M1D sniper project done (now with range report)

jonh172

jonh172

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Just a fun project to add to the sniper clone collection.

M1D built mostly off Winchester parts. Barrel block, t37 and cheek pad (MRT-58) are original USGI. T37 rings like a tuning fork, no wonder the snipers dropped it! (I know accuracy isn't as good with it, just sayin)
Scope mount is repro but took some fitting and now fits solidly.
Scope is a Lyman Alaskan ALL WEATHER (1 MOA clicks).
Minty 1951 SA barrel.
Wra parts include:
-1943 receiver
-op-rod
-bolt
-complete trigger group (housing, hammer, safety, trigger.. you get it..)
-bullet guide
-follower arm
-stock is not Winchester but has the receivers serial stamped in it so I felt obligated to keep it.
More pictures and range review to follow.

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If the rifle serial number is deeply stamped on the thin edge of the butt, your rifle is one of the Danish imports from the late 80s or early 90s. The Danes had buckets of SAs and some WRAs, with lots of PBs and BMBs.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
If the rifle serial number is deeply stamped on the thin edge of the butt, your rifle is one of the Danish imports from the late 80s or early 90s. The Danes had buckets of SAs and some WRAs, with lots of PBs and BMBs.
Click to expand...

Yes exactly where it is!

I forgot to mention I sourced all of the parts separately over the last year or 2. The receiver and stock came from a rifle with rough barrel and all SA parts.

The barrel used for this build was already machined for the block but it was a loose fit. I knurled the barrel and pressed the block on and to ensure it doesnt move, locked it in place with some red loctite. Before the loctite set I levelled the block to the front sight. Once everything was set I installed the receiver and levelled everything together.
The stock lockup isnt the tightest so I may bed the trigger group but only after a range report.
 
Finally got a chance to try it today. Despite the 1 degree cold and misty rain, this M1D really surprised me!
Heres 2, 3 shot groups at 100y using Winchester X 165gr.

Took a few clips to zero it in until I looked up the clicks on the scope are a whopping 1MOA!! But all groups were just as good!

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PING! :d ...............................ding dingalinglingling!
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À lot of the Danish m1d rifles were sold without the scope and milled
Hart flash hider's. Many were turned into parts kits and sent to America.
The scopes have the Crown of Denmark stamped on them.
When I purchased m1d rifles, I bought spare scopes and Hart flash hiders.
 
Next week ill get out again and try some 8 shot groups. That will really tell the story of how it does! Maybe a trigger tune in the meantime also.
 
jonh172 said:
Thanks!

Its an interesting experience with the cheek piece and 2.5x scope mounted to the side.
Click to expand...

Yup, your training tells you to hold the scope on top of the rifle. But the ergonomics and sight reticle don't let you. Every shot is an act of concentration on holding.
 
stsfld66 said:
I see the flash hider was on , then off. Did recoil knock it off ?
Click to expand...

I was waiting for someone to notice lol!
I actually took it off because rumour has it they degrade accuracy and i only had 20 rounds to shoot for groups and wanted the most accuracy i could squeeze out of it.

I'll dig up some morw ammo and do a thorough report on the performance with and without the T37.
 
I received some questions on it so any others interested, Here are the details on how I fit my scope mount.

So, to begin with, my mount would not tighten down very much, no matter how hard I tightened that thumbscrew, it would have play from side to side, so I started with that issue first.

I could see the tail of the detent that engaged the thumbscrew notches was sticking so far out the back it was contacting the barrel block preventing the mount from tightening properly and giving me the play I mentioned.
The first step I took was to file that down flush.

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Now the mount contacted the block at the pads but I stll could not get the mount tight enough to stop it from wiggling.
I then noticed the detent that engaged the thunbscrew notches was too high and too sharp, its edges werent allowing it to roll into the next notch but creating a hard stop with the littlest amount of pressure on it. It was also making the thunbscrew cant to one side away from the detent as it was sitting too high.

So I filed it down and rounded off the sharp edges.

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Alright, problem solved! The thumscrew tightens down solidly with audible clicks in its notches and all play is eliminated.

But THEN I noticed the whole mount was canted to the left!!
The 2 upper pads werent reaching high eough to get up and over the block. The lower pad engaged properly but as the thunbscrew tightened, the lower pad slipped under the block as the uppers moved away from it.

I didn't want to touch the upper pads as i was worried i would be chasing the up/down cant of the scope if i filed them unevenly. So I filed the lower pad to allow to mount to move up, or just stay at the top of the block while i tightened the mount.

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Voila! The thunbscrew works as it should and the mount sits tight on its pads.

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Here we see where the mount has good contact on the block.

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A quick comparison of the iron sights with the gun in a solid rest vs the scope set to mechanical zero and it was almost perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and as always all comments are welcome!

Jon
 
One of the weaknesses of the Garand and M14 is all the stuff the designers hung off the barrel. You'd never do that to your bolt action precision rifle's barrel. So making every single engagement surface true and solid is a good idea. You don't want any extra vibrations or bad harmonics when you pull the trigger.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
One of the weaknesses of the Garand and M14 is all the stuff the designers hung off the barrel. You'd never do that to your bolt action precision rifle's barrel. So making every single engagement surface true and solid is a good idea. You don't want any extra vibrations or bad harmonics when you pull the trigger.
Click to expand...

Exactly what Melvin Johnson thought when he designed his model 1941
 
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