Fitting a Dupage Stock on an M1 Garand

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Finch

Recently I purchased a nice field grade Winchester from the North Store. It is a Springfield 66 rebuild and came dressed in a nifty “non-match” glass bedded stock.

While it locks up nice and is very nicely crafted it is not legal for JCG matches and, I am determined to shoot its nice LMR barrel in competition. So, I decided to swap the stock with an unfinished stock from Dupage.

First thing I did was give it a coat of Raw linseed, inside and out. It comes with all the metal parts however they were not installed. Then I installed the stock ferrule which was relatively easy. I did not have to remove any wood to get it to fit so I just tapped it on with a hammer and a piece of scrap wood.

Completing the front handguard was a little more difficult. The hand guard spacer that came with the set was giving me some trouble so, I took one from an extra handgaurd I had. I carefully tapped this in using a socket wrench extension and a hammer. Then I tapped the tabs of the spacer down into the front handgaurd ferrule with a punch. It takes 3 or 4 hands to do this and you’ll need to block the back (or bottom) of the spacer with something while bending the tabs on the front down or you’ll just push the spacer out. I just laid an extra punch on my workbench and placed it under the spacer. To get the front handguard to fit in the upper band I did need to file the “lips” carefully so it was able to move freely.

While the rifle did “drop in” I needed to do some fitting. Most of the work was sanding the area around the operating rod. It was dragging a bit mostly on the top of the area circled below. This too a fair amount of sanding and checking.

Then I rounded the sharp corners in channel towards front of the stock so the wood did not contact the barrel, this was fairly simple. If the barrel contacts the stock here, this will put upward pressure on the barrel and mess with your point of impact.

The rear handguard came properly shortened so that it left a little gap between the wood and the receiver. I sanded out the inside a bit so it did not touch the barrel.

I would highly recommend using a “badger ordnance” pliers to remove the rear hand guard retaining band. Otherwise it is very easy to break the rear handguard.

I also sanded the bottom of the rear hand guard and the top of the stock so they did not touch.

While I had the gas tube off I peened the barrel just to keep the front sight nice and tight. Unlike every other Garand I have this one came with a properly timed gas lock. I think this really speaks to the care taken with these 1960’s rebuilds. I did have to break down and buy a gas lock wrench as it was on very tight. This one came from amazon and did a nice job.

Check out Gus Fisher’s forum on M14forum.com he is very knowledgeable in proper stock fit I printed out several of his threads while working on this.

I can’t give you a good range report just yet as I ran out of ammo at the range (I know) I’m hoping to get her out in the next few days. If all goes well I may take this rifle to Camp Perry in a few months.

June Highpower and Garand Match

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Finch

This weekend I shot in my second highpower match. I improved fairly significantly all of my off hand shots were on the paper which is an improvement on over my last match, I scored a 93 in rapid sitting which I thought was pretty good for my second ever time. I got a 78% overall so the 84% threshold for “sharpshooter” seems attainable.

The UPS man dropped off a CMMG A4 22 upper that I was not expecting as it was on back order. Once I can acquire a carry handle sight I should be able to get some good practice in. Full review once I get all the parts.

For the Garand match on Sunday I had some trouble with my elevation. Frankly, I got pretty frustrated because it didn’t make a whole lot of sense why I would be shooting 4″ low all of the sudden. I returned after the match spent several hours shooting prone and reset my 0. If I’m shooting high at the July match I’m going to be awful grumpy.

CMP Camp Perry Marksmanship Center

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Finch

After a long day of talking about HR software with a customer in Ohio I swung by CMP’s Marksmanship Center at Camp Perry. It’s open for public shooting Tuesday and Thursday 5:30 to 8:00 check CMP’s website for current hours.

A rifle, lane and 500 pellets was $12.00 it was lots of fun and a great way to unwind after work.

It’s set up so that it’s nice and easy to do. The marksmanship center is to the east of Petrarca Range. Turn right at the flagpole and left at the end of the road park below the water tower if you drive into the lake you went too far.

Walk in go to the desk in the middle of the room, you’ll sign an affidavit, and pick a rifle. I went with the “free” rifle but they have some nice MAR177 rifles you can use for a little extra (I have got to get one of those MAR177 uppers!)

Watch a quick video to remind you of the 5 rules.

Then it’s time to shoot!

You can raise or lower the target for off hand, sitting, or prone shooting.

They have a really slick electronic scoring system that scores each shot automatically. Think how much easier national matches would be if they had something like this at Viale, I better buy some more Garands to fund this!

There were several younger people their repeatedly cleaning their targets, as you can see I have some air gun work to do!

If you happen to be the area I would strongly recommend stopping in for some shooting.

CMP Winchester Field Grade Initial review.

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Finch

As I mentioned in my last post I had a chance to pick out a Field Grade Winchester at the CMP North Store. For now just some pictures full report later. It has a nice LMR barrel with ME<1 and Springfield Armory rebuild markings from the 60s. Other "features" include a "glass bedded" stock, NM op rod and a Lead pot annealed receiver.

CMP North Store Report 6.13.13

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Finch

I found myself in the Sandusky area for work so i braved the bad weather and swung by the CMP north store today. It was nice and dry inside with plenty of coffee and a surprisingly nice selection of rifles.

First and most importantly the 1917 “twins” are still there.

There was a nice selection of barreled receivers, M44s, chromed 1917s, Garands, and “bad” krags. Except for one of them the Krags were in pretty bad shape one was rusted shut. They were only $50 I seriously considered taking the nicest one home but searching for all the parts would probably be annoying.

HRA service grades, service grade specials, and field grades were plentiful. There were no service grade Springfields but there was a nice selection of field grades all had ME>2.

There was a full rack of “rusty” Kimbers I don’t know much about these rifles but they all appeared nice I didn’t see a spot of rust on the couple I handled.

What drew my attention was a rack of about 30 Service and Field Grade Winchesters. The service grades were in great shape, one had a matching WRA barrel.

I left with a beautiful field grade Winchester with an LMR barrel ME<1 TE=2 and an NM marked op rod. I realize it post war maybe even 60's rebuild but I couldn't put it down. Full report later in the week when it shows up. In the meantime here are some slightly blurry pictures.