m1 garand tanker rifling problem

[realmswalker]

Ok here goes.

Got a tanker in a sweet deal. Took it out to the range recently. Could NOT get it on paper at 50 yards. Figured there was a problem. Took it to a gentlemen who accurized it by bedding, trigger job, and also reparkeriing it. Wonderfull , gun looks great. Take it back out, shoots EXACTLY the same. All over the map with my own handload 150 grain behind 41 grains(or thereabouts) imr 4064, chamfered, trimmed, brass has the works and shoots GREAT in my full size.

So now I am pissed. I take it home and figure I should give the bore a real good looking over.

Shine a light from the chamber to muzzle. Looks good.

Shine a light from the muzzle to chamber and I notice a severe difference in the lands (if the lands are the raised part of the rifling). The lands on my full size are smooth as can be BUT the lands on my tanker look like freakin mini railroad tracks. I have enclosed a diagram as best as can show what I mean

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[/IMG]

I know it's a terrible example, but imagine the the lands are in a straight line, this is what they would look like.
The railroad tracks I assume go ALL the way down the rifling. They go as far as my eye can see.

So image one is on the full size, and railroad tracks are the second image which is on the tanker.

Do you think this is the cause of my horrible innacuracy?

and secondly, what can I do to fix this?

 

[Titan6]

If you are saying what I think you are saying then you need a new barrel. I would also wonder about the gentleman who worked on the gun. If you explained your problem to him the barrel should have been the first thing he checked.

 

[7mmsavage]

They look like tooling marks left when the rifling was cut. You might try some JB's Bore Bright, it may not completely remove those marks, but it should smooth things out considerbly. It really helped clean up a rough barrel on my Garand. I have also used it with a dremel to remove similar marks left on the trigger group of my AR and WASR-10. Seems like it would be worth a try. You mentioned that you handload, something like thas could be an option, http://beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/15

 

[Z71]

I had an Iver Johnson "Trailsman", Colt Woodsman clone that had rifling like that!

Didn't seem to impair the accuracy of the .22 pistol too much, but it had other issues to go along with the horrid rifling.

 

[Swampy]

realmswalker,

What you describe is tooling marks from barrel manufacture. Finding this is quite normal on GI barrels. It is generally no impediment to accurate shooting. I own NUMEROUS M1 rifles that show those marks and all of them shoot fine.

I'd look to other areas for your problems..... i.e. sights, front end, etc....

BTW, how's the crown???

Best,
Swampy

Garands forever

 

[cracked butt]

My 03A3 has similar tool marks, and its a very accurate rifle.

 

[realmswalker]

Thank you for your responses everyone. I guess from what your saying the tooling shouldnt make this thing shoot like it does. I did have hime checke the barrel, he used a throat erosion meauring tool and it was 1.5 on throat and muzzle, which is well withing acceptable range. I did tell him I had trouble getting on paper and he checked the barrel alignment which he said was 10 degrees off windage wise from being overthreaded.

He said He back it out and fixed the problem. The problem isnt getting my sights on paper, As I have hit the paper a few times, the problem is the thing shoots a pattern as tight as a shotgun.

I am going to try and sight it in at 25 yards instead of 50 and see where I stand.

 

[Abndoc]

I have a M1 Garand that has a similar problem and I believe that the rear sight is moving under recoil. It is my understanding that there is a spring or retainer that holds the settings in place and it can wear with age or flatten out from over tightening.

This is my first Garand and I am far from being an expert, so check with someone like Swampy who actually knows what they are talking about.

 

[realmswalker]

I will check the sights, but I completely took those apart and put them back together and they are tight.

And to answer your question swampy the crown is fine and the sights seem fine.

 

[rcmodel]

If it's one of the old re-weld "Tankers" there could be any number of things wrong with it.

Since there never were any original U.S. GI "Tanker" Garands made except for a few prototypes, someone could have made yours out of parts, unless it is a newer Springfield Armory, Inc from the 80's - 90's.

Many years ago, the only "tanker" Garands to be had were made out of de-milled / cut receivers that had been welded back together.

You might check your receiver for straightness, warping, change of color where the weld might be, etc.

Could be the rear sight is not were it is supposed to be.

rcmodel

 

[4v50 Gary]

I'd check the muzzle's crown first. It may need refreshing.

 

[TEDDY]

tanker

I have one. federal ordnance made them of rewelded receivers.mine shoots great,but I had a great smith work on it as it was short chambered

 

[30Cal]

41grs of IMR4064 under a 150gr in 30-06 is good 4-5 grs less than what I would expect.

 

[realmswalker]

I will take it to someone who can recrown it.

And it was made by arlington ordnance. the barrel is stamped by that company and it came in an arlington ordnance box with the serial number of the receiver on the box.

As for being a reweld, the gentlemen who worked on my garand said he inspected it very closely when he reparkerized it and said that it was NOT a reweld.

And I checked my loads 30 cal, it was 42 and 43 grains of IMR. They were military cases so I loaded them down a bit. But this ammo shoots just fine in my full size.

Hopefull recrowning it will fix it. if it doesnt I may send it out of state to someone renownded to work on it. As I only have 525 into it A few hundred more to have a nice working tanker is still worth it.

And I won't sell a crappy shooting gun just to get rid of it. not fair to the buyer.

 

[Sunray]

"...Got a tanker in a sweet deal..." No you didn't. There's no such thing to start with and the quality of any 'tankers' that were assembled out of parts(all of 'em were), depends entirely on who built it.
"...loaded them down a bit..." The starting load for a 150 grain bullet with IMR4064 is 47.0. Reduce the load by 10% when using milsurp brass. That'd be 42.3 as a starting load.

 

[realmswalker]

Swampy, here are some pics of the crown. Maybe you can tell me if it needs to be redone.

 

[Swampy]

realmswalker,

Maybe if you cropped & reduced in size by a factor of 4 I might.... I'm on dialup. Can't see big photos.

Swampy

 

[theP8riot]

Try some different loads.

 

[ogree]

yes.............re-crown it.