RIFLE COMPLETED! (UPDATED)...The M1 Garand BoB tribute rifle project
- Thread starter Pocketfisherman
- Start date
Curious are we??
For all you purists out there, NO GI rifles will be hurt. modified or otherwise dicked-with in the creation of this one off tribute rifle.
The Band of Brothers Tribute Rifle will start with a very run of the mill bare Breda receiver that I purchased for the tidy sum of $70.00 from another CGN member. The Breda is a very capable receiver, strong and functional, but let's face it, Italian Garands are like kissing your sister...
STAGE 1 - INSTALL BARREL ON BARE RECEIVER, TIME BARREL AND CUT CHAMBER TO PROPER HEADSPACE.
Parts list: Receiver, gas tube, bolt and a brand new factory fresh Kreiger .308 barrel.
Last week I arranged with Hungry to make a field trip up to the Hungry Batcave to complete STAGE 1.
Hungry was awesome, and we completed this Stage in about 90 minutes. That was with me doing the work with Hungry providing instruction and the tools.
Here are some pics from the STAGE 1 fun:
Barrel and receiver before work started
Another shot of the Italian receiver..meh
Taping up the barrel for the job
The first tool from the Hungry arsenal - barrel vise
Anti seize on the threads
Taping up the receiver
Clamping the alignment flats on to the heal of the receiver
Same for gastube
Flats are clamped now for some big honking wrenches!
Would you like honking or extra large honking?
I omitted the actual wrenching pic, some of you are not ready for the carnage. Kidding, it was a real finesse job and worked well resulting in a perfectly installed and timed barrel. Notice the flats?
Now to strip the bolt and bring out the pull through cutter
Here is where we started, a definite NO GO!
After some cutting, we start to get close!
More cutting and even closer
And done
A very special thanks to Hungry for his help and guidance for STAGE 1. Now on to STAGE 2, cleaning up the parts bin parts collection. Then the fun will start...STAGE 3 and STAGE 4.
When finished we will have a 1 of 1 Band of Brothers M1 Garand! Stay Tuned!!
For all you purists out there, NO GI rifles will be hurt. modified or otherwise dicked-with in the creation of this one off tribute rifle.
The Band of Brothers Tribute Rifle will start with a very run of the mill bare Breda receiver that I purchased for the tidy sum of $70.00 from another CGN member. The Breda is a very capable receiver, strong and functional, but let's face it, Italian Garands are like kissing your sister...
STAGE 1 - INSTALL BARREL ON BARE RECEIVER, TIME BARREL AND CUT CHAMBER TO PROPER HEADSPACE.
Parts list: Receiver, gas tube, bolt and a brand new factory fresh Kreiger .308 barrel.
Last week I arranged with Hungry to make a field trip up to the Hungry Batcave to complete STAGE 1.
Hungry was awesome, and we completed this Stage in about 90 minutes. That was with me doing the work with Hungry providing instruction and the tools.
Here are some pics from the STAGE 1 fun:
Barrel and receiver before work started
Another shot of the Italian receiver..meh
Taping up the barrel for the job
The first tool from the Hungry arsenal - barrel vise
Anti seize on the threads
Taping up the receiver
Clamping the alignment flats on to the heal of the receiver
Same for gastube
Flats are clamped now for some big honking wrenches!
Would you like honking or extra large honking?
I omitted the actual wrenching pic, some of you are not ready for the carnage. Kidding, it was a real finesse job and worked well resulting in a perfectly installed and timed barrel. Notice the flats?
Now to strip the bolt and bring out the pull through cutter
Here is where we started, a definite NO GO!
After some cutting, we start to get close!
More cutting and even closer
And done
A very special thanks to Hungry for his help and guidance for STAGE 1. Now on to STAGE 2, cleaning up the parts bin parts collection. Then the fun will start...STAGE 3 and STAGE 4.
When finished we will have a 1 of 1 Band of Brothers M1 Garand! Stay Tuned!!
Dumbass question - how do you turn the cutter? I can understand applying tension through the bore to keep it tight to the shoulder of the chamber, but how is the torque applied? Any pics of the cutter assembly?
Mark
Mark
The cutter is a pull through type. Cutter is threaded on to a rod and pulled into cutting position with the rod by hand with only slight finger pressure on the bolt.
Here is a link to the tool at Brownells:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=5172/Product/PULL_THROUGH_CHAMBER_REAMERS
Here is a link to the tool at Brownells:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=5172/Product/PULL_THROUGH_CHAMBER_REAMERS
Correct, you don't know yet 
Stay tuned!
Stay tuned!But we still don't know what makes this Garand a 'BoB Garand'.
So you simply turn the rod by hand to cut? No wrench or handle on the end of the rod? I would have thought that it would take more force than that to turn the cutter. Go figure.
Mark
With the Clymer pull through reamer I cut a couple of flats on the front end of the rod and use a T handle tap wrench to turn it. You can turn the wrench with one hand while maintaining light pressure on the top of the bolt with the other.
That is how I was envisioning it, all right. I am surprised it takes such light forces to cut the chamber in. How much material is being removed in total? From the pics posted it looks like it must 0.050"-0.070" which seems like a lot by hand.
Mark
- Location
- Federal Riding of Wascana
Are the Breda Garands much different than American made ones?
I was under the understanding that the Breda ones are made from original equipment from Winchester or something?
I was under the understanding that the Breda ones are made from original equipment from Winchester or something?
The metal removed was very minimal. It was light just light pressure on the back of the cutter using pressure against the bolt. There is a small bushing that goes between the cutter tail and the bolt to act as a flat bearing surface.
Cutter rod has flats cut into it, we just tightened down with a small adjustable and made nice light cuts with a smooth motion.
Sharp is not the word for the cutter, that thing is surgical. My first time, but I am definitely going to pick one up for myself.
Cutter rod has flats cut into it, we just tightened down with a small adjustable and made nice light cuts with a smooth motion.
Sharp is not the word for the cutter, that thing is surgical. My first time, but I am definitely going to pick one up for myself.
Once the barrel is indexed to TDC I've found that NOS GI barrels generally require about 10-12 thou reaming until the chamber is cut to the "go" dimension, but I have seem them require less. There is surprisingly little metal to cut-all in the shoulder area. I've actually had one instance where a NOS GI barrel would actually headspace properly with a worn, but servicable, bolt.
Some barrels really need to be "grunted" on even when they are in the correct hand tight starting position. I use a Garand receiver wrench which a friend got me from the CMP in the US some yrs back. It is big enough to stun an elephant, but I've still had to use a cheater pipe extension on it to get enough torque to turn a couple of barrels off/on.
Both the Italian made Breda and Beretta Garand parts are totally interchangeable with those made in the US. Surplus Winchester tooling was apparently furnished to Beretta to let them begin production in the early to mid 1950s. There is some speculation on just how Breda got tooled up. In any case, the Italian rifles were made to a very high standard by firms which had been in the firearms business for a very long time.
