M1 Garand conversion to .308

D King

D King

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I was curious if there was any kits out there, preferably in Alberta, to convert an M1 Garand to .308 while still being able to convert it back to 30-06. I am curious about this because I plan to purchase a garand eventually and would like to stick to one ammunition type for when I purchase more firearms.
 
Ya know...

The US Navy used a spacer that fit the chamber to adapt their Garands to the shorter round, I believe also a spacer was applied to the magazine...

But the spacer was a permanent installation. Coated with loctite and fired into place, as memory serves... Swapping back and forth, I'm thinking 'not'.

Someone in more of the know will be by shortly.

A thought before I go... if you reload, there's many similarities between the two rounds (bullets, primer size, powders used, even the shell holder...) that it might not be the hugest deal to run the two calibers.... just sayin'.
 
Don't do the spacer. it never worked right and the navy went to re-barreling guns to 308 buy a 308 garand barrel. you will only have to get an m14 rear sight to make 308 work
 
If you don't mind your brass coming out like this

http://3.bp.########.com/-8-g15CMR3Lk/ToNs_d28fRI/AAAAAAAAD_k/bOWEnYqOvZM/s1600/006-1.JPG

and a bit of accuracy loss then you can apparently load 308 into the Garand, anyone got that thread we had going a few weeks ago?
 
I have seen the same thing happen in a match, when a Garand spit out its genuine U.S. Navy chamber adapter. Guy shooting the rifle never noticed, kept on shooting. He only noticed something wrong when he was picking up his clips..... and saw all this straightened-out 7.62 brass.

Rifle just chugged along as if nothing had happened.

With HALF AN INCH of excess Headspace, one would think that rifle and shooter both should have been blown into orbit.

Such did not occur because the 7.62 NATO is a straighter casing than the .30-'06 (less taper); the chamber taper stops them going too far forward and then the extractor grabs them and the thing fires when the shooter tells it to. No problem, although extracting a chambered round can demand a good jerk.

Stencollector can confirm the tale of the match; he was there IIRC.

I have done the same thing in an SAFN-49 and I used a .30-'06 Mauser to straighten out a batch of brass I needed for a project. No trouble.
 
smellie said:
I have seen the same thing happen in a match, when a Garand spit out its genuine U.S. Navy chamber adapter. Guy shooting the rifle never noticed, kept on shooting. He only noticed something wrong when he was picking up his clips..... and saw all this straightened-out 7.62 brass.

Rifle just chugged along as if nothing had happened.

With HALF AN INCH of excess Headspace, one would think that rifle and shooter both should have been blown into orbit.

Such did not occur because the 7.62 NATO is a straighter casing than the .30-'06 (less taper); the chamber taper stops them going too far forward and then the extractor grabs them and the thing fires when the shooter tells it to. No problem, although extracting a chambered round can demand a good jerk.

Stencollector can confirm the tale of the match; he was there IIRC.

I have done the same thing in an SAFN-49 and I used a .30-'06 Mauser to straighten out a batch of brass I needed for a project. No trouble.
Click to expand...

He never noticed Accuracy-wise either? That's quite a testament right there.
 
I've heard of a steel bushing that goes into the chamber that takes up the difference between the 308 and the 30-06. As I understand it, after you fire the gun a few times it gets wedged into place. After that you are good to go.
 
Wet Work said:
I've heard of a steel bushing that goes into the chamber that takes up the difference between the 308 and the 30-06. As I understand it, after you fire the gun a few times it gets wedged into place. After that you are good to go.
Click to expand...

This system is not reliable, as described above. The sleeve may be ejected along with a fired casing.

A rebarrel is the best way to convert to .308. The rifle may be returned to .30-06, no changes are made, but a barrel vice and receiver wrench are needed.
Often a magazine spacer is not needed, but having one isn't a bad idea. If nothing else, it keeps .30-06 rounds out of the rifle. A M-1 in .308 is a very nice shooting rifle.
 
Why not just get a m305( wich is pretty much a .308 mag fed m1 garand) it would likely cost the same as a new .308 barrel and the equipment needed to swap them. You also would t need to wory about using the wrong ammo plus isn't 2 guns twise as good as 1?
 
Not quite as similar as one would think. Plus, a Garand is the greatest battle implement ever devised, so it has that going for it! :D

If you have patience, 308 Garands come up in the EE from time to time, normally for a higher price. Could possibly sell your garand to fund an already built one....
 
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