M1 Garand Blue Sky Imports....questions???

[limpetmine]

Re-barrel away.

I have Blue sky carbine for many years now. I bought as a shooter and it does just that. It is a Standard products gun with an Underwood barrel. The barrel i straight. I had a dealer offer me 400. for it sight unseen several years ago. I came from Korea.
I have aKorean iport Garand that I had to rebarrel several years ago.I believe the importer was Excel in Mass. i had no idea that it might be illegal to rebarrel an imprt rifle. i t was rebarreled because the threads to hold the gas cylinder lock were worn out and the gas cylinder kept flying off the rifle.
Peter

[joem]

A few months ago I picked up a Inland (blu-sky) marked for $240.00. Shoots great but the stock is kinda dinged up and that's my shooter. It was in the shipping box with the Blue sky instruction book.

[mightythor101]

For those of you who do not know the story of "Blue Sky Imports", you need to.

There was a sharp businessman, long ago in a far away land, who discovered that the South Koreans were interested in selling their old rifles, in order to get some new stuff for their military. They had lots of rifles, both m1 garands, and m1 carbines,... and m2 carbines. Lots of spare parts as well,...... just like when the U.S. government sells military aircraft to a foreign country, or "lends" them to them, they also give lots of spare parts, so the planes can be maintained and serviced. Same thing with weapons...... so, I just read that someone said that "if you find a blue sky import, it will always have the original barrel in it"...... bla bla bla. WRONG. It can, and will, have a hodge podge of parts. many had shitty worn out barrels on the garands, and yes, many of THOSE, were original barrels to those receivers. Any of you that have been in the U.S. military, or most other military's as well, know how gun cleaning after a day at the range or in the field goes. They are all completely disassembled, and all the bolts go in one pile, all of the trigger groups in another pile, the stocks in another pile, and the barreled receivers in another pile. One guy or two guys clean each of the piles,... and then when everything is clean, they are reassembled. So.... that being said,...... think about it. 30 or 40 bolts in a pile.... some Winchester, some Springfield, some International Harvester, etc...... do you think they are all sitting around, trying to match them up by maker's marks, or get them all slapped back together, so they can lock them back up in the armory and get the hell out of there?? Not rocket science folks.....

Next, "Blue Sky"....... and back to the sharp businessman. The sharp businessman didnt have enough money to buy X number of M1 Garands and carbines all at once, so he borrowed money from a bank,... knowing that they were worth a **** load of money, proved it to the bank officer, who granted the loan, and he made the deal. When some sharp U.S. CONGRESSMEN FOUND OUT,...... they started scheming on how to profit off of that huge profit margin, and it just wasnt fair, that some businessman, not in THEIR FRATERNITY,.... could pull off something like that, and they came up with "These are lend lease weapons.... they were GIVEN to the South Korean Government, on loan,... and so they do not have the right to sell them. If they do not want them, they can give them back, but they can not just "sell" them to some American Businessman", so, they formed "Blue Sky Corp", and when the rifles landed on the docks in California and were ready to go through U.S. Customs, they froze them on the docks and tied them up in paperwork issues. The bank wanted it's money back, and those Congressmen put leverage on the bank, so that it would demand the money back from this guy, who had already spent it by giving it to the South Korean Government. He had to sell them fast, on the thought that he was going to loose everything if he didnt, he didnt have the millions of dollars he owed the bank, who was demanding or calling in the loan. So, "Blue Sky" bailed the poor bastard out. He ended up making a LITTLE money,... and those Congressmen then shifted the laws or rulings they had made to freeze them on the dock and not let them be imported,... then THEY turned around and sold them.

THAT IS THE BLUE SKY STORY. Blue Sky screwed the little guy, and made a **** ton of money themselves. Dont believe me? Ask some of the old time gun importers or gun dealers who dealt in military firearms. They will tell you the same story. I was just researching something, and saw this old thread, so thought I would enlighten you guys on what Blue Sky really means. Blue Skies for a few rich elitist pigs......... death to a small time, hard working, scrounging guy.

[browningautorifle]

Any of you that have been in the U.S. military, or most other military's as well, know how gun cleaning after a day at the range or in the field goes. They are all completely disassembled, and all the bolts go in one pile, all of the trigger groups in another pile, the stocks in another pile, and the barreled receivers in another pile. One guy or two guys clean each of the piles,... and then when everything is clean, they are reassembled

Actually I spent 35 years in the infantry and I NEVER saw that happen, not from recruit training to mature troops in the battalions. Everyone was responsible for their OWN weapon. Even machine guns were done by their crews, although stripped into a wash basin perhaps, they would be done by the men responsible for them. I didn't serve in a closet either. Lots of different armies and countries and places...so that part of the story is bunk.

The rest, well, we weren't as in the dark as you think. That's why this thread died 7 LONG years ago...we usually leave them that way and start a fresh one...

[BEAR]

Actually I spent 35 years in the infantry and I NEVER saw that happen, not from recruit training to mature troops in the battalions. Everyone was responsible for their OWN weapon. Even machine guns were done by their crews, although stripped into a wash basin perhaps, they would be done by the men responsible for them.

Hear, Hear! My thoughts exactly.

BEAR

Rifleman's Creed

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel.

I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

[Bob Seijas]

We did it at Ft. Dix in 1960... two guys would collect everybody's trigger group, take them into the latrine and blast them with blazing hot water, then come back and pass out the totally clean and air dried assemblies.

[fjruple]

I remember when the Blue Sky M1 Garands came back in to the US. I remember going up to Navy arms and going through just about everyone of their M1s to pick out those that could be rebuilt into serviceable rifles. I got ten friends together who wanted M1 and explained to them the more we purchase the cheaper the price. I also told the that if they purchase a brand new Douglas M1 barrel 30-06 or 308 Winchester I would put it on their rifle or rifles free of charge. I went through all of their M1s and picked out 20 M1 Garand rifles that other than the barrels and the springs looked pretty good. The barrels on all them were toast, very worn and unserviceable, several of which a loose 30 caliber bullet fell all the way out of the bore after being dropped into the barrel. All of the M1s were reparkerized to make them look "new". Of the 20 M1 Garands that I purchased 15 were rebarreled with new Douglas M1 barrels. I purchased 4 of the M1 Garands for myself, a Winchester, a H&R, a real early 4 digit Springfield and a International Harvester. I rebarreled two rifles to 308 Winchester and two to 30-06. Eventually all were ungraded to National Match standards. I still have these four M1 Garands and several others that I purchased over the years. When I purchased these M1s the word was that these M1s came from the South Korean basic training units and had excessive wear on the muzzles from the over use of steel cleaning rods. I seem to remember that I paid about $125.00 US dollars for each of the twenty rifles and the new barrels were $150.00 uninstalled for the 15 individuals who wanted new barrels installed which I installed free for the purchasers. as I remember the overall condition of the rifles were not too bad with very little rust or pitting but the barrels without exception were toast.

Cheers

--fjruple

[browningautorifle]

We did it at Ft. Dix in 1960

Neat, I did hear you speak of it before. Seems it more that a bit isolated though. That way you're not responsible for your own weapon...how professional.

[aspen80]

Hi All,

An interesting subject that could possibly be solved.
I wrote to one of the members on the House Appropriations Committee, the one that controls this importation legislation requesting that that part of the import law ( Imprinting) be retracted before the return of the next batch of Garands took place.
I don't know if it will end a good result but if you don't say anything we will continue to have imprinting. I know that one will not make a difference but many might.
My two cents worth!

[Bob Seijas]

"you're not responsible for your own weapon"

True enough, but these were "school rifles" and not what you would be issued after Basic. Some were truly awful, one guy's was held together with tape because the trigger group would not lock up. Mine was not bad, but I'm still astonished that I qualified Expert with such a beater. We had no idea that things like that mattered, every trigger group was the same to use.