Hi, what is with the Winchester hate?

[Flyer]

I did a search for Garand barrel stretch and found one mention of 0.004" so if that is true and my measurements are correct, I could nail the headspace at minimum by pure luck.

Since it seems like the kit has had a long cosmoline nap, I'm going to do a detail strip and hit everything with solvent and a scrub brush to get it ready to wake up.

[Flyer]

For some reason my posts don't seem to be showing up but I'll try again:

I have cleaned and measured the barrel, bolt and receiver. It looks like if it doesn't headspace, it will be short somewhere around 0.004" but I hear barrel stretch from torquing can be 0.004" so it might be perfect. That was measured with a Forster gauge set, not Clymer unfortunately.

I might need to ream it, otherwise it looks really good except some light scoring of the muzzle. The muzzle will take about 1/2" of a 0.30039" gauge (7.63mm), 0.300 passes through the whole barrel and 0.30079" won't get past the crown. I don't know how that translates to TE/ME numbers but my guess is that it is less than 1/1. Beside the muzzle the bore looks perfect to my eye, nice and shiny with no pitting.

I have decided to torque it on with a set of home made barreling tools.

Since the barrel looks so nice and I want an accurate rifle, I am going to try to do the NM modifications. I have read the rear ring of the gas cylinder gets opened up to 0.676" and looking through the reamers that I can get my hands on, there is a 17mm which is 0.669" so close enough for me. I have seen some pictures of the rear lug modification, I'll wait to see which looks easier before I decide which cut to do.

After that is done I will peen the barrel flutes and torque the barrel in. Once I get the Op rod running true and the gas cylinder free floating and tight on the flutes, I will send it to Shuff.

There is one more thing, I have to get the heel roll mark deepened so the Winchester doesn't get blurred out by the pre-park sand blasting. I think I have found a local engraver who has an FFL even.

After that, I have a new stock that will need some inletting so I will glass bed it (McCoy style) and finish it.

Then we come to the National Match unitized handguard. Does anyone have a reference of exactly what and how it is done? I have seen some pictures but I'm missing something. The mod seems to be done to prevent contact between the lower handguard and the gas cylinder but I don't see what keeps the handguard from moving forward to hit it.

A picture is worth a thousand words but I am having a hard time finding National Match Garand pictures that show how the NM conversion was done.

If you have a Garand with NM modifications, please share pictures and if possible post pictures of standard parts from the same angle.

[timshufflin]

Hi, is every post moderated or can I get approved?

I'm not a spammer.

It was moderated because I never got to approving your membership. You're all set now.

[timshufflin]

For some reason my posts don't seem to be showing up but I'll try again:

I have cleaned and measured the barrel, bolt and receiver. It looks like if it doesn't headspace, it will be short somewhere around 0.004" but I hear barrel stretch from torquing can be 0.004" so it might be perfect. That was measured with a Forster gauge set, not Clymer unfortunately.

I might need to ream it, otherwise it looks really good except some light scoring of the muzzle. The muzzle will take about 1/2" of a 0.30039" gauge (7.63mm), 0.300 passes through the whole barrel and 0.30079" won't get past the crown. I don't know how that translates to TE/ME numbers but my guess is that it is less than 1/1. Beside the muzzle the bore looks perfect to my eye, nice and shiny with no pitting.

I have decided to torque it on with a set of home made barreling tools.

Since the barrel looks so nice and I want an accurate rifle, I am going to try to do the NM modifications. I have read the rear ring of the gas cylinder gets opened up to 0.676" and looking through the reamers that I can get my hands on, there is a 17mm which is 0.669" so close enough for me. I have seen some pictures of the rear lug modification, I'll wait to see which looks easier before I decide which cut to do.

After that is done I will peen the barrel flutes and torque the barrel in. Once I get the Op rod running true and the gas cylinder free floating and tight on the flutes, I will send it to Shuff.

There is one more thing, I have to get the heel roll mark deepened so the Winchester doesn't get blurred out by the pre-park sand blasting. I think I have found a local engraver who has an FFL even.

After that, I have a new stock that will need some inletting so I will glass bed it (McCoy style) and finish it.

Then we come to the National Match unitized handguard. Does anyone have a reference of exactly what and how it is done? I have seen some pictures but I'm missing something. The mod seems to be done to prevent contact between the lower handguard and the gas cylinder but I don't see what keeps the handguard from moving forward to hit it.

A picture is worth a thousand words but I am having a hard time finding National Match Garand pictures that show how the NM conversion was done.

If you have a Garand with NM modifications, please share pictures and if possible post pictures of standard parts from the same angle.

Let's see your current heel stamp. Chances are there's nothing to worry about but WRA receivers are kind of famous for light heel marks.

[Flyer]

It looks like I'm validated, let's see if this post works.

I cleaned the barrel and checked it with plug gauges. A 0.300" (7.62mm) slides through the whole barrel, 0.30039" (7.63mm) won't enter the throat but will go in about 1/2" at the muzzle where there is some very light scoring on the lands and a few spots of scoring in the grooves, 0.30079" (7.64mm) will not get past the crown. I'm not sure how that relates to TE/ME gauging but my guess is it is better than 1/1. Beside the scoring at the muzzle, the bore looks shiny and pristine, no pitting or roughness.

Next I stripped and cleaned my bolt face and measured with a digital caliper from the back of the bolt to the barrel shoulder, 4.329", 4.340" and 4.347" with an empty chamber, Forster GO and Forster NO-GO. With the bolt in the receiver and held back against the lugs, the distance from the front of the receiver to the back of the bolt is 4.336". There could be some measurement error between the main jaw measurement and depth measurement of the caliper but it suggests that if I screw it together I should be about 0.004" short of headspace but looking on the internet I saw one mention of a Garand barrel stretching 0.004" when torqued so it might be perfect. Clymer gauges are preferred, so there is whatever difference that makes also.

The Winchester roll mark on the heel is a little light so I think I have found a local engraver with an FFL to deepen it so the pre-park sand blasting doesn't wash it out.

Since the barrel looks really nice and I want an accurate rifle, I'm going to try to do all the National Match mods. The first one has to be the gas cylinder before I get it refinished so I have to ream out the rear ring. I have read that they were reamed to 0.676" and I found that I have access to a 17mm reamer which is 0.669, close enough for me. I have seen a couple pictures of the rear lug modification so I'll have to see which is easier and which will work best in my rifle.

I have a new stock that I will do McCoy style bedding on after Shuff parks my stuff.

I am a bit confused by the National Match handguard mod. I can't seem to figure out exactly what it is supposed to accomplish. I know it is not supposed to contact the gas cylinder but I can't figure out how it is supposed to hold itself back. If anyone can explain or share pictures of what it looks like and where the glue is applied, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Flyer]

Reading up on the CMP rules, it sounds like I can do an as issued match with the NM gas cylinder mod but not with any bedding or the handguard mod.

Maybe a very careful inletting my new stock and careful assembly of a standard handguard is the way to go. I'll try that first.

[Flyer]

I think I have a plan for making a cheap barrel vise. I think the receiver wrench should be pretty easy, I just need to find a nice piece of scrap tube that matches one of my holesaws, then carve up some oak for a soft jaw and do a little welding. I found some plans for a barrel timing gauge, that should be a quick project.

That should be all I need beside possibly a chamber reamer.

Hopefully I can knock it all out and the NM gas cylinder mod in one night at the shop.

I got the barrel disassembled and discovered that I'm missing a rear handguard retainer pin. Now I need to detail strip the trigger assembly and degrease everything so it is ready for park.

I guess I will need to go over everything with a fine tooth comb for CMP match legal "careful assembly".

So far everything is looking very good, as good as I could expect really.

The only detail I'm debating is the stock. My parts kit stock fits kind of loose, not good for a match. My new stock is hiding somewhere, hopefully it is tighter but if I glass bed it like I want, that would bump the rifle out of "as issued" matches. Should I bed the parts kit stock to tighten it up and try to get the new stock tight without bedding to make it "as issued" legal? Should I do some variation of that with a Boyd's stock thrown in for good measure?

By the way, my new stock is actually a prototype made by a company that decided they couldn't compete with Boyd's on price. It is a little special but I might be the only one who knows or cares...

[Punch The Clown]

99% of the time used components will headspace fine. We're interested in field gauge on a used rifle, not no-go.

[Flyer]

For a basic shooter, yes. I'm hoping for more but I'm going to let the assembled condition dictate how far I try to take it.

It looks like my headspace will be short and need reaming which would be the best possible outcome for accuracy.

If the barrel stretches to the point that it headspaced without reaming, that is great too.

If it will close on a NO-GO when properly timed, I will probably pull it and order a Criterion instead of try to use it.

Luckily I'm in to this rifle cheap enough that I can absorb the price of a new barrel and reamer and still wind up with a Garand that is worth more than I have in it.

[Flyer]

I got the parts kit detail stripped for the most part. I have one sling swivel screw that doesn't want to come out and the front sight screw seems to be wallowed out so I haven't tried to take it out yet.

The follower and rear sight pieces don't seem to easily separate in to single pieces, how far do I have to go to get them ready to park?

Is there any reasonably priced solvent that I can soak my small parts in to remove grease and cosmoline?

I'm thinking I'll use WD40 or Break Free CLP to protect the metal from surface rust before I send it all to Shuff. Is that OK or do I need to remove that before I send it in?