Shopping for a BM 59

[barnbwt]

^^^Indeed.

The BM59 interested me in the first place because it seems to posess a combination of characteristics unique even in modern rifles:

Light weight (for a .308 Semi)
Short Length (especially folded)
Long barrel for its length (19")
High-powered cartridge (i.e. not a mid-range "Assault Rifle," but a "Battle Rifle")

Few knock the powerful cartridges of the old main rifles, and their ability to reach out far beyond "plausible" engagement distances. But most all agree the shortcomings of these rifles are their size and heft, which negate the advantages. This rifle seems to address those problems with the lightened receiver and folding stock, while maintaining a 19" barrel that can exploit most of what the .308 has to offer. It almost fills the same type of role as a .308 bullpup (or maybe I'm just overthinking this )

At any rate, I find the concept very cool, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good BM59 or a similar platform (if one exists)

TCB

 

[Orlando]

http://forum.shuffsparkerizing.com/forumdisplay.php?9-The-Shuff-s-Mini-G


http://forum.shuffsparkerizing.com/...BM59E-and-other-Beretta-Garand-variants-Forum

 

[barnbwt]

Yeah, yeah, old thread warning...

I recently completed (at last) and test fired my spanking rebuilt BM59

-Original Springfield receiver ('Dec '42-ish)
-Opened up the magwell for the magazine and forward mag catch
-Cut down the recoil spring to 18"
-Had a smith install and finish-ream the barrel

Initial tests (with the cheapest, crummiest ammo that was all that was available at the time; Tula ) had the action hesitant to unlock and cycle cleanly, lots of '1/2 rotations' of the bolt with some trouble to get the op rod back. After a dozen or so rounds, things loosened up and it was actually reliable for the remainder of the 40 rounds, although...

The ammo was pretty awful stuff. I actually had two ruptured cases, although at such a low pressure that nothing particularly dramatic occurred (ear, eye, and hand protection is a must for all test fires, though, at the least). Unlike every casehead failure I've heard of, this stuff split inside the extractor groove, and exhibited limited bulging around the crack (non-ruptured cases exhibited no visible deformation --the chamber was correctly cut). My thinking is these cases were both softer and a good deal thinner than any 308 I've yet come across. One dud in the 40 rounds, too

Recoil was unbelievably soft for a 308, just slightly more than the AR70 in 223; the muzzle tri-comp is incredible. As I went to fire the first round, it finally occurred to me that the square, narrow, steel buttplate of the lightweight rifle might not be the most pleasant thing in the world...but the rifle is actually quite pleasant to shoot offhand, or from a bench, even (prone might be a bit uncomfortable, though)

TCB

 

[Jeremy2171]

Nice! Oddly enough I too now have a BM59..I hope to pick it up next week...

And since you mentioned AR70... I just installed a new AR70/90 barrel on it for the 1/7 twist. Can you believe that the Italians STILL don't chrome the bores on the 70/90??

 

[barnbwt]

Where's your dust cover, son? Is that a Turbothis receiver, or one of Cold Steel's doohickeys? Can't even see the spotwelds for the rails; very good quality

Also; where are you getting AR70/90 parts? Turbo's got muzzle brakes for 922r and that's about it, and I think someone is now doing an ACE stock conversion block you can scab onto the back end for a folder/AR stock (barf on the latter), but that's about it as far as I know.

TCB

 

[rcmodel]

Can you believe that the Italians STILL don't chrome the bores on the 70/90??

Why would they need too?

They haven't been in a shooting war since WWII.

And they lost that one big time!

rc

 

[barnbwt]

Because lots of their allies in Africa use the gun and would probably appreciate rust inhibiting features...

TCB

 

[Jeremy2171]

It's a turbothis....

dustcover is on standby as I'm going to add a rail to it..it will be fitted after that.

 

[dprice3844444]

try here for bm59
http://garandguy.com/

 

[aasbra]

My Dad has a select fire Beretta BM 59. It is lots of fun to fire and one of my favorite MGs that I have had a chance to handle. I have found his to feed well with military FMJ ammo and it seems pretty accurate, although I haven't had a chance to fire it from a bench at the range on paper. Unfortunately out of reach for my gun budget.