An acquaintance of mine recently bought a 30-06-caliber Garand rifle and would like to change the caliber to 308 WIN (7.62 x 51 NATO). Does this involve replacing the barrel? I would like to know if this kind of conversion can be done in Canada.
M1 Garand caliber conversion
- Thread starter coltir
- Start date
NavyShooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- XMU Local .303
Yes....how deep are your friend's pockets....? Anything can be had for a price.
NS
NS
- Location
- Newmarket,Ontario
I am going to investigate that possibility tonight and I'll let you know.
Greenhorse six
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
At one time you could get a drop-in chamber insert and a block for the mag to use 7.62 NATO[308win].IIRC it was just held in place with lock-tite,it was developed by the U.S.Navy when the U.S was going over to the 7.62 and the Army was using the M-14.
Forget those drop in inserts, since they like to drop out without you knowing it.
Just rebarrel and get it over with. Barrels are not expensive and rebarreling takes only 5 minutes, not counting the setup and cleanup time. It's that fast !! PM if you need more help.
Barney
Just rebarrel and get it over with. Barrels are not expensive and rebarreling takes only 5 minutes, not counting the setup and cleanup time. It's that fast !! PM if you need more help.
Barney
Thanks, HungryForget those drop in inserts, since they like to drop out without you knowing it.
Just rebarrel and get it over with. Barrels are not expensive and rebarreling takes only 5 minutes, not counting the setup and cleanup time. It's that fast !! PM if you need more help.
Barney
I'll talk to my friend this weekend and get back to you ASAP.
308
Very embarrasing as the insert ejects with the empty case and the next 308 round goes into a 30.06 chamber and BOOM !
The inserts were used by the U.S. navy to blow up mines - they used the garands in single shot mode so they could look in the chamber after each shot to see if the insert was still there.
Forget those drop in inserts, since they like to drop out without you knowing it.
Just rebarrel and get it over with. Barrels are not expensive and rebarreling takes only 5 minutes, not counting the setup and cleanup time. It's that fast !! PM if you need more help.
Barney
Very embarrasing as the insert ejects with the empty case and the next 308 round goes into a 30.06 chamber and BOOM !
The inserts were used by the U.S. navy to blow up mines - they used the garands in single shot mode so they could look in the chamber after each shot to see if the insert was still there.
I have one of those...is there any use for it or is it that bad and dangerous...? i was planning to put on EE bits and parts...?
i would think govt approved devices would be tested and proven, specifically a military device...?
Rebarrel
I rebarreled my Garand, its a great shooter, and with the availiability of 7.62 I can afford to use it on a regular basis. These are terrific rifles to shoot, but trying to find surplus ammo in 30-06 up here is very difficult, and expensive compared to 7.62. As a bonus you have an extra 3 rounds in the pingy over a mag. I have had no problems with mine, and have probably put close to 1000 rounds through it since installation. Finding the barrel was the hard part. I just happened across a fellow nut here who had a couple to spare, and got lucky with a new barrel.
I rebarreled my Garand, its a great shooter, and with the availiability of 7.62 I can afford to use it on a regular basis. These are terrific rifles to shoot, but trying to find surplus ammo in 30-06 up here is very difficult, and expensive compared to 7.62. As a bonus you have an extra 3 rounds in the pingy over a mag. I have had no problems with mine, and have probably put close to 1000 rounds through it since installation. Finding the barrel was the hard part. I just happened across a fellow nut here who had a couple to spare, and got lucky with a new barrel.
I don't know what's politically correct vis-a-vis mentioning commercial gunsmith organizations here, but the gunsmith I use in Toronto has a 30 year+ milsurp veteran on-staff, who's personally worked on three Garands for me. He's built, re-built and re-barreled hundreds of Garands in his career. I think he said he used to live in Montreal at one time in the real old days and had worked for an importer (Districorps?) who imported Garands at one time.
Although not exactly what you want to do, I found out the hard way that you have to be real careful if you're going to have a standard 30.06 Garand converted to .308, particularly who does it. I bought one from a board member that was supposedly done by another professional gunsmith here in Ontario, who apparently thought you just cranked the barrel on with "Locktite" and walked away. It cost me unnecessarily to get it redone by the experienced Garand gunsmith I mentioned above. He gave me a written forensic report to send to the seller and his gunsmith for a claim, but I never bothered.
Since he fixed it up, I've never had any further problems with serious feeding or short stroking, the way it was when I originally bought it. It now shoots like wildfire and I great groups using 7.62mm surplus. The moral ..... Caveat Emptor ...... and use gunsmiths with a good pedigree of having actually worked on a lot of a particular type of these old girls.
BTW, ~Angel~ also uses the same guy for her Enfields and he's done a terrific job re-bedding a few of her DCRA beasts, that had faded over the years.
Regards,
Badger
