[Tokugawa]

Assuming one does not want to do the whole high power accuracy job with glass bedding, etc, what are basic tips to keep a garand shooting well? A good trigger is obvious, but what other simple things can be done? Is stock to action fit critical? How about the gas tube fit?

I am looking for simple tuneup tips for a basicly sound rifle.

I do not want to send the rifle off for repark, new wood, new barrel, etc, as it seems to be pretty solid. And most places seem to want to do the whole deal. I know why, of course- if they are going to put their name on it they want it as good as they can make it.

Please note I just got this rifle from the CMP and have only fired it once. A 20 round prone slow fire at 100 yards resulted in a ten shot group about 2 1/2", and the other ten sort of scattered in a eight inch circle. I think the bulk of those flyers were me. not the rifle. Next time I get out shooting I will try some shots off the bench to get a reliable indicator of group size.
Any advice?

[cdrt]

I have an M1 that was accurized by McCoy down in San Diego back in the 1980's. It's a CMP rifle that I got back when it was still the DCM. The one thing that he did that I thought was interesting besides the glass-bedding, trigger job, etc. was to coat the stock in about 10 thin coats of Fuller-plast (at least that what I think he called it). When I asked him about it, he said since there's so much wood, it helps to seal it to keep it from warping from moisture, etc. and hopefully keep everything in the same place so it's not affecting the barrel in any way.
They don't make that particular product anymore (not environmentally friendly) but you could get the same effect using a good quality poly-urethane to seal the stock. He used a sprayer to do the job, but you could probably get by using a fine brush to put several coats on it after you clean it up and get any oil out of the stock. He stripped the stock entirely before coating it.
He also plugged up the holes in the back of the stock that were used for the cleaning rod, etc. He used some wood dowel, cut to fit and then pushed in for a tight fit. I guess he was trying to make the stock more rigid and add a little weight back there, which an M1 hardly needs considering my weighs out around 9 and half pounds.
And you could change out the rear sight for a NM sight; that way you would have a little finer elevation adjustment.
Hope all that helps.

Navy Vet & SWIFT Boat OIC

[30Cal]

General points:
1. With a standard M1 (not bedded), it's probably going to shoot all over the place for a little bit after you pull it out of the stock. It may take 2 clips for it to settle down. Same thing if the bore is a little rough and you clean it down to bare steel--it'll probably shoot better if it's a little dirty.

2. Check the handguards for fit. If they are pinched tightly between the receiver, upper band and gas cylinder, it'll probably throw fliers when it heats up.

3. Check to make sure the handguards don't touch the buttstock

4. Make sure the buttstock isn't contacting the oprod. Ideally, the oprod will not touch the upper band, but they frequently do and it takes some serious guru skills to bend it to fit--don't even think about attempting it till you've read the Kuhnhausen shop manual.

5. Check the lugs on the trigger guard (the ones that engage the receiver legs). If they're flat, then it's not going to lock up as tight as it might and you might consider replacing the trigger guard (an inexpensive improvement).

6. Muzzle crown--take a close look. it's the last thing the bullet touches before it goes downrange and the most critical part of the barrel for accuracy. It's also the easiest to damage. Use a muzzle guide when you clean. It's easy and cheap to recrown. Someone in your area probably has a cutter and there's other methods to improve it. Worst case, it'll cost you $20 in smithing.

7. Stock fit. If you don't want to bed it, you can stuff shims (strips of coke cans, business cards, or laminate) under the front part of the receiver to increase the trigger group lockup tension.

8. Gas cyl fit. Peen the splines on the barrel till you need to drive the gas cyl on with a mallet. At this point, it's best to not dissassemble the rifle till it needs to be rebarreled.

Take a flip through here for details and other stuff:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030705071825/http://www.jouster.com/lanestips/

[Tokugawa]

Great site, thank you! It is just the sort of info I was looking for.

[Khornet]

The most important thing IMHO is not to disassemble any more than necessary, and especially don't take the gas cylinder off. It's not necesary, and can loosen your splines.

There's a great little NRA booklet on the M1 which describes a number of easy home-gunsmith things you can do also, like making sure the bayonet stub doesn't contact the ferrule, how to peen the splines, how to fudge a loose triggerguard lockup with shims as mentioned above. Really worth your while.

If you remove the oprod spring then reassemble the rifle, then with an open bolt just point the muzzle slightly down, the action should slide closed freely and lock up. If not, the oprod may be rubbing somewhere. If it's on wood, a little scraping of the inletting is no big deal to do.

Lots of other tricks. Maybe Swampy will chime in.

[Tokugawa]

Took the rifle out for a test/control group. Seems to shoot about 3 1/2" to 4 1/2" groups at 100 yds.

[Tokugawa]

So now I have peened the splines so the gas cylinder is tight, removed the stacking swivel (no one said anything about this but it can't help to have a jingly metal thing rattling on the end of the barrel.), carefully relieved a few small areas in the stock where the op rod was touching, and lightly filed the metal lower band where the op rod rubbed. Glued two .015 wood shims in the stock so there is no fore and aft play.

So I will report after next range trip.
A question about the forward intersection of buttstock and lower band- It is a loose fit, is this correct?

[Khornet]

It seems that many semi-autos will throw the first round of a clip to a different point than the rest. Certainly I notice that in my M1. It helps if you firmly shove the oprod forward as you chamber the first round.

Shooting from a rest, I firmly believe it matters what part of the rifle is on the forward bag. Since the upper handguard is normally a loose fit, if you rest on that you will chnge point of impact. Also, the bag can touch the oprod and vary the way each round comes to rest in the chamber. So I always rest aft of the ferrule.

Do you handload? It can make a real difference, and is fun in its own right.

If the measures you have taken result in acceptable accuracy, then don't disassemble any more after that. Just make sure the bore and chamber are clean, and that there is adequate grease where it's needed.

[Tokugawa]

Range trip with rifle mods as above- From a sitting position at the bench, rifle supported by elbow and sling, it shot all into the black, about 8" total. Thirty or so of the forty rounds left a group about 3" x 4" , the rest were flyers. I am sure a lot of them were due to poor shooting also, as I am not the best shot and it was after work.
Next questions! Will a wornout op rod spring affect accuracy? Mine was at the service limit at 19". I have replaced it with a new spring, have not tried it yet.
Also, regarding handguards and stock fit- the stock was compressed by the reciever over the years, so the fit was not real tight and the buttstock and handguards touched. This also had the effect of making the fit between the rear barrel band and the front stock ferrule loose, and as the stock was closer to the barrel, the op rod rubbed on the stock ferrule.
I glued .015 wood shims under all the compressed areas of the stock, it locks up much tighter now and it had the benefit of introducing a clearance between the handguard and stock. Also the buttstock ferrule is touching the bottom of the barrel band, and the op rod clears.
I will take it to the range and report back.

[30Cal]

On match M1's, the best results usually come when the ferrule on the forend of the stock is pulling down on the upper band. A loose fit up there probably isn't going to get you the most accuracy. The garand, unlike a bolt gun, has a bunch of stuff than hangs off the barrel and rattles around as the bullet is travelling. By getting pressure up at the forend, the stock helps to dampen out a lot of those less repeatable vibrations.

So if you shim the stock, you want to shim under the front of the receiver to get the barrel at a slight up-angle to create pressure at the forend.

[Tokugawa]

There is a modest "downforce" on the stock ferrule to band,now that it has been shimmed. I wonder is anyone has tried an adjustable setup to tune that fit? It would probably not be match legal (for J C Garand matches), but an interesting idea.
Next time I take it out I will try as is, then with an extra shim under the front of the receiver.
The hope, eventually, is to get to 2 moa with HXP surplus. Do-able? I do not have a clue! But it will be fun to tinker!

[30Cal]

With a decent barrel, 2MoA is doable. FYI, shims aren't legal in JCG matches either. Boyd's stocks, for all their external shortcomings, have excellent inletting and are fairly cheap.

Ty

[Tokugawa]

DANG! I was hoping it was legal to shim a stock, by gluing in a few pieces of wood. Guess it does not count as a repair, huh? Oh well. Where would I find the rules for the Garand matches?
This rifle is a service grade postwar with a correct stock, I think I will keep it the way it is. Hopefully a field grade is on the way and it may be the one for a new stock, barrel, etc.

[Freedomv]

I didn't notice if anyone mentioned replacing the venting gas plug with a solid gas plug. That will help significantly as it maintains a constant gas pressure for each shot.


Vern

[Khornet]

use a SLED (single loading device, a modified clip). That way each round is chambered in the same way. Here's a group I fired last week at 100 yd. My son was resting his butt on the bench and wobbling it as he shot, and I was trying to time my shots with his wobble. That's where the low shot came from.

Sierra 155 gr HPBT Palma Match bullet, LC brass, Federal Match primer, Accurate 2520, 46.1 gr.

[Rick O'Shea]

Lots of good info here, and sounds like you're already doing a lot of the right things.

Addicting, isn't it?

I would also recommend this book: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=153514

Very useful information along the lines of what you're doing, plus a bunch more...

[Tokugawa]

Went to the range today, with the shims to tighten the lockup,and a new recoil spring,the best I did was an 8 round group in four inch's. Five of the eight made a 1 " by 1.5" group, two more opened it to 2" by 2.5", and the other one opened it to 4".(see below) I suppose it could be called a flyer. Very windy today.

Now this is weird-- on the three targets I shot, there is one flyer in each, in exactly the same spot- eight o clock in the 9 ring. all the other shots are higher and to the right. Hmmmm-- I should have spotted each shot- I wonder if that is the first round throwing a bit wild?

The really hard part about all this is I am not a very good rifle shot so it is hard to know if the groups reflect the rifle, me, the wind, or luck.

This is all with surplus Greek HXP CMP ammo, by the way.


Took the new dane field grade out also, it shows an eighth of an inch of bullet using the bullet test for muzzle wear, but it was shooting all over the place. Maybe a 10" group. I will play with this one for a bit- maybe a new recoil spring and some muzzle detailing will help- Stock seems to lock up tight, but no down force on the rear band.

Big question- anybody have recommendations for a Garand rebuilder? I looked at Eric Pierce's work and it is truly gorgeous but at 2K plus a rifle it is quite a lot for my budget. (probably worth every penny for those that have it.) It seems Dean would rebuild that field grade for 7-900 plus the rifle. Any experiences to share? Other recommendations?

Thanks for the comments, this is a real learning experience!

[gdvan01]

Big question- anybody have recommendations for a Garand rebuilder? Have you checked:

Fulton Armory:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/

Tony Giacobbe:

http://garandguy.com/