´43 Springfield Garand

[benso]

OK folks - here it is:

[benso]

[benso]

[benso]

According to the SN this M1 receiver was made in may 1943. I checked the drawing numbers here and all main parts (receiver, bolt, trigger assy, gas cylinder) seem to match so far except the op rod which is a Winchester. I didn't spent a lot of money on this one - even in terms of European price conditions.
First issue with this Garand are the modifications made to comply with an old law which was valid until 2002 in Germany. The bayonet lug was cut off and the mag capacity was reduced to five rounds. Secondly the rear sight were limited to a maximum elevation of 200m. I also discovered a few other minor changes on the bolt but they´re not worth to mention. Please don´t think about it... The change on the reduced capacity was canceled and I hope the other modifications will not affect the shooting performance.
While cleaning and exploring the disassembled rifle for the first time I discovered this engraving on the front right leg of the receiver:



I exactly know what a few guys of you thinking right now about this but I didn't found welding signs on the receiver . As I said the SN and the drawing number are matching too. I wasn't able to determine from which year the fed ord label comes but after some research I guess the rifle or the parts were (re-)imported to the US (maybe from Korea as discussed in this topic although my receiver is labelled while the one on topic is not) and then reworked by fed ord. I´d say the system was re-parkerized there. In addition a new stock and barrel were installed. The barrel ist marked as follows:



Obviously the "3006" means the caliber and is no SN or part nr at all. So here is my first question: Does anyone know were those fed ord labelled barrels came from? I read something about a company called Citadel.

After the rifle was at fed ord we can only imagine how the story continued. Either it was sold in the US or it was shipped directly to Europe and found its way to Germany. I bought the old lady from a local gunsmith and he got it from a former hunter.
Maybe some of you guys have further infos on this garand and are able to confirm or deny some of the infos I researched so far.

Another problem I found is a strange issue with the op rod. As I mentioned the op rod on my M1 is made by WRA. Although the drawing nr is correct and matches to the nr´s on according SA parts of this period it seems that it won´t fit in other gas cylinders. I ordered two used gas cylinders to correct the missing bayonet lug but both do not work because the op rod front end is a little too big in diameter. Any ideas on this phenomenon?

I count on you, guys!

[RCS]

I have seen the FED ORD stamp on receivers before, that does not mean that were demill receiver halfs put back together. My old friend and long time collector in Toms River NJ has a really nice 49xxx rifle and the receiver is also marked FED ORD. Your stock also appears to be a commercial production and not military, but looks nice. The barrel marked FED ORD was no doubt a commercial barrel too.

Other rifles have had the 200 meter sight and you can replace the parts. It is important to know the correct dimensions of your operating rod piston and have some sort of plug gage to be able to find out the inside dimension of your extra gas cylinders, everything will be in inches from the manuals, which are important to purchase.

[TJT]

Federal Ordnance was known for "stubbing" M1 rifle barrels and then welding 1903A3 2-groove barrels onto the stub. Check your barrel to see if it is a 2 groove or 4 groove barrel. Federal Ordnance was a privately owned surplus arms dealer in the Los Angeles area of Southern California in the late '50's-early '60's. Some of their surplus was ok and legit and a LOT of it was just plain junk.
Use a micrometer to check the diameter of the op rod piston. It shouldn't be any larger than .526" nor smaller than .525". The inside of the gas cylinder should be between .528" to .532".
Jon

[Orlando]

Here is a possibiity

The gas cylinder on your rifle may have been worn out of spec so instead of replacing the cylinder someone installed a oversized piston to the op rod. This is the reason it will not fit into your other gas cylinders

[benso]

Thank you for input so far guys!

I have seen the FED ORD stamp on receivers before, that does not mean that were demill receiver halfs put back together. My old friend and long time collector in Toms River NJ has a really nice 49xxx rifle and the receiver is also marked FED ORD. Your stock also appears to be a commercial production and not military, but looks nice. The barrel marked FED ORD was no doubt a commercial barrel too.

Quite good to hear that! I hope I´ll be as lucky as your mate with my garand. Yeah the stock must be commercial. No stamps at all. But I won´t complain about it. The condition ist to good to be sad about the fact that it is not a surplus stock. At least the system is not wobbling and that is more than OK for me.

Other rifles have had the 200 meter sight and you can replace the parts.

I´ll order a replacement these days.

Federal Ordnance was known for "stubbing" M1 rifle barrels and then welding 1903A3 2-groove barrels onto the stub. Check your barrel to see if it is a 2 groove or 4 groove barrel.

Wow that sounds like a horror story. I´m not a gunsmith/armourer but I´m pretty sure that the barrel was not welded nor was the receiver. I also checked the grooves and believe me or not but I counted 8 grooves.

Federal Ordnance was a privately owned surplus arms dealer in the Los Angeles area of Southern California in the late '50's-early '60's. Some of their surplus was ok and legit and a LOT of it was just plain junk.

Lets hope I bought some of the more legit stuff. Every gun has to pass an technical inspection and gets test fired with heavier loaded rounds in Germany. It also have to match a reference gun wich a dealer or manufacturer has to leave at a German authority for firearms and ammunition. I trust in these people.

Use a micrometer to check the diameter of the op rod piston. It shouldn't be any larger than .526" nor smaller than .525". The inside of the gas cylinder should be between .528" to .532".
Jon

I checked it and they're definitely out of tolerance. If I´m right with the conversions the op rod piston is .530" while the gas cylinder has .543"

Here is a possibiity
The gas cylinder on your rifle may have been worn out of spec so instead of replacing the cylinder someone installed a oversized piston to the op rod. This is the reason it will not fit into your other gas cylinders

Sounds conclusive to me! Unfortunately it´s gonna be a hard challenge to get a replacement for the op rod or a matching gas cylinder here.

Honestly I was shooting the Garand today for the first time. First thing: I´m pleased with it because it worked just fine so far. I shot 80 rounds prone unsupported at the 100m range. One minor function fault - the bolt slipped over the next round. I just had to chamber the round manually. I don´t know how precise a average Garand should be but I have no reason to be sad about my first results. For example:



I´m really surprised by the trigger. It felt much better than my stock AR15 trigger!

What do you folks think about it?

Best regards, Ben

[TJT]

Looks like typical out-of-the-box M1 accuracy. By the way, I seriously doubt your barrel has 8 lands/grooves. Better recount them. There's a shop here called COLUMBUS MACHINE CO. and they can fix your op rod and bring it into spec but the international shipping costs may negate that option for you.
Jon

[RDS]

Fed. Ord. imported M1 Garands and M1 Carbines from the Philippines in the early 1990s. Your barrel was produced by Citadel. Citadel was a barrel maker in Calif. USA. I am not sure if they are still in business. Citadel produced M1 Garand barrels in 30-06 and 7.62 Nato. Citadel supplied barrels to Fed Ord., Arlington Ord., Sarco and the other big parts suppliers. Citadel made a decent barrel for the price they charged which was not a lot. Can you please post photos of how the 5 round conversion was done.

[benso]

Hi.

First: sorry, I had no time to make some pictures of the 5 round limitation.

Second: I'm still in progress with the op rod issue. I sent the rod to a shop which is selling genuine Garand parts such as gas cylinders. He told me that he has approx 50 gas cylinders in stock and that none of them fitted on my op rod. No surprise so far. I have to get my hands on a replacement op rod with correct tolerances now. It's going to be a very hard challenge here in middle Europe but I keep on searching.

[Orlando]

op rod pistons can be changed. Anyone over there do that type of work?

[benso]

Ok. Thanks for the information.

I just did a little research on op rod (piston) repairs and according to the offer on this
site a correction of the oversized piston tip down to the .5260 diameter would do be enough.

But sending in my op rod to these guys in the US would be an economic disaster. Unfortunately no option for me so far. The question is how they decrease the diameter? Lathe machine with the hole op rod on it? Hard to believe due to the "not centered contour" of the rod. But compared to the wing tip changes with costs around 50$ it could be possible. I'll keep on searching!

[Orlando]

You cant legally ship Garand parts into the US unless the person on other end has a Import license
I thought maybe you had someone in your country that did the work
The pistons are silver soldered on, they are removed and a correct size piston is installed

[benso]

Can you please post photos of how the 5 round conversion was done.

Finally I took a pic of the old 5 round limitation.



It seems that they welded in some piece of sheet metal.

I also was lucky enough to get my hands on a used replacement oprod with correct specs. I received it from a guy in GB. It is marked NM and has the stress relief cut. Drawing nr is 7790722-RA.



It passes the tilt test with the new gas cylinder just fine. Reliability test will be performed asap on the range.

I also added some other NM parts to the M1. The 200m limited rear sight was replaced with a NM .0595 hooded aperture. I also changed the old rear sight adjustment. It felt a little "worn out". The "new" rear sight is just as new. In addition to the NM rear sight I installed a NM .062 front sight.





The rifle looks like a "real" Garand has to look now! Original WITH the bayonet lug on the gas cylinder. I´m lucky so far.

Best regards, Ben