M1 Tanker Garand purchase

[vortec_cruiser]

This is my first post to this board, so please bear with me.
I am looking at an original M1 Garand, converted to a .308 Carbine by Federal Ordnance in CA around 1980 (7.62 NATO). Is this rifle worth the $900 asking price. Seller says he has put 100 rounds through it to verify accuracy and function.

 

[musher]

That would be middling high for a natural born garand. Seems quite overpriced for a Federal Ordnance tanker.

I would take a very close look at the receiver to see if it is a reweld. If it's not, I might give $450 or so for the curiosity factor. If it is a reweld, I would only buy it for the parts value. Since the barrel and oprod related parts have been hacked, it wouldn't be worth much.


musher

 

[ReadyontheRight]

First of all...There ain't no such thing as a "Tanker" Garand. There are exactly TWO surviving Garands created to serve as test subjects for tank duty.

There are however, a lot of Garands converted to a shorter "carbine" version. Many of these were re-welded receivers that had been destroyed in the 1950s and 1960s and re-welded by some manufacturers and sold as "Tanker Garands". This may not be one of those, but it's certainly not anything made for the US military.

IMHO - These Tanker Garands, even when made by a trustworthy manufacturer, are little more than fun little plinkers. They are not much lighter, they are not any more accurate, you cannot shoot them in competition and there are stories of them bending op rods sooner than a standard issue Garand.

For $900 you can buy a VERY NICE REAL GARAND. www.odcmp.com www.garandguy.com or your local gun show. A regular Garand will hold its value and you can also shoot it in a high power competition. For $900, you should get a great gun...not a questionable Bubba gun.

 

[vortec_cruiser]

Thanks for the honest answers. I guess I'll be looking at something else.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Vortec - Please check out a regular, GI issue Garand. There is truly not a better rifle out there.

www.odcmp.com
www.garandguy.com

The M1 Garand has some trade-offs - you need to use the right 30-06 ammo, it's hard to mount a scope, it's heavy...

however...it has great sights, you can shoot it in many competitions (to make yourself a better shooter), the ammo is still relatively inexpensive and every M1 Garand has a SOUL.

 

[Oohrah]

I own one and I love it. It started out with a total sewer for
a barrel that lacked clear cut rifling. It was a Bluesky Import
not a reweld, but a very bad barrel. Thought the conversion
would be neat, and it was! Absolutly no problems with the
exception of some easy corrected looseness in the barrel to
gas cyclinder spline. Left it in the 30-06 caliber. Much more
accurate than other carbine length rifles. Little flashy at the
muzzle, but very reliable and a handy size. Never have had a
malfunction with it. Had this done more than 30 years back.
The company I believe is no more, but did an excellent job.
Personally I believe if it is in the condition mine is, the price
is fair. There is no comparison to the accuracy of the two
SKSs or the Mini 14 that I have, and bullet performance in the
18" barrel is higher the the mentioned three. No operating rod
problems as someone mentioned, but use only GI spec loads in it.
Considering a forward mount Scout type scope some day, but
hesitate because the short sight radius seems to fit decline in
eye sight. Fun rifle, that bellers some. Enough to get attention
at the range to someone who has never seen one.

 

[AZ Jeff]

Based on the markings on the receiver, this appears to be some sort of a commercial aftermarket reciever, and NOT a GI receiver, rewelded or otherwise. (I am a bit confused, because the heel of the reciever looks real GI, but the side under the elevation knob looks commercial. In order to make a final determination, I would need to see the reciever removed from the stock.)

A GOOD running "T-26" replica (aka "Tanker") should fetch about the same as a regular run-of-the mill Garand. Key words there are "good running", as many "Tanker" conversions are NOT able to function reliably.

If I was shopping for such an item, I would insist on test firing the piece with some full clips of M2 ball ammo or equivalent before plunking my money down. Assuming the thing fires, feeds, and ejects 2 or 3 clips full of ball ammo, then I would probably declare it a functioning arm, and pay accordingly.

That particular Tanker, if using an aftermarket reciever, may be worth slightly less, as the non-GI recievers are generally felt to be inferior in quality to the actual government procured receivers.

 

[Oohrah]

I have one with a GI recevier by Fed Ord. Love it!
Handy size, muzzle a bit flashy, but shoots great. Had
it since late 80s.

 

[Rexster]

In case any of the younger readers do not know, Federal Ordnance was a private company, with an official-sounding name.

 

[GarandOwner]

every M1 Garand has a SOUL.

I love it

 

[DocPaladin]

I have a Tanker in 7.62NATO mf'd by Springfield. It functions well the only problem, as someone else mentioned, is that it needs to be fed mil spec ammo. Mine won't accept a full 8 rd clip with .308. it will accept and fire 7 rds of .308, though. It handles a full 8 rd clip of 7.62 fine. This in the only drawback of mine. Otherwise, its great. I have a forward mounted Eotech and yes, it gets looks from others at the range.

 

[iamkris]

My one and only experience with a "Tanker" hack job was that it was cosmetically quite pretty...

...and would fire approximately 2 rounds and jam. At least it did it consistently though.

 

[nwilliams]

There's a "tanker" for sale at a local shop where I live for $695 in so-so condition.

Personally from all I've heard about tankers I would avoid them, but I'm sure they work for some people.

 

[dafitch]

Cabela's in Wheeling, WV has a Federal Ord. variant in the gun library. They've had it for a long time, and I've been mildly interested. It's marked $989, which lowered my interest. It has an SA barrel, and appears to be well put together. It didn't feel like a thousand dollar rifle though. I really knew nothing about it until now, but had always wondered the history.

 

[Avenger29]

In case any of the younger readers do not know, Federal Ordnance was a private company, with an official-sounding name.

I've always heard stay away from Federal Ordnance and other commercial cast recievers (although Springfield Armory, INC receivers are fine.)

You can get a stripped GI reciever for $225 from Orion 7 Enterprises

And get the rest of the parts and have it built into a "tanker" rifle...or a standard rifle. New production barrels aren't too badly priced.

 

[musher]

Looking at the photos of this example, it appears that the receiver, or at least the tail end of it, started life as a usgi product. I wouldn't be suprised to find out that Fed Ord rewelded the thing and ground their name into the side.