Italian 7.62mm Garand

[Bob Seijas]

Attachment 42706Attachment 42705Attachment 42704Attachment 42707

[bearrowland]

Thanks for pics Bob! I learn something new about Garands almost every day. I"d love to see a Beretta in person.

[Bob Seijas]

Attachment 42765Attachment 42764Attachment 42766Here's an interesting Beretta: the BM69 semi-auto.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

It would be interesting to know the full story on that one.

The magazine looks suspiciously like the M-14 type, not the significantly different BM-59 pattern.

See here for pic:

Magazine, Model BM-59, .308 Cal, 20 Round, Parkerzied - Excellent Gun Parts | 873970 | Numrich Gun Parts

[Bob Seijas]

I hate good eyes I couldn't find the BM magazine, so stuck an M14 in for the picture. It doesn't actually fit. Found it later, here it is. It was featured in the Spring 2009 GCA Journal with the full story -- really interesting. It was the first semi-auto version of the assault rifle.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

On the subject of M-14 mags in BMs.....

Back in "good old days", I owned an interesting beast.

It was a Garand converted to a version of the early BM-59 spec.

However, it used M-14 mags, BUT, these were held in place by a mag catch that had the distinctive "PB" mark. It was a SHORT little beast and lacked the little "spacer" handguard element seen on the legendary "tanker" Garands: there was no space to put it. The rifle had come from Britain, at a time when they still retained a sense of humour about such things, back in the early 1980s.

It shot quite well, but was a touch noisy. NO markings on the left side and just the number remained on the rear of the receiver.

Cant find any photos right now; probably several Kodachromes of it somewhere in a box. Great little "bush" rifle.

[the old gringo]

yes they did a wonderful job with them . baretta manufactured parts and even a magazine fed version of the grand similar to the M14 for a brief time