M1 Garand Barrel Change

[smokemjoe]

Going to take barrel of myM1 and put on a better one, Whats my headspacing going to be like. Thanks, Joe

[NickSS]

No way of knowing you will have to have it head spaced. Why not just buy a new barrel and you will have two shootable M1s?

[fourarmed]

Here is the way I did it on a semiauto M14, but I imagine they are available for '06 as well. A friend of mine has a really neat setup. Don't know where he got it. We screwed on the short-chambered barrel and ran a finish reamer in it on a ratchet and extension and u-joint until it was close to accepting the GO gauge. Then, he had a headspacing reamer that was turned by a rod down the barrel. We inserted the bolt and pressed it up against the reamer, and turned the reamer until the bolt just closed.

[mto7464]

I have done four m1's and only one needed to be reamed. Three were like new barrels, one of which needed reaming. The bigger question is getting it tight at the right point. I had to knurl one of them to get it to tighten at the right spot to get it to index. Really its a piece of cake.
Where in Iowa do you live. I live just across the border on US 63 in MO.