garand repair?

It all comes down to a personal decision about how much risk you are willing to accept. When dealing with a 50,000 PSI pressure bloom a few inches in front of one's face it's worth thinking over carefully before putting your faith in a welded piece of steel which is stressed by being hammered by the bolt in recoil. I once had a fellow show me a Garand receiver which was cracked in the front ring and tell me he thought it would still be OK if he used plumbers tape to "tighten up the barrel". I advised him against this, but he thought he might try it anyway. I never found out how it worked out for him.

Back in the late '50s/early 60's folks were welding de-milled Garand receivers which had been cut in the middle part of the receiver to the rear of the locking lugs seats. The lug seats were still OK in terms of hardness, but the peril, in addition to the questionable quality of the weld, was in trying to mate mis-matched front and rear portions to get the overall fit back to original specs. One of the main faults with this was changing the angle of the rear receiver bridge to the extent that this no longer provided the safety feature of keeping the firing pin to the rear before the bolt was fully closed. For more about re-welded receivers see Kuhnhausen's excellent Shop manual on the M1 Garand and M14 rifles. It is the definitive technical reference on these rifles and includes everything one wants to know about inspection, repair, re-building, and maintaining them.
 
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Purple is absolutly right on this. Like I said before, Yes, it can be welded, but it will cost a small fortune to have it done right. Purple is bang on about it coming down to "a personal decision about how much risk you are willing to accept". You have all the parts to build a complete Garand (Minus the receiver). As a side note, if you feel that you are willing to sell the receiver, sell it only when you have a new receiver to replace it with, hell, make the offer that if someone that is interested in the junk receiver helps you find a good serviceable receiver that you will sell your cracked receiver to that person.
 
just purchased another garand receiver i am wondering where i could source a mil-spec spring kit brownells is out anything in canada?

also as a new guy to garands would there be anything else i would need to be ready to shoot and to make sure to avoid any future breaks.

thanks!
 
There is a useful sticky on the Garand at the top of this forum. You can also "google" other online sources of info about stripping/assembling/inspecting/maintaining/and operating a Garand. You will need to locate someone with the proper tooling (as a minimum a barrel vise, action wrench, and set of headspace gauges) and knowledge to remove the barrel from your rifle and install it on your new receiver. The rifle will also need to be checked for safety and function after assembly. Someone was listing op rod springs on the EE a while back. That is always a good place to try a WTB ad for parts.
 
Orion is a great source for Garand parts and their op rod springs work very well. Unfortunately they no longer do international orders. Brownells sells the equally good op rod springs from Fulton Armory, another great US source who no longer does export shipments. Brownells will export these. Numrich/GPC is currently listing NOS US GI op rod springs for $10.95 a pop and they do export.
 
i have been talking with an experienced gunsmith over the last week. And i think it would be a waste to let the old receiver just die so i have decide "once i got available funds" to convert it to 308, the loads are lighter which should be easier on the receiver, and it will be rewelded and restored. i will keep you guys updated on this job
 
FWIW .308 Win and 7.62 ctgs run at the same pressures as the .30-06. Check any reloading manual to verify this. In fact, 7.62 NATO pressures are somewhat higher. From a practical point of view the receiver will be subjected to the same firing stresses as bolt velocity and it's effect on the rear of the receiver would be the same.

The Garand receiver is forged from 8620 steel which does not weld well after having been heat treated. Welding heat will spot anneal or soften the receiver steel surrounding the weld in a critical area where it is already weakened by being cracked. Many gunsmiths do not have a great deal of knowledge of the unique characteristics of Garand construction and functioning. If one was to contemplate such a welding job it would be prudent to consult an experienced metallurgist beforehand with questions about the feasibility of welding 8620 steel and the possible need to anneal the complete receiver before welding and a requirement to then re-heat treat the receiver afterwards.

There is much more involved here than just a matter of a welder having a go at this with his MIG welder and then cleaning up the weld afterwards. From a gunsmith/welder's point of view there is a liability involved with the safety of the end result.
 
hacer2 said:
i have been talking with an experienced gunsmith over the last week. And i think it would be a waste to let the old receiver just die so i have decide "once i got available funds" to convert it to 308, the loads are lighter which should be easier on the receiver, and it will be rewelded and restored. i will keep you guys updated on this job
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What do you mean? It sounds like you are going to use factory loads (DO NOT USE FACTORY LOADS IN A GARAND). In addition my understanding is they are very similar cartridges for factory loads.
They make Garand specific 30-06 (but not 308) as a factory round, although I wouldn't shoot it in a cracked receiver.
So if you are looking at a light load, then you would be reloading, which means you can use 3006 without spending the money to convert it.
 
hacer2 said:
i have been talking with an experienced gunsmith over the last week. And i think it would be a waste to let the old receiver just die so i have decide "once i got available funds" to convert it to 308, the loads are lighter which should be easier on the receiver, and it will be rewelded and restored. i will keep you guys updated on this job
Click to expand...
This is a risk, that I myself would never take.

I hope you will be safe, but wow.
 
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