.308 Garands?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Panzerschwein

Panzerschwein

member
Joined
Nov 19, 2011
Messages
8,122
Location
Desert
Anyone have or have shot a .308/7.62x51mm NATO M1 Garand?

I'm thinking about getting an M1 from the CMP and having it professionally rebarreled for .308 to save costs on ammo since I don't reload. From my research .308 ammo is nearly 50% cheaper over .30-06.

Does that sound like an O.K. idea?
 
Cooldill said:
Anyone have or have shot a .308/7.62x51mm NATO M1 Garand?

I'm thinking about getting an M1 from the CMP and having it professionally rebarreled for .308 to save costs on ammo since I don't reload. From my research .308 ammo is nearly 50% cheaper over .30-06.

Does that sound like an O.K. idea?
Click to expand...
From my understanding, a little more than just rebarrelling is involved--you need a shorter op rod and magazine blocking to adjust for the shorter length. The CMP gunsmithing shop should be able to handle it.
 
People that have them like them. I want one as well.

The CMP themselves will do the rebarrel if you send it to them. $200 for the Criterion barrel, $75 for labor.

Or you can wait until they have more 308 Specials in stock. No telling when that will be though.
 
I'm waiting until my .30-06 brass wears out, then my M1 is slated for a rebarrel to .308. The shorter cartridge makes much more sense for me in everything but historical accuracy, but I'll still have the .30-06 barrel.

A rebarrel to .308 results in cheaper ammo if nothing else (as mentioned in the OP). If you do that, Criterion has good reviews. Last I talked to my smith about the project he indicated it could be done for well under $300.
 
I have.
The recoil impulse is indistinguishable from M2 Ball (not surprising given the specs of 7.62nato).

Op rod tend to stay the same, as the barrel external contour is the same (you can't quite get the contour down to the .276pedersen profile which would allow a straight, unbent, op rod). As it's easier to use a stock rod overall. The mag block is very useful for preventing rounds from creeping forward under recoil.

Really a nice rifle like that. Very handy in 18" too--an excellent reason to pick up one of the early SAIs. (I would not cut down a CMP.)
 
The upper rifle is an M1 Garand which I used for an NRA course on the M1 Garand and M1A (M14) rifle about 20 years ago. The upper rifle is actually chambered in 7mm-08 Remington which amounts to a 308 Winchester necked down to 7mm.

Old%20and%20New.png

7MM%2008%20Barrel.png

I have fired plenty in the 308 Winchester chambering and built a few. While felt recoil is subjective my observation, with the rifles in my shoulder, was milder recoil in the 308 and 7mm-08 chamberings. The upper rifle obviously cannot be used in an As Issued M1 or service rifle competition but is really enjoyable to shoot. When building the rifle I applied all the tricks as in the NM2 sights and the rifle is glass bedded. Additionally the barrel is floated and the handguard unitized. There is, as mentioned no difference in the operating rod, they are all the same length less of course some rifles which were shortened and marketed as a "Tanker Version".

If I come across a good condition receiver I do have a .308 barrel and enough other parts to build another rifle. The lower rifle is a 1950s SA M1 Garand in the standard 30-06 chambering and the GI birch wood stock, frequently called the orange wood. Given the choice for a first M1 Garand despite any loyalty to originality I would opt for the 308 Winchester flavors over the 30-06. That just being my choice. Either rifle from the CMP will shoot just fine.

Ron
 
can a m1 Garand in 308 use factory ammo ? or would I still have to reload for it
I do own one in 30/06 but at times it would be nice to just go a big box store and just be able to pick up a box of Ammo for it
 
Last edited:
One old fellow has a name for them. Pussy Garands. If you can't take the recoil from the 30-06, go get a 5.56.
 
LUCKYDAWG13 said:
can a m1 Garand in 308 use factory ammo ? or would I still have to reload for it
I do own one in 30/06 but at times it would be nice to just go a big box store and just be able to pick up a box of Ammo for it
Click to expand...
From Mark Johnson CMP Chief Operating Officer"
"Our .308 Win. caliber CMP Special M1 Garands are chambered for .308 Win. The barrels are marked .308, the chambers are cut with a Clymer manufactured .308 spec. reamer, the headspace is checked with a Clymer .308 spec. go and no go gauge, and the rifles are function test fired with .308 Win. caliber Atomic brand ammunition"

My experience has been aside from commercial ammunition made by Federal and Winchester as well as surplus 7.62 NATO I load for the M1 Garand in 308 Winchester the same way I load for a M1A or similar M14 type rifle using service rifle loads and keeping bullet weights below 180 grains. If you have any concerns just use a schuster gas plug or similar.

The Hornady 9th edition reloading manual has a section devoted to M1 Garand 308 and M1A 308 Loading Data Suggestions. I don't treat the gas system on a 308 Garand any different than a 30-06 Garand and like to use no powder slower than Varget, however, a matter of individual choice.

Ron
 
Last edited:
If you're lucky enough to find one there's a device called a Navy Sleeve. Reminds you of a cut off section of a 30-'06 case cept it's made from steel. Seems the navy used them to shoot in the national matches instead of the then standard M-14's. It is supposed to be installed with a bit of locktite. and a fired round sets the device. To remove it you use a broken shell extractor. Mine's brand new and no it's not for sale.

Shoot didn't think anybody sold them or made them any more. but here they are at $14 apiece (lot cheaper than rebarreling). https://www.cdvs.us/product/308-navy-sleeve/
 
7.62x51 mm NATO U.S. Navy Garand Rifles is an American Rifleman article written by Bruce Canfield and a good read on the use of the caliber conversion sleeve. While Canfield does not mention it in the article I have always wondered about the effect a chamber caliber adapter has on Bullet Jump, the distance that a bullet must travel from its position at rest in the cartridge case to its initial engagement of the rifling as to accuracy.

Ron
 
If it were me and I wanted a .308 Garand I’d buy one already in .308. There are a ton of them out there. Ammo cost would certainly be cheaper but I don’t know if you can shoot ammo with factory powder.

As far as the comments about recoil. I have a 30.06 Garand and I shoot it frequently. It really doesn’t have much recoil. I think the weight of the rifle combined with how big the gas system eats up a lot of that energy. They are quite comfortable to shoot in my opinion. Far less recoil than a traditional bolt action 30.06. Just to be clear I am not a large, overly strong person and I’m probably not very tough and I feel like I could shoot one all day and not get sore (if I could afford it).
 
Had one years ago. It was a CMP that I sent to Springfield Armory for the conversion. MISTAKE. After a couple hundred rounds the bolt blew back and broke the receiver... seems it had been hitting the stop hard all the time and the receiver split just behind the rear sight. Turns out that S.A. had shortened the op rod spring, something they should not have done and I didn't notice, not having another to compare it to (until the autopsy).
 
7.62x51 or 308 Winchester can be done with just changing the barrel for that caliber.
The problem as stated above by the good Col. Harrumph is the port pressure is a point of issue. Too slow a powder will cause the same problems as with a .30'06 M1. Too high pressure at the gas port.
 
P5 Guy said:
7.62x51 or 308 Winchester can be done with just changing the barrel for that caliber.
The problem as stated above by the good Col. Harrumph is the port pressure is a point of issue. Too slow a powder will cause the same problems as with a .30'06 M1. Too high pressure at the gas port.
Click to expand...
Just as a side note of useless trivia I have a small pile of M1 Garand take off barrels sitting here, suitable as small tomato stakes. The actual gas port holes in the barrels average around 0.078" and 0.079". I have a brand new .308 Winchester barrel turned from a Douglas blank about 20 years ago with a full contour (non GI contour) and the gas port hole diameter is 0.097" so pushing near a 0.020" larger gas port hole. The smiths I knew about 20 years ago would drill them to 0.081" for the 30-06 Garand barrels. I did read the new .308 Win barrels installed by the CMP are Criterion Barrels having a GI contour rather than full contour. The only downside to using a full verse GI contour barrel is with the full contour you need to hog some wood out of th upper rear handguard to accomodate the barrel.

Barrel%20Full%20Contour.png

Handguard%20Rear%20Opened.png

I haven't seen any of the full contour barrels in years. I would love to find a nice clean receiver only as I have more than enough parts to build another complete rifle. :)

Ron
 
I have two of them in 308, no blocks in either. In a match configuration the Navy Armorers told me the 308 has less port pressure and doesn't overwork the op rod like the 30.06 ammo tends to do. They used to issue three op rods with every rifle and after they went 308 they did not need to.

If I were building one I would go 308.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

H
  • Locked
CMP have any .308 M1A's or 1903's?
Replies
2
Views
425
jefnvk
J
T
  • Locked
.308 Garand
Replies
2
Views
453
lencac
L
D
  • Locked
CMP Garand. What do you think?
2 3
Replies
66
Views
3K
hps1
hps1
carbine85
  • Locked
CMP.308 M1 Garand - Talk me out of it
Replies
22
Views
10K
beefyz
B
J
  • Locked
Mil surp .308 in .308 Garand?
Replies
3
Views
479
DMK
DMK
Back
Top