Will Breda receiver fit US M1 Garand?

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Lornescot

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I have an M1 Garand refinished professionally. Not a collector's grade. It had a 1944 Winchester receiver until the heel cracked. Most of the parts are a mix match of WRA and SA.

Breda receivers are available but I was told that the Italian Breda receivers won't fit a US Garand as they are cut differently. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
Italian receivers - either Beretta or Breda - will work fine.
Seeing as your rifle was refinished, you might want to get the receiver refinished to match before assembly.
 
Lornescot said:
Thank you. I was told it won't fit by Gta gunsmith
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Wrong information. Garand receivers and all other parts made by Breda and Beretta are completely inter hangeable with US GI Garand parts. I've assembled several dozen Garands on Breda and Beretta receivers using a full range of Italuan and US GI parts and they all function correctly and safely.

The Breda and Beretta receivers were built to a high quality line and are an excellent basis for a build project.
 
I would would recommend sending your garand to Nick at Vulcan gun refinishing. He is a professional and has done many many m1 garand builds in the past.

He put a new barrel on my Beretta receiver and did an amazing job.
 
All receivers are the same spec wise. Make sure you have the head space checked. The chamber may have to be reamed. Really sad about the Winchester receiver. Too bad you can;t find a SA receiver. A fair bit more expensive, but worth it.
 
It is well known that some M1s were to brittle. The treatment was to dip the heal in lead. Perhaps this was a missed reciever. Does it have a two tone park on the reciever?
 
Lead pot annealing was a temp measure to reduce cracking in the trigger guard clamping portion of the rear receiver leg until such time as manufacturing specs were changed to beef up this portion of the receiver.

The rear portion of the receiver could be cracked by excessive bolt battering caused by a weak op rod spring or firing rifle grenades. Under no circumstances should one attempt to fix this by welding.
 
American Eagle M1 Garand ammo. Heel problems can happen on WW2 M1 receivers. People I have spoken to say metal fatigue - plain and simple on a 73 year old part.
SA and WRA receivers I am sure had the snot kicked out of them killing nazis.
 
Lornescot said:
American Eagle M1 Garand ammo. Heel problems can happen on WW2 M1 receivers. People I have spoken to say metal fatigue - plain and simple on a 73 year old part.
SA and WRA receivers I am sure had the snot kicked out of them killing nazis.
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Makes sense, on a similar note concerning old guns I have Parkhurst 10 gauge from the 1880s. It shoots loads rather wonderfully, but has been to the gunsmith twice for broken parts, after a rebuild/check for safe firing since.

I understand your grief!
 
Lornescot said:
American Eagle M1 Garand ammo. Heel problems can happen on WW2 M1 receivers. People I have spoken to say metal fatigue - plain and simple on a 73 year old part.
SA and WRA receivers I am sure had the snot kicked out of them killing nazis.
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A cracked heel could occur on any Garand receiver, altho its more of a possibility with a heavily used wartime receiver. Its wise to use the correct ammo and to ensure that the op rod spring is serviceable and within the specified length of 19.75 to 20.25 inches. The Danish surplus Breda and Beretta receivers tend to be less heavily used than the US GI ones. I've owned quite a number of them and have never seen one that was unserviceable for any reason. The Danes maintained excellent technical control of their rifles until they were released as surplus.
 
purple said:
A cracked heel could occur on any Garand receiver, altho its more of a possibility with a heavily used wartime receiver. Its wise to use the correct ammo and to ensure that the op rod spring is serviceable and within the specified length of 19.75 to 20.25 inches. The Danish surplus Breda and Beretta receivers tend to be less heavily used than the US GI ones. I've owned quite a number of them and have never seen one that was unserviceable for any reason. The Danes maintained excellent technical control of their rifles until they were released as surplus.[/QUOTE]

SO true indeed! I have a VAR barreled Springfield M1 & the sticker underneath the barrel and in the fore end channel said was checked for serviceability and refinished in 1993.
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Lornescot said:
SA and WRA receivers I am sure had the snot kicked out of them killing nazis.
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And killing other Wehrmacht soldiers who were not members of the Nazi party, but I digress.

In my experience, Winchester receivers are not the best in terms of fit and finish when compared to Springfield made receivers of the same era. Also, WRA bolts tend to be shorter than Springfield for some reason and some new barrels are more difficult to index on WRA's than other Garand receivers IMO.

If I were you, I would have no problem replacing it using a Breda receiver.
 
Lornescot said:
Thanks for the help. I must admit I shed a tear when I saw the Winchester receiver heel crack.
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About 20 years ago I started reading (a lot) about Garand production. It always amuses me when people get all excited about Winchesters. They were always the worst of the USGI producers. If any maker has an unearned good reputation, it is Winchester. Not Springfield, not H&R, not International, and most certainly not Breda or Beretta. Winchester was always a couple of drawings behind Springfield, and even had to have some of their inspectors on the floor to keep the guns heading out the doors. If that had happened today, Winchester would have been sued for failure to comply with contracts and barred from future bidding.
 
Ha...I've always felt some magic about Winchester....you've popped a bubble here...


maple_leaf_eh said:
About 20 years ago I started reading (a lot) about Garand production. It always amuses me when people get all excited about Winchesters. They were always the worst of the USGI producers. If any maker has an unearned good reputation, it is Winchester. Not Springfield, not H&R, not International, and most certainly not Breda or Beretta. Winchester was always a couple of drawings behind Springfield, and even had to have some of their inspectors on the floor to keep the guns heading out the doors. If that had happened today, Winchester would have been sued for failure to comply with contracts and barred from future bidding.
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