CMP Hackberry Garand stock

[H&R Glock]

I can appreciate fine quality of wood now that I have succeeded in mismatching the color of the front and rear handguards. These are from two different trees and their ability to take dye and stain are different. At this point I can start all over or see what it looks like when it gets back together.

maybe the BLO will help it.

 

[H&R Glock]

After a few more beers, the whole thing is starting to become a thing of beauty. The Hackberry and other parts will make the M1 look more beautiful. Now if I can only remember what parts go where it won't be a "Homer Simpson" rifle with the barrel protruding from the butt end. I still have to go thru a day of BLO drying and rubbing.

Gunny, how many of these M1's will they sell to me?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I can appreciate fine quality of wood now that I have succeeded in mismatching the color of the front and rear handguards. These are from two different trees and their ability to take dye and stain are different. At this point I can start all over or see what it looks like when it gets back together.
View attachment 790425
maybe the BLO will help it.

To help match the handguards, buff the rear one with steel wool till the wood color starts to show. Use the same brown stain as before but tweak it a little. Add just a little black and add a little more alcohol. Apply the stain, but wipe it off right after you apply it.

 

[H&R Glock]

Roger

 

[H&R Glock]

After becoming a stock mechanic and tool maker, I was able to properly fit the receiver back into the wood.
The CMP must have used a large mallet to both embed the action and lock it down. Now the stock comes off with a thump of the wrist just like it should and the trigger group settles properly.

I still have some waxing & rubbing to do, but it now looks almost G.I.
Gunny, if I complain and send it back will they drill out the stock for the combination tool and grease pots?? It's a shame they skipped this step.
Thank you Gunny for all the help. Maybe the next one I work on will look better, but I have no complaints with the way the Hackberry turned out.
Is there any halp for the bare metal gas tube?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I would have to say that you did an outstanding job. That's something to be proud of.
Most likely the buttstock was not drilled for the combotool and grease pots to save money. You could most likely have a cabinet shop drill it out for you.
You could have the gas tube re-parked or buy another.

 

[H&R Glock]

I've investigated the "Gas Tube Problem." They made it out of stainless steel and that can't be phosphated . It can be blackened with the proper chemicals. The tube must be bead blasted before the treatment.
Does anyone know who performs this all in one service? (of course at a reasonable price)

I prefer a coat of flat black Wal-Mart enamel to the bare surface of this tube. Maybe if I use some of that beauty salon hair coloring. That's some pretty strong stuff. Any color would turn stainless steel to black!

 

[H&R Glock]

I took it to the range today to test the functionality of the piece. 3 paper plate targets at 50 yards. Each had a 1" black dot bullseye. With my AR I shot up the black spot on two targets. After firing 8 GI Garand rounds at the third target, I went down range to check my shooting skills! Not a mark shows anywhere.
Looks like I'll have to take it to the 50 foot range and do some strong sight adjustments.
It functioned perfectly even tho I neglected to grease the lube points and in spite of the extra strong recoil spring which I figured to cause short cycling..
Next time I will take the spotting scope and sight the thing in properly. Sheesh now I need some more 150 grain fmj bullets.....
There were two old codgers at the range shooting pistols. They both oohed and ahhed over the rifle.. Thanks Gunny!

 

[HankC]

Total recoil, how deep the dye penetrate into the wood? If lightly scratched in normal use, still show the pale wood color? The CMP hackberry stock is basically a painted finish and show the pale wood if dinged or scratched. Have you tried a spot at under side?

 

[H&R Glock]

(this stock had fitting problems when I got it from Fedex)
Beats me about the depth of dye. I will tell you this however.... I had to work on the inletting of the stock as the receiver would not fit back into the stock, and the trigger group had the same problem. The CMP must have used a 10 pound mallet to drive the gun and trigger group into the stock.
I made some sanding sticks out of 60 grit paper glued to popsicle sticks to sand down the mag.well leg area of the stock. I used up 5 sticks before the receiver would properly fit in the stock. The mag. well sanded to pure white wood before I got it to fit. The sticks cut a very nice even square cut of uniform depth into the stock. When it fit correctly I used a Q-Tip to re-dye/stain the inside of the stock were it did not show anyway.
If I had a fine rasp I'da probably tried my luck with it, but glad I took the time to fine tune it.
I've had it to the range today again and have not put any dents or scrapes in it yet.
Now whadda' my gonna do with all this powdered dye I have left over? (black, red, yellow,brown I think)
Free for the shipping cost to someone who wants to try the Hackberry makeover.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

So Hackberry isn't a brand of stocks, but according to startpage.com is a wood type in the Elm family. If I had one I would certainly share. Please let us know how this works out for you. And I thought I knew all the wood types in the east.

Hellsberry... I was thinking it was a guy like a Sniper or armorer.

Todd.

 

[Jim Watson]

Trivia: There used to be a crater in my yard. (Filled in for construction of the new house after The Incident.)
A historically minded neighbor said it was where the largest hackberry tree in the state had been until it was hit by lightning. Roots had rotted by the time I moved in, leaving a hole.
Who got paid for determining the largest hackberry tree in the state? Or had the time to find it on his own.

 

[H&R Glock]

I suspect the CMP Tree Service Company took it down,

 

[H&R Glock]

The dye packages that I offered have been spoken for and are on the way out after the holiday. Sorry, ladies and gents, who wish to tackle the dreaded hackberry themselves, but the dye is gone..

I would like to hear from those who received a hackberry stock and had the problem of "Tight Stock" as I did. I assume that other "field grade" M1's suffer from this affliction. I'd advise you to fix the fitting problem before attempting the re-finishing.

 

[homers]

Dumb Q #1: How does one know the stock is hackberry? Recently rec'd my first CMP Garand (Service) and it has a new (seems somewhat dry) stock on it. Will be investigating how to finish it.

 

[HankC]

Supposedly only field grade or rack grade may have Hackberry, you can open the butt accessory trap door, hackberry stock would be solid.
http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/m1-garand/

 

[homers]

Supposedly only field grade or rack grade may have Hackberry, you can open the butt accessory trap door, hackberry stock would be solid.
http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/m1-garand/

Thanks. Given that info, looks like I have a new black walnut stock. Looks dry to me, I'll have to do my homework on how to finish it up.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thanks. Given that info, looks like I have a new black walnut stock. Looks dry to me, I'll have to do my homework on how to finish it up.

The CMP Walnut stocks don’t have a good finish on them. Strip the stock with paint stripper then Bone it to make it smooth. Then just do a BLO finish.

 

[mshootnit]

The main objective is to get it sealed up, metal locked home and zeroed.

An accurate, reliable rifle has its own beauty.

 

[homers]

The CMP Walnut stocks don’t have a good finish on them. Strip the stock with paint stripper then Bone it to make it smooth. Then just do a BLO finish.

Boy, lots of opinions on the net on what to do here. I'm leaning towards what you said here, but need some details as I've never done anything thing like this before. After I take the stock off, any paint stripper? Not sure what Bone is. Should I sand the stock down a bit before adding coats of BLO to it or not? Do you recommend doing anything between coats of BLO? How do you know how many coats of BLO? Anything applied after the last coat?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Boy, lots of opinions on the net on what to do here. I'm leaning towards what you said here, but need some details as I've never done anything thing like this before. After I take the stock off, any paint stripper? Not sure what Bone is. Should I sand the stock down a bit before adding coats of BLO to it or not? Do you recommend doing anything between coats of BLO? How do you know how many coats of BLO? Anything applied after the last coat?

Just about any brand of paint stripper will work, but I do avoid Citrus Strippers due to the fact that they just don't work that good.
You are right, there are a lot of Opinions on the internet , but a lot of it is just opinions. Some are from people that have done a stock or two and then there are a few that know what they are talking about.
Over the years I have taught several how to do stock work. I like to break things down into steps so that even the guy that has never worked on a stock can follow and get good results.
Boning is a way to smoothed the woods surface without sanding. It also compresses the surface making it a little harder and will resist small dings and dents.
Check out this Topic. It covers the refinish/ reiteration of two M1s. It covers Boning and how to do a BLO finish.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/a-little-road-trip-to-the-cmp-south-store.835226/

 

[kBob]

I have to wonder if CMP does anything when they come across a rifle stock that got "refinished" by a well meaning NCO for his units "Honor Guard." As a youth I saw a lot of M1s with stocks that were light honey colored and sealed with laquer or shellac for a very hard, shiny, and easy to wipe clean surface. In my own High school ROTC we swapped stocks around to get four with perfect metal and such wood and then replaced the GI slings with the MS Meyer White canvas and polished brass metal bits slings. We even hunted around for perfect butt plates so those rifles did not have the drill field scuffed butt plates to detract from their looks when at anything other than "Order Arms" The local Guard had the same sort of rifles for honor guard. Some schools had entire drill teams made up using such hard finished rifles.

These were service rifles and not "drill rifles" that had been neutered in permanent ways, so I rather imagine the CMP MUST get them on occasion. Do they pass these stocks on to the citizenry?

-kBob