Rebulding m1 garand from sratch

I am doing the same on two fronts now.

I have a post war Springfield, that I am rebuilding, new wood, new factory fresh .308 barrel, reparkerizing etc...

My second is a parts bin Breda. I have the receiver, wood, many small parts and collecting the rest.

Third long term is a small collection of Winchester M1 parts including a minty op rod. Looking for a Winchester donor...

Try gun shows, auctions, here on EE
 
The biggest challenge will be getting a barrel. The prices for M1 barrels are outrageous here. In the US you can get Citadel , Krieger/Criterion barrels plus decent used GI barrels for very fair prices. It is a royal PITA to get them here in Canada.

Some enterprising barrel maker in Canada needs to start making these things up here. License to print money, a reliable Canadian source for M1 and M14 barrels. One can dream...
 
There is quite a learning curve involved in this. Before I went too far I'd get one or both of the following books:

1. The US .30 Caliber Service Rifles, A Shop Manual (also covers the M14) by Jerry Kuhnhausen. This is the definitive reference, but fairly expensive.

2. The M1 Garand Complete Assembly Guide by Walt Kulek

Beyond that you will need the following tools and gauges to do it right;

1. Set of .30-06 go/no-go headspace gauges
2. A barrel vice or set of barrel blocks for the Garand barrel and a very heavy machinist's vice or shop press to hold them secure
3. A receiver wrench for the Garand
4. A front driven finishing reamer to establish "go" headspace (always required for a new barrel and sometimes for a used one)
5. A set of fixtures to identify when the barrel is correctly indexed (top dead center) in the receiver.

Most of the above are available from Brownell's. This is an expensive investment in tools and gauges for a one-time job. You may be further ahead to have someone with the proper set-up do it for you.
 
VAR Barrels

I have a nice Springfield from Danish service with a pooched barrel...I would like to spin a VAR barrel on it...they are good.

Cheers paul
 
Back in the 80's and 90's, I built and tweaked several M1's in .308 Win. All great fun. Parts were easily had from Numrich, and also Fulton Armory (when Clint Mckee would ship to us). :D

Times change, and these days, like 6167, it's almost better to find a complete M1 that needs some TLC, and go from there. Lots of fun still. :)

There are many great M1 resource-people here, all one has to do is ask away! :D

Now if only we could convince a dealer or two to import some M1 barrels in .30-06, .308, .270 :eek: , and or .243.... :rolleyes:

:cheers:

Barney
 
"...Most are VAR, though..." Not exactly a bad thing. VAR barrels are close to match grade barrels.
"...will be a long road..." And somewhat expensive to build one from scratch. Better to find one in decent condition with a poor barrel. Find a smithy who has the skills and tools, as well. Any tools he has to buy, you pay for and don't get to keep.
 
Hey, Sunray. Yes, i agree. VAR barrels are excellent. What I meant was that if soembody was trying to build a "correct" WW2 rifle, this would be a doenside.

From what i have experienced, the VAR barrels are better than the US manufactured ones.
 
+1 on the VAR barrels , they are very well respected down here as well. Some of the very late ( 1960's ) Springfield barrels are also quite good . I think that the golden days of very economical Danish/Italian parts kits have come & gone.
 
I found a brand new 1955 (I think) VAR barrel for my Beretta build last year...

Took me 9 months to finish my build but it turned out better then I could have ever imagined.... I sourced all my parts from a friend in the US (Stock, metal, sights)... It was a pain in the ass, but he managed to find me everything I was looking for. To finish it off, I had a gunsmith from the area rebarrel it for me, and tighten everything up....

My advice would be to ask around and see what you can find. American forums as well as CGN were very helpful for me.
 
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