Building your own Garand (any one done it?)

R

rikkards

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One of the first guns I fell in love with was the Garand and like a lot of people I would love to get my hands on one but they are few to find and saving up $2k for a James River is easier said than done. What I thought of doing was building one out of parts. Couple questions
1. I assume it will probably end up costing as much but has anyone looked into doing this?
2. Getting parts here is more difficult than in the US. Is there anything that can be bought in the US and brought over with no paperwork (just declare at the border)? I know that stuff like AR lower Receivers need to go through the proper protocols and there is no way they would sell it to you but things like recoil springs? I live about an hour from a UPS store in the US. If I could get stuff shipped there and pick up and declare crossing do you think it is feasible?

Comments welcomed!!
 
Chech out the garand build thread in main battle rifle forum. I currently have 2 underway.
Purchase a stripped receiver from SFRC for cheap and start gathering parts!
 
wbaad said:
Chech out the garand build thread in main battle rifle forum. I currently have 2 underway.
Purchase a stripped receiver from SFRC for cheap and start gathering parts!
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How hard has it been finding parts (I guess I could read your thread but throught I would ask ahead of time)
 
What is the hardest pieces to find a good barrel. I din't think I have ever seen just barrels for sale anywhere. Lots of wood stocks, recivers and triggers but no barrels.
 
That would be a money maker buy in bulk all the components and call your company "build your own garand". Us gun nutz would go nuts for that and also sell a set of how to put together the rifle instructions.
 
If the sales of receivers from SFRC is any indication, there are hundreds of builds going on. I have plans for ten in total (at this time). It can be done. There are US dealers who will ship to Canada and some ebay sellers in Europe who ship here as well. Current exchange rates are brutal (25%) and add shipping and possible taxes added by CBSA it will get expensive. Still, I get a buzz when I finish a build and then get out and hear that classic 'ping'.
 
FALover said:
If the sales of receivers from SFRC is any indication, there are hundreds of builds going on. I have plans for ten in total (at this time). It can be done. There are US dealers who will ship to Canada and some ebay sellers in Europe who ship here as well. Current exchange rates are brutal (25%) and add shipping and possible taxes added by CBSA it will get expensive. Still, I get a buzz when I finish a build and then get out and hear that classic 'ping'.
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If you are building 10 could you build 11 and sell me one. What would the cost be roughly to build one?
 
Started reading the Garand Build thread and it is very enlightening. One thing it definitely did was confirm my next purchase will be a pistol :)
I have a lot of reading and research before starting anything involving the garand.
 
For openers buy the Kuhnhausen shop manual on the M1 Garand and M14. It is the best source of technical information on building and maintaining a Garand. It is available from Brownells fo $50.

A set of good quality parts, incl a new Criterion or GI barrel and a Boyds stockset is around $1400-$1500 at present. Then there are tooling and gunsmithcosts as necessary. The low Cdn dollar iisn't helping. Suddenly those bargain $50 receivers aren't as attractive as they used to be.
 
larrysmith said:
If you are building 10 could you build 11 and sell me one. What would the cost be roughly to build one?
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Therein lies the problem. If I build one from parts I have to source myself then it becomes personal and I would not be able to let it go. Unlike my kids, I can lock the rifles up and prevent them from leaving! As for "rough" cost. The variations in parts prices and quality can be immense and difficult to set in stone.
 
Yup, the Breda and Beretta receivers were built to a very high quality line. I've owned 40-50 of them to this point and haven't found a cracked, unserviceable or pitted one yet. The Danes maintained excellent technical control of their Garands. Where it becomes pricey is when you hitch the other $1400 worth of good parts to them.
 
I finished one in the fall. Built on a Beretta receiver. Took me about 8 months to get all the parts. Most were off the EE, couple from Marstar, and I got a fair number of the smaller parts off ebay.


It ended up costing me around $1700. I figured it was going to cost more than buying one simply because I had to pay shipping on every item. If you get a used barrel, you'll have to figure in the cost of a set of head space gauges. If NOS, you need to include the cost of a gunsmith cutting the chamber and head spacing to your receiver and bolt.
 
Several CGN members sell Garand parts - check out the EE. To save purchasing tools, etc - consider purchasing a barreled action that has been headspace checked to your bolt. For example, Zdragunov has some beautiful SA NOS bolts complete in cosmoline - I have one and once it got de-gunked (WD40 is amazing as a degreaser) it literally looked like it just came from the factory! He also offers installation of 30-06 or recently .308 Criterion barrels finish reamed on a receiver for FREE with the purchase of a barrel. That's a big chunk of the tricky stuff already done. The rest is a fun treasure hunt of parts. It's amazing to see all of these old parts come together, snap into place, and instantly begin to act like a Garand.

I admit that I sit downstairs with my Garand sometimes, with some dummy rounds in an Enbloc clip, just to hear the "ping" as I cycle the last round through the action.
 
purple said:
For openers buy the Kuhnhausen shop manual on the M1 Garand and M14. It is the best source of technical information on building and maintaining a Garand. It is available from Brownells fo $50.

A set of good quality parts, incl a new Criterion or GI barrel and a Boyds stockset is around $1400-$1500 at present. Then there are tooling and gunsmithcosts as necessary. The low Cdn dollar iisn't helping. Suddenly those bargain $50 receivers aren't as attractive as they used to be.
Click to expand...

I can email you an armorer's file on Garands and M1A's for free. Video, very detailed.
 
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