practicality of larger calibers in M1

The barrel wall thickness on a .30 caliber M1 is only slightly more than adequate towards the muzzle, and I have seen many, many M1 barrels bulged from the vicinity of the gas port forward. As a matter of fact, a customer sent me a CMP rifle a couple of weeks ago that the spline cuts had been filed deeper to eliminate external bulging in that area so that the gas cylinder could be installed and removed without undue difficulty. That is a very mickey mouse way of dealing with a barrel that should have been scrapped.

I know that some have had M1 barrels rebored up to .35 Whelen, and perhaps new barrels have been made in calibers above .30; but I caution against it and personally would not expose myself to various risks involved.

By the way,the larger bullets of the .35 Whelen bulk up in the clip so that it will only accept 7 rounds. I haven't run that test with .338 bullets, but expect that the same situation would exist. Not necessarily a problem, but something to be aware of.

Roland

I saw a scale .50bmg M1 Garand about 5 yrs ago. Clip was weird looking and held 5.

How about .458 magnum:

http://www.mccannindustries.com/rifl...458garand.html

I have re-barreled several in .308, which seem to me to have a "sharper" recoil. I have not yet done one in .270, but I shot one and was very impressed with it. Makes you think that Garand's original idea for a 7mm/.276 round was probably the best caliber - it held 10 rounds as I recall; however, the huge stocks of 30.06 ammo settled the caliber issue. dg

If the standard rifle had been adopted in 276 caliber what would have been done with the M1917A1 Browning and the long range 30M1 cartridge ? the
Army would not give that up for a 276 machine gun. The Browning M1918 BAR also in 30M1 cal plus any type of aircraft machine guns would not use
the 276 cal.

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Originally Posted by DRB

How about .458 magnum:

http://www.mccannindustries.com/rifl...458garand.html

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Yes, I am also aware of the McCann .458, but please note that this involves a custom barrel manufactured to suitable dimensions and a custom gas system to fit the new barrel. This is quite different from increasing the bore size on a standard profile M1 barrel.

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Originally Posted by DJG

I have re-barreled several in .308, which seem to me to have a "sharper" recoil. I have not yet done one in .270, but I shot one and was very impressed with it. Makes you think that Garand's original idea for a 7mm/.276 round was probably the best caliber - it held 10 rounds as I recall; however, the huge stocks of 30.06 ammo settled the caliber issue. dg

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Humm?? Seems to me that recoil of a .308 M1 is a bit softer than that of a .30-06, but I guess that is a subjective evaluation. I have built a number of M1's in .22-250, .243, .25-06, .270, .260 Rem, 7mm-08 and recoil is noticeably reduced in these chamberings. A .22-250 is really a lot of fun when shooting a string of rapid fire, and I used one in quite a few matches years ago in the NRA match rifle category.

The first customer I built a .22-250 for called a few weeks after he received his rifle to tell me that he had a problem with it. ---after a pause---he went on to say "I had you build that rifle for my wife--and now we're going to have to build another one". (putting another one in the budget was the only problem)

http://www.mccannindustries.com/rifl...nd/458blk6.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/imported/deleted.gif

50 cal garand?5 round clip? not so sure...
...
http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif

.50 Browning & M1 Garand clip on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

In my 35 it's hard to load more than 4 because of the ribs/quides inside the receiver that the necks go up against. I don't want to modify the receiver , but it could be ground out if you wanted to load 8 shot clip full. I use a Holbrook device (modified oprod catch) and load into a 5 round clip already in the rifle. All my elk kills only took one round anyway, the 250 grian Hornady soft point bowls em over. Just Another Old Doggy ,Don

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...70856110-1.jpg

Roland: Do you make the barrels or get them somewhere? This is a project I'd like to try myself. Thanks, dg

I cant understand why someone would do that to finest rifle ever made,when you can find a Browning BAR in most all calibers and who cares what you do to one of them:)

Cary

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Originally Posted by goo

.50 Browning & M1 Garand clip on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Goo-

from what I remember, the clip was not your standard enbloc clip. As I said, the receiver was homemade and a .50bmg barrel was mounted to it. There was no front handguard, and the gascylinder was really really weird looking. The rounds were held in by a thick bent piece of shaped tin. It did not pop out when the rounds were fired. I was very skeptical to even be near it, but I saw it fired, and it work. I personally did not shoot it. By the way, the oprod was on top of the barrel, sorta like an FAL.


MIke

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Originally Posted by cary m2a

I cant understand why someone would do that to finest rifle ever made,when you can find a Browning BAR in most all calibers and who cares what you do to one of them:)

Cary

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for a BAR affecinado what you just said is just as sacriligous as rechambering an M1 is to you. Go Figure:rolleyes:

I'm Sorry .It was the new BAR hunting rifle not the B.A.R. God NO.Thankyou for calling me out on that,need to be more clear when I get worked up.

Thank you TDH

Cary

I would like to see a barrel in 7.5X55 even thogh it would be limited to 7 rounds.How about 6.5 X 55 Swede? Will

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Originally Posted by DJG

Roland: Do you make the barrels or get them somewhere? This is a project I'd like to try myself. Thanks, dg

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I machine the barrels from Douglas premium blanks. However, I don't sell my custom barrels except as a component of custom rifles I build.

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Originally Posted by Will Durant

I would like to see a barrel in 7.5X55 even thogh it would be limited to 7 rounds.How about 6.5 X 55 Swede? Will

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I've had requests for 6.5x55 and find that the cumulative effect of the slightly larger case heads bulk up so that 8 rounds won't fit in the clip. The .260 provides similar ballistics in a case that is "Garand friendly".

The customer might accept that he could only load 7 rounds of 6.5x55, etc., but I am not willing to put out a product that will not operate as designed due to issues that might arise with original owner, or, more likely, subsequent owners.

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Originally Posted by cary m2a

I cant understand why someone would do that to finest rifle ever made,when you can find a Browning BAR in most all calibers and who cares what you do to one of them:)

Cary

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I build all manner of custom M1's to suit customer's desires primarily because they are highly regarded due to design and quality. No commercial semi auto high powered rifle compares favorably to the Garand in terms of ruggedness and reliablilty; and few hunting rifles of any kind are capable of better accuracy that a finely tuned Garand.

Some select the Garand for sentimental reasons, but most of my custom rifles are built for practical use. I have built a number of them specifically for hunters from Hawaii to Alaska, and many points more or less in between. Some are used in tactical shooting competitions, and some are in use by law enforcement agencies in Southern California and in Hawaii.

Those law enforcement agencies could have bought much less expensive weapons than my custom Garands, but selected them for the reasons stated, plus the tactical advantage of not having a magazine protruding from the bottom of the rifle.

I feel that it honors, not demeans, the heritage of the M1 to keep some of them up to date with latest techniques and keep them effectively performing tasks even beyond what the inventor might have imagined.

I do make a serious effort to not "destroy" rifles that should be preserved due to rarity or condition.

Several years ago I flatly refused to rebuild a very minty and correct WWII M1 for a doctor who first insisted, "It is my rifle, and I'll do whatever I want with it." My response was, "yes, you can, but I won't be a party to its destruction, so I'll just return it to you as received." I went on to say that I feel that we are not so much "owners" of historical rifles or other artifacts, but custodians who should enjoy them on their merits and preserve them for posterity. The doctor called me back a few hours later and said he had come to concur with me and that I should preserve his rifle in its original condition and furnish all components to build the custom rifle he desired.

And I too shall concur with you. It does make sense to use the best to make a better rifle, as long as like you say, to not destroy the good ones. I'm glad to see that you watch out for the history that has been and is being left to us with every passing vet that shouldered these rifles.

Thank You

Cary