Garand conversion "Erquiaga EM-62"

[ordmm]

This is a pretty good presentation on the history of this conversion. As you can see in the video this is probably the least machining intensive conversion.

Use of a BM59 trigger group would do away with the rear mag catch adapter.

The front mag well adapter is petty nice in that it finishes off the magazine opening nicely in the stock. Beyond that it can be simplified by a front mag release type used on the Santa Fe/FedOrd version.

Tim Shufflin has the M14 mag conversion down to a fine science and does it much simpler. Tim also has a bolt hold open that takes care of the issue in the vid.

The gas cylinder, in my opinion, eliminates the cutting of splines and threads which makes the conversion much easier along with not needing a gas lock/screw to retain the cylinder. The ported gas plug is about as simple as it gets.

interesting conversion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fjYaSaiUZo

[Eli]

That's a pretty ingenious setup, minimizing modifications. That $30 price is about $255 in today's money, not bad!

Eli

[Prince Humperdink]

That's pretty neat,but the GHS stock being modded makes me sad.

[axemurderer]

That is pretty cool. I may post this over at the M1 Garand page on FB, they hate conversions over there! Someone posted a picture of my Mag-G over there
telling everyone basicly that I should burn in hell because I did this to a Garand.
Oddly no one responded when I told them it was my rife and that they are all not collectors items!!!!

[nchillbilly]

He used a custom barrel on those.

RDS has one. Gun hippy looked at incomplete one. Bill Lear Jr(son of Bill Lear of Lear Sigeler aka Lear Jets) had a friend who had 2 of them. They're were maybe 45 conversions and he had other work. The image that Erquiaga was a black sheep after going to Cuba is a misnomer. He got a clearance to work in Ft. Benning at the School of Americas.

Just remember: At the time he was active, we also sent a young ex-marine by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald to Russia.

At the same time:
Adler Berrimon "Barry" Seale aka Barry Seal got fired by Howard Hughes from working TWA, because he got caught going low into bayou country with US cargo plane(per tail number, it was destroyed in an accident in the mountains of Western NC/East TN/N GA in low mountain flying training by the US Army). The other tail number did not match anything on record. Barry had a load of Garands, Thompsons, M2 Carbines, M3 grease guns, ammo crates, small rafts for beach landing training.

Barry never worked for a major airline again, but he walked on all charges, and he continued to fly, and at one point, he had one of the largest private plane and helicopter collections in the world, with it being noted that they were all in service and in compliance. At one point only 3 people had more Airmen's Training Certificates from the NTSA than Barry.

The cold war was a weird time and produced some odd characters who, in the words of L. Fletcher Prouty "people who could walk through water and not get wet weren't all that uncommon."

So these are fascinating conversions. I'd love to have tried one, I'd love to try to complete it myself.

One of the ones that Bill Lear Jr.'s friend had, was essentially barreled with an M60 barrel and it was welded to a Garand barrel heel, there was a prounced turning mark there where the weld was.

[warden451911]

Interesting and good to know! Thanks.

[RDS]

You can not compare a Santa Fe BM 59 conversion with its' reclaimed welded receiver and sleeved barrel to an original Erquiaga EM62. The Santa Fe BM59 was built using the cheapest method possible for civilian sale. The EM62 was designed for military use and capable to be offered in a full auto version . It utilizes a new heavy barrel not a shorten M1 Garand barrel. The reason the rear mag catch assembly design was designed the way it was was for three very good reasons. The first is it allows the mag catch assembly to be exchanged for one that will accept FAL mags. It positions the the magazine forward (the same as an M14 does) to provide better feeding. Lastly it does not require as much metal to be removed from the bottom of the trigger housing when milling the magazine cut out. The legs on the trigger housing are stronger than the legs on a BM 59 trigger housing, but not as strong as an M14 trigger housing.
The Erquiaga EM62 in the video is incomplete and has been modified. It is missing the flash hider and the gas cylinder plug was ported. Original EM62s do not have a ported gas cylinder plug.