Scout mount for M1 Garand

[student]

Thinking about an Amega scout mount for my M1. It won't destroy the historical value as it only removes the front handguard. The purpose is to increase speed of target acquisition and accuracy, esp in low light. My questions are as follows. What type of sight might cowitness or at least come off easily in an emergency so irons can be used as a backup? Would a 1X or a magnified optic better fulfill my requirements? What are the drawbacks to this idea?

 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The Garand's iron sights are too low to cowitness with any sort of optic. Any optic you mount will block the view through the iron sights.

Most "tactical" sights are meant to cowitnes with AR-15 sights, which means their sight lines are quite high above their mounts. If you put one of these sights on a Garand, you'll likely find that they're too high above the bore for a good cheek weld.

 

[Ian]

I have an Amega rail on my M1, and like HTG says, the sights are too low to cowitness with anything. You'd want to put a cheek pad of some type on to give you a good cheek weld with just about any optic.

 

[smince]

I emailed Ultimak last year about an M1 mount. They said they had a rifle and were working on a prototype. If interested, contact them. Let them know that I'm not the only one who might buy one.

 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Hey Ian, how well does your Amega mount work, and what optic do you use with your Garand?

 

[Ian]

My mount seems to work pretty well, though it took a bit of filing to get it to fit. My M1 is a tanker, and it seems that the clearance between the barrel and oprod is tighter than spec, so I had to grind down the bottom bracket of the mount a bit.

I'm working on the rifle bit by bit as I can afford it, and I don't have an optic yet. I did some dry firing practice with a friend's el-cheapo red dot, and really liked the feel (though it could use a bit of a riser on the comb). The optics I have in mind are a Burris 2-7x pistol scope with the Ballistic Plex reticle (ie, with holdovers already on the reticle) or an EOTech 512. I keep waffling back and forth between the two - I want the magnification and holdovers of the Burris, but I also want the illuminated reticle of the EOTech. I really wish I could find an optic with both of those sets of features.

 

[blfuller]

Can someone post a picture of their Amega mount on a M1? I wanna see a real picture and not the one from Amega's website. How does this thing attach? Thanks.