, BAR, etc. Remington made M1903-03A3 Springfields were an exception with many of the parts being blued, rather than parkerized.
Some additional comments on the Boyds stocksets after fitting up another one over the weekend. As usual the fit tends to be variable from one piece to the next and they are never a drop in fit.
1. front handgd. A bit too short overall, but still usable. The tenon that fits inside the lower band was cut off center allowing no rotational movement and causing the front ferrule to be in hard contact with the lip of the gas cylinder. The tenon had to be reduced to allow some rotational movement so that the guard would center in the lower band and not bind on the ferrule.
2. rear handgd. Surprisingly no work was required on the interior or on the relief cut where the op rod travels. These are usually problem areas. The guard even allowed a bit of clearance from the front of the receiver. The right edge needed to be reduced to allow some clearance from the top of the stock.
3. stock. Vertical tension was good and fore/aft tightness was good. I needed to dress down the top of the stock behind the rear legs of the action to get some clearance and allow tension/spring to be established under the rear "horseshoe" of the action when the guard is latched. I used a guard that was somewhat worn on the lugs so the guard can be locked up by hand and still provide good vertical tension. Fore/aft fit is good and tight so that the receiver needs to be tapped down out of the stock with a dowel rod on the inner surface of the receiver behind the bolt. I needed to clearance the stock on one side of the op rod channel to eliminate contact with the barrel. I also had to clear the channel between the rear pads of the trigger housing to eliminate interference with the trigger. Both the rear face of the receiver cutout and the cutout for the clip latch seem OK and do not interfere with the tail of the firing pin on recoil or the tail of the clip latch.
Overall there was less work than usual required to fit this particular stockset. The fit of the Boyds stocks tends to be quite variable from one to the next and never approaches the consistency of fit of the GI stocks. I'm going to range test it this week to verify functionality and accuracy.
1. front handgd. A bit too short overall, but still usable. The tenon that fits inside the lower band was cut off center allowing no rotational movement and causing the front ferrule to be in hard contact with the lip of the gas cylinder. The tenon had to be reduced to allow some rotational movement so that the guard would center in the lower band and not bind on the ferrule.
2. rear handgd. Surprisingly no work was required on the interior or on the relief cut where the op rod travels. These are usually problem areas. The guard even allowed a bit of clearance from the front of the receiver. The right edge needed to be reduced to allow some clearance from the top of the stock.
3. stock. Vertical tension was good and fore/aft tightness was good. I needed to dress down the top of the stock behind the rear legs of the action to get some clearance and allow tension/spring to be established under the rear "horseshoe" of the action when the guard is latched. I used a guard that was somewhat worn on the lugs so the guard can be locked up by hand and still provide good vertical tension. Fore/aft fit is good and tight so that the receiver needs to be tapped down out of the stock with a dowel rod on the inner surface of the receiver behind the bolt. I needed to clearance the stock on one side of the op rod channel to eliminate contact with the barrel. I also had to clear the channel between the rear pads of the trigger housing to eliminate interference with the trigger. Both the rear face of the receiver cutout and the cutout for the clip latch seem OK and do not interfere with the tail of the firing pin on recoil or the tail of the clip latch.
Overall there was less work than usual required to fit this particular stockset. The fit of the Boyds stocks tends to be quite variable from one to the next and never approaches the consistency of fit of the GI stocks. I'm going to range test it this week to verify functionality and accuracy.
Navy Gunner
Regular
- Location
- Eastern Passage NS
Hey I have a new BM59 trigger group for a Garand build. The business that i'm dealing with for the build is saying the trigger group won't fit in the garand without further inletting the stock. Is this trigger group supposed to fit in a garand?
