Un-demilling a Garand

[M. M. Wright]

I bought a Garand "Parade Rifle" at a gun show a few months back that had been de-activated by plugging the chamber, welding the barrel to the receiver, and tacking the gas plug to the gas cylinder retainer. There was also a small weld in the operating rod channel to prevent removal of the op rod. Yeah, it was cheap. Less than what the CMP charges for them.

A small amount of dremel work got it apart to where I could put the barreled action in the lathe and remove the small amount of very soft weld so the barrel would unscrew. A little mill work on the op rod channel fixed that and a new barrel and bolt put it back in action. I changed the gas cylinder, nut and plug and straightened the op rod. Checked the head space and found it to be .002 on a GO gauge.

Loaded up some ammo and took it to the range. A single round, hand loaded, fired, ejected and locked open. Put in an 8 rounder and it went through it just fine although about a foot left at 50 yards with the rear sight centered. I found the correct allen wrench and adjusted the front sight until the windage was correct and counted 14 clicks of elevation to be on at 50.



The middle 8 round group I shot at about 80 yards with my elbows on the hood of my winch truck.



I've been shooting the FAL a lot lately but renewing my infatuation with the Garand has me thinking I don't need the FAL any more.

[claybob86]

Good job! Always good to see a fine old piece of equipment get rescued.
Picture?

[Griff]

Yea, that foreign stuff can be had by others... LOVE the Garand... never thought I'd say that marchin' around with that bootcamp Garand... maybe they weigh those training Garands down with something...

[Pitchy]

Great work Ron, very cool rifle.

[boolitshooter]

Griff, you are right. They were weighting own. They were the DRILL Sargents. Except mine was an M14.

[Rusty]

Nice job! Congratulations.

[AJMD429]

Just be careful of the bureaucrats....I never bought a 'de-mill' but if it wasn't considered a "firearm" (i.e. didn't require paperwork), then you could be determined to have "manufactured a firearm" by fixing it. That is supposedly legal under specific circumstances that I can't define, but you might want to be sure some alphabet-agency type doesn't fill his tag by bagging you over some technicality (....admit it - you only fixed it up so you could go hold up a liquor store, right... )

[hayabusa]

Companies sell AK47 and all types of demilled military firearms and it is perfectly legal to weld or make or buy a new receiver for them,reassemble them, and you have a legal firearm, BATFE approved, and have been for years. You are not required to register them either, as in no paperwork.

hayabusa

[1894c]

we have all of those 80% AR-15 lowers which require the owner to mill-out the last 20% thereby creating a firearm with no serial number and no registration, drives ATF nuts, but very legal... :)

[Sixgun]

THATS what I call doing a patriotic duty! Nice work M.M.......you very talented.

Why in the hell would they plug up the gun? About ten years ago this guy at work brought me in a Krag rifle he found in an attic in Wilmington, De........FULL of rust...so bad the action did not work. This too, was a parade rifle but left in operating condition..... as it was once full nickel plated......probably only has 15% left, as seen in the picture. The insides was like brand new money......perfect bore that
measures .308....rare for a Krag....This baby shoots 220 cast like no tomorrow.

Like Doc, I too thought you needed a manufacturers license to put a dewat back in action. Good for you, another operating gun to add to the millions of law abiding people.---6

[AJMD429]

Then the only restriction would be you can't sell it, like the "80%" ones or ones made from scratch...? Or since it is serial numbered I suppose nobody would know anyway.

Either way, it is really cool you restored the dignity of that fine firearm. De-milling a Garand is like putting pants on the Venus Callipyge.

[jringo8769]

great work....nothing better than saving another unloved one...

[PriseDeFer]

You wrote that smooth and concise and I'm thinking the procedure was the same. You have skills that your country needs. Do another one. And don't forget the 03's.