Alternate calibers for the M1 Garand - Page 2

Pogo · 01-12-2019, 11:48 AM

I wouldn't change it. The 30-06is a great cartridge

S. Fisher · 01-14-2019, 03:02 PM

Springfield armory already made a m1 garand chambered in 308, it was a collectors addition, you can still find them offered for sale on GB

10 Bears · 01-14-2019, 09:41 PM

There is also a chamber insert that will convert .30-06 to .308.
Don't know how well it will work in the Garand though.
Not recommended for semi-autos.

thefundamentalist · 01-14-2019, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10 Bears

There is also a chamber insert that will convert .30-06 to .308.
Don't know how well it will work in the Garand though.
Not recommended for semi-autos.

Didn't it have a retention problem? On some rifles after extended firing the insert would get ejected with the spent case. The next shot would have been BAD!

500grains · 01-14-2019, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baboon

IIRC someone was building them in .458 Min mag at one point.

Yes, but that required extensive modifications, including milling in the receiver. That fellow died a few years ago.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...in-mag-garand/

10 Bears · 01-14-2019, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thefundamentalist

Didn't it have a retention problem? On some rifles after extended firing the insert would get ejected with the spent case. The next shot would have been BAD!

Yep, that was their main problem. Retention!

baboon · 01-14-2019, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 500grains

Yes, but that required extensive modifications, including milling in the receiver. That fellow died a few years ago.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...in-mag-garand/

So you have seen or heard about the BMF activator right?
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bmf-activator
I know the daughter of the inventor of that. Her father invented a few other things as well. Any way talking with her husband a few years back he say he thinks he has a magazine conversion that his FIL made for the M1 Garand. So I'm like bring it on I'd like to see what you have. Turned out that it was a conversion to make the Garand a bolt action. My only guess is back when he was working on it Garands were cheap & plentiful. It does take a shitload of weight out of the Garand & semi auto rifle were frowned upon at one point for hunting.

thefundamentalist · 01-15-2019, 11:47 AM

I sent a PM to the OP who's behind the barrel thread. He said he should have his first batch of 6.5x55 barrels in soon. Barrel alone is $275, for $325-350 he has a kit with other goodies.

500grains · 01-15-2019, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baboon

So you have seen or heard about the BMF activator right?
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bmf-activator
I know the daughter of the inventor of that. Her father invented a few other things as well. Any way talking with her husband a few years back he say he thinks he has a magazine conversion that his FIL made for the M1 Garand. So I'm like bring it on I'd like to see what you have. Turned out that it was a conversion to make the Garand a bolt action. My only guess is back when he was working on it Garands were cheap & plentiful. It does take a shitload of weight out of the Garand & semi auto rifle were frowned upon at one point for hunting.

I thought the ATF got a hard-on for those crank attachments.

Never saw the bolt action garand. I am aware that at one time a guy was converting 1903s to accept a 20 round BAR magazine. I think that would be a nice setup.

Another guy was chopping 1903 actions and making them into a bolt action .45 acp. I guess it would be ok for rabbit hunting.

dinkydow · 01-15-2019, 04:02 PM

Converting an M1 Garand to .308 is easy. Just re-barrel it with a .308 bbl. Cut the headspace in and install the "spacer" in the mag well. I have done many of them. I have a .308 Win Match M1 with a heavy Douglass bbl and the entire rifle set up for NM competition. It is a tack driver. It NEVER sees 7.62 Nato ammo as some of it just won't allow the bolt to go into battery. THAT, is not uncommon when chambered to .308 Win Match specs. Same for M-14's chambered that way also.

The M14's are just more accurate though.

cerberus · 01-15-2019, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10 Bears

There is also a chamber insert that will convert .30-06 to .308.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thefundamentalist

Didn't it have a retention problem? On some rifles after extended firing the insert would get ejected with the spent case.

I think they were supposed to be installed with the NON-permanent type of Perm-A-Tex. I believe that was the cure.
I shoot a saboted .223 projectile in .30/30-.308-.30-06. In the .30-06, it leaves the muzzle at a little over 4000 f/s. One of the major ammo companies used to make a load like this called the 'ACCELERATOR'.
cerberus

Bluntforce · 01-15-2019, 09:50 PM

Bruce Canfield covered the Navy NM M1s conversion to .308 and. The subsequent problems in A COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE M1 AND THE M1 CARBINE.

dinkydow · 01-15-2019, 10:13 PM

I have a lot of rounds through my Supermatch M1 Garand in .308 Win Match. Never missed a beat. I used to fire it in some of the matches at Camp Perry, Camp Grayling and at Quantico, etc...because Uncle Sam would furnish the national match and later the special purpose sniper ammo in .308 win match to the shooters.

JD Miller · 01-16-2019, 01:16 PM

https://youtu.be/8Q5jwtj-U8I

Legion489 · 01-24-2019, 04:04 PM

Well since there are several factory cartridges based on the .30-06 (.25-06, .270 Win., .280 Rem, 35 Whelen to name a few) and a few dozen wildcats based on the full length .30-06, plus only God knows (well, God and Redding Reloading) factory/wildcats based on the .308 Win/7.62x51mm, which was based on the 1888 7.9x51mm aka 8x51mm "Mauser". Add in all the OTHER cartridges with 12 mm head sizes (6.5x55 Mauser, 7mm Mauser, 7.65 Mauser, 8mm Mauser, 6mm Rem, and a few hundred more) and you got a couple dozen or maybe several hundred factory cartridges to choose from.

Peter Paul Mauser actually had nothing to do with either the 7.9x51mm or 7.9x57mm - aka 8mm Mauser cartridges. They were called that by Americans after the 1898 Mauser rifle and NEVER called 8mm Mauser in Germany or in Europe in case you were wondering. The 7.9x57mm was designed by the German Rifle Commission of 1888 and froze Paul Mauser out of both the planning AND the manufacturing of the 1888 rifle! This pissed Paul off so bad he designed the 1891/92/93/95/98 Mauser rifles to pay them back. Makes you wonder how the world would have turned out if they hadn't screwed him over! The 7.62x61mm aka .30-06 cartridge was 61mm long because American smokeless powders were not as good as German powders so they had to make the case longer to get the same velocities as the Germans did.

Just so you will know, the FIRST smokeless powder cartridge in America was the 1892 .30 Gov't/US/USA (aka .30-40 Krag and yes I have .30-40 Krag cartridges factory head stamped with all of those) and the 1895 .30-30 Win was the first COMMERCIAL smokeless powder cartridge loaded in America. Other cartridge were loaded with smokeless powder, like the .38-40 Win in 1895 as well, but Colt never warranted the SAA for smokeless until 1902.

The Swiss also invented both smokeless powder and jacketed bullets FIRST, but being secretive in both banking and military issues, they did not feel any need to let Germany on the west and Russia on the east they had a military advantage over them. France (don't laugh, although I know it is hard not to) claimed THEY invented both smokeless powder and jacketed bullets and got the credit for them. Look how that worked out for them.

Back in the day, the Pederson Rifle was offered by various companies with spare .270 Win., and probably other cartridge barrels as an option. If you wish for the "good old days of cheap surplus rifles", get an inflation generator and look what that rifle/pistol/whatever would cost in 2019 dollars.

01-12-2019, 11:48 AM	#16
Pogo Mystic Knight of the Sea Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great Swamp Posts: 81,980	I wouldn't change it. The 30-06is a great cartridge __________________ .................................................. ....................................… *We have met the enemy, and he is us!*

01-14-2019, 03:02 PM	#17
S. Fisher Member Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Interior Alaska Posts: 477	Springfield armory already made a m1 garand chambered in 308, it was a collectors addition, you can still find them offered for sale on GB __________________ A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

01-15-2019, 04:02 PM	#25
dinkydow Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 96,486	Converting an M1 Garand to .308 is easy. Just re-barrel it with a .308 bbl. Cut the headspace in and install the "spacer" in the mag well. I have done many of them. I have a .308 Win Match M1 with a heavy Douglass bbl and the entire rifle set up for NM competition. It is a tack driver. It NEVER sees 7.62 Nato ammo as some of it just won't allow the bolt to go into battery. THAT, is not uncommon when chambered to .308 Win Match specs. Same for M-14's chambered that way also. The M14's are just more accurate though. __________________ Our forefathers would have already been shooting...by now. "Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." "Violence of action means the unrestricted use of speed,strength, surprise and aggression to achieve total dominance against your enemy...any fighting technique is useless unless you totally commit to violence of action." Burning huts in commy vills worldwide since 1968

01-15-2019, 09:50 PM	#27
Bluntforce slug Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Allturd State Posts: 21,883	Bruce Canfield covered the Navy NM M1s conversion to .308 and. The subsequent problems in A COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE M1 AND THE M1 CARBINE. __________________

01-16-2019, 01:16 PM	#29
JD Miller Fake Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: PNW Posts: 39,218	https://youtu.be/8Q5jwtj-U8I __________________ .......

01-14-2019, 09:41 PM	#18
10 Bears Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: E-Da-How Posts: 137,846	There is also a chamber insert that will convert .30-06 to .308. Don't know how well it will work in the Garand though. Not recommended for semi-autos.

01-15-2019, 11:47 AM	#23
thefundamentalist Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 10,887	I sent a PM to the OP who's behind the barrel thread. He said he should have his first batch of 6.5x55 barrels in soon. Barrel alone is $275, for $325-350 he has a kit with other goodies.

01-15-2019, 10:13 PM	#28
dinkydow Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 96,486	I have a lot of rounds through my Supermatch M1 Garand in .308 Win Match. Never missed a beat. I used to fire it in some of the matches at Camp Perry, Camp Grayling and at Quantico, etc...because Uncle Sam would furnish the national match and later the special purpose sniper ammo in .308 win match to the shooters.

01-24-2019, 04:04 PM	#30
Legion489 Dud Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 472	Well since there are several factory cartridges based on the .30-06 (.25-06, .270 Win., .280 Rem, 35 Whelen to name a few) and a few dozen wildcats based on the full length .30-06, plus only God knows (well, God and Redding Reloading) factory/wildcats based on the .308 Win/7.62x51mm, which was based on the 1888 7.9x51mm aka 8x51mm "Mauser". Add in all the OTHER cartridges with 12 mm head sizes (6.5x55 Mauser, 7mm Mauser, 7.65 Mauser, 8mm Mauser, 6mm Rem, and a few hundred more) and you got a couple dozen or maybe several hundred factory cartridges to choose from. Peter Paul Mauser actually had nothing to do with either the 7.9x51mm or 7.9x57mm - aka 8mm Mauser cartridges. They were called that by Americans after the 1898 Mauser rifle and NEVER called 8mm Mauser in Germany or in Europe in case you were wondering. The 7.9x57mm was designed by the German Rifle Commission of 1888 and froze Paul Mauser out of both the planning AND the manufacturing of the 1888 rifle! This pissed Paul off so bad he designed the 1891/92/93/95/98 Mauser rifles to pay them back. Makes you wonder how the world would have turned out if they hadn't screwed him over! The 7.62x61mm aka .30-06 cartridge was 61mm long because American smokeless powders were not as good as German powders so they had to make the case longer to get the same velocities as the Germans did. Just so you will know, the FIRST smokeless powder cartridge in America was the 1892 .30 Gov't/US/USA (aka .30-40 Krag and yes I have .30-40 Krag cartridges factory head stamped with all of those) and the 1895 .30-30 Win was the first COMMERCIAL smokeless powder cartridge loaded in America. Other cartridge were loaded with smokeless powder, like the .38-40 Win in 1895 as well, but Colt never warranted the SAA for smokeless until 1902. The Swiss also invented both smokeless powder and jacketed bullets FIRST, but being secretive in both banking and military issues, they did not feel any need to let Germany on the west and Russia on the east they had a military advantage over them. France (don't laugh, although I know it is hard not to) claimed THEY invented both smokeless powder and jacketed bullets and got the credit for them. Look how that worked out for them. Back in the day, the Pederson Rifle was offered by various companies with spare .270 Win., and probably other cartridge barrels as an option. If you wish for the "good old days of cheap surplus rifles", get an inflation generator and look what that rifle/pistol/whatever would cost in 2019 dollars.