After 55 Years, Dad's Garand Comes Back to the Family

[smokeywolf]

In the 1950s, Dad was a well thought of gunsmith and saddle maker. One of his personal projects was to redesign a milsurp Garand into a practical and very attractive sporter. After he had finished, he had this...He had taken 2 inches off the barrel, shortened the op rod, moved gas cylinder back approx. 8 inches and redressed her in a Mannlicher style stock, which he carved and checkered.
I was probably 3 or 4 years old when he did this checkering; I remember watching him do this.

He had also taken nearly 3 pounds off the weight of the Garand in its original battle rifle configuration. In about 1960 he traded the Garand to a family friend for 3 Winchesters.

Jump ahead to April of 2015, I recently bought the Garand back from the son of the family friend who had traded three of his Winchesters for Dad's Garand.


I've been studying older threads on reloading for the Garand and although I know that my Garand's action will cycle most reasonable loads and will probably start out with a Lyman 311299 on top of 30 grains g/t of IMR 4895. My question at this time is, have any of you Garand owners found that one brand of en bloc clip performs better than another?

smokeywolf

[RKJ]

Your Dad did a good job. That's a good looking rifle.

[leebuilder]

That is realy neat.
thanks for sharing
be well

[StromBusa]

awesome, I always passed on them due to the "clubby" look....upset with self....

[pworley1]

I have never noticed a difference in the clips.

[Jack Stanley]

That gas cylinder modification looks familiar . I thought I saw something like that in Gun Digest or similar publication .

Jack

[smokeywolf]

That gas cylinder modification looks familiar . I thought I saw something like that in Gun Digest or similar publication .

Jack

That was a 1961 issue of Gun World.

[Orlando]

SF, JMO are two enlocs I can think of that dont function well in some Garands. Stick with USGI enblocs and you will be fine

[JonnyReb]

Holy smokes Smokeywolf, What a phenominal homecoming!! Without a doubt the most gorgeous garand i've ever seen. An absolute treasure and moreso for you, never let that one get away again. J.

[nagantguy]

Great great news, good for you. Your dad had a keen eye and a skilled had!!! Never let her slip out of family hands!!! This made my day, thanks for sharing

[DonMerlin]

While I am not a big fan of modified Garands, this is the exception to that rule. A very beautiful rifle. You should be proud to have it back!

[JeffinNZ]

That's outstanding! You are so lucky to get it back and still in magnificent condition.

[lancem]

That's a beauty all right! The cheapest and best place I have found for clips is the CMP, that said I also got a great deal once on evilbay and they all worked well too.

[bradh]

Smokey I am just down the road in Tustin, CA. I have alot of USGI enbloc clips, they are free to you. Say like 15 clips...we can hook-up if you need them!

[doctorggg]

Wow! I love Garands and that one is absolutely beautiful. Your dad had a way with wood. A beautiful stock indeed. I've only used usgi enbloc clips mostly from CMP. They function very well in my CMP Garands.

[Hogtamer]

I'll trade you 4 winchesters for it???

[smokeywolf]

Smokey I am just down the road in Tustin, CA. I have alot of USGI enbloc clips, they are free to you. Say like 15 clips...we can hook-up if you need them!

Thank you for your very generous offer Brad, but I expect the price of the fuel to get my truck to Tustin and back home would be equal to or even greater than the cost of buying the clips from CMP. Also, I'm thinking that I'd like to end up with around 40 or so clips.
Again, thank you for your very generous offer.

Would ultimately like to have clips loaded for hunting, gong ringing and paper punching, which means a variety of loads.

A paragraph in the Gun World article mentions that during the range test for the article, they loaded a couple of clips with GI, commercial, light and hot handloads that were subsequently fired slow and rapid fire, and that the Garand shot and cycled all without a single problem.

A pic from the article...

[bedbugbilly]

"A member of the family made it back home . . . " - hey, you can't ask for a better ending! Glad it's back in the family where it should be . . . I'm sure it will trigger many pleasant and fond memories of your Dad every time you look at it and shoot it! Enjoy and when it's time . . . pass it on so it stays int he family.

[N4AUD]

All I can say is WOW. I'm not usually a fan of modified Garands either but that is a work of art. Beautiful.

[smokeywolf]

"A member of the family made it back home . . . " - hey, you can't ask for a better ending! Glad it's back in the family where it should be . . . I'm sure it will trigger many pleasant and fond memories of your Dad every time you look at it and shoot it! Enjoy and when it's time . . . pass it on so it stays int he family.

I have two young sons who are already vying for the position of conservator of Grandpa's Garand.

smokeywolf