A day with Hook and one accurate Garand

I spent the day Tuesday with a national treasure and great man, "Hook" Boutin. Hook put on my new Criterion barrel and proceeded to do all the tricks to accurize the Garand. First I got to watch an hour of an M1A being made to behave and all the tweaks for it He took the time to educate/explain to me exactly what each tweak was doing and stories behind most of them. Everything had to be perfect, not close, but PERFECT. When he was finished he said lets head out to the range and see how it shoots. On the way out he told me the first two shots were going to tell how accurate the barrel was going to be. We set up at 100 yds and Hook took the first shot. 1" high. The second shot was less than 1/8" high from dead center. He didn't even seem to get excited. But then he has punched dead centers out of targets since long before most of us were born. He told me to shoot it. I shot the next 6 and grouped them tight at 1 o'clock but I was 4-5 inches high. I always held a center sight picture but Hook holds a 6 o'clock so I had to hold a 6. I will get used to it. I learned so much in that short time. Afterwards we sat down in front of the shop and shot the BS about politics and CMP and those nifty Radiant heaters the Amish make. I hated to leave but I had a 5 hour drive to get home. Half way home I figured I needed to go back to have something on my Garand, anything, tweaked or inspected. What an absolute honor it was to talk to Hook and have him give my Garand the treatment it deserves.

JCG accuracy job or full house NMC treatment?

He first asked me what I wanted to do with it. I told him shoot it, shoot it a lot and there would be no JCG concerns of legality so just do whatever you want. He said he liked the way the barrel felt as he cleaned it. He said it just felt good. When he shot his bullseye he said it did not surprise him because he had eliminated everything that would be detrimental to the harmonics. It was now barrel, shooter and bullet. We were using my HXP ammo too. He had taken some of his own precise reloads but didn't bother using them once he saw it would shoot. Now I have to shoot it and I am going to learn the 6 o'clock hold. I did my own trigger work and Hook approved. It is a very smooth crisp 5lb. He loved the trigger and asked what I used to get it that way and chuckled when I told him it was finished with 3 micron fiber optic polish pads.