The start of something beautiful

[remauto1187]

You could have got the barrel($179.95) and the stock($144.95 with all metal) off of the CMP!
Sales - Stock Sets

Civilian Marksmanship Program eStore=

If i end up building a M1 Garand I am doing it in .308. I already have a 1945 Springfield Garand(30-06) that I bought off the CMP last July for $525. I would really like to goto an armorers course at the CMP....You get to build your own rifle in .308 or 30-06!

 

[midget]

You could have got the barrel($179.95) and the stock($144.95 with all metal) off of the CMP!
Sales - Stock Sets

Civilian Marksmanship Program eStore=

If i end up building a M1 Garand I am doing it in .308. I already have a 1945 Springfield Garand(30-06) that I bought off the CMP last July for $525. I would really like to goto an armorers course at the CMP....You get to build your own rifle in .308 or 30-06!

That is actually pretty funny. Last week, right before I ordered the barrel, CMP was showing completely out of stock. Oh well, I guess timing is everything.
As far as the stock, this Wenig is a little nicer than the CMP new productions. I had the opportunity to buy one of their new productions, but was told by several people to go with the Wenig for a little bit more.

Edit: Before you order one of those stocks, call them and see if they have a semi-inlet version. This will allow you to do your own fitting, and if done right, will produce a more accurate rifle.

 

[midget]

UPDATE!
Well we finally got started.... Oh man this is going to be a good chunk of work... (Sorry that I didn't get any pictures of us actually working on it, but I will post pictures in stages)

As with any build, I did find out that there may be an issue with one of the parts. It appears the op rod I bought needs to be welded and re-cut for the receiver channel. It will function for now, but it is too thin and will be contacting where it shouldn't.

Barrel installed, bolt head spaced.

First major oops. It turns out English Walnut is a tad bit on the brittle side and we managed to create a 4" crack. Nothing a little glue and TLC can fix

Some pictures of the roughly put together upper assembly

And another lesson learned. If you are going to either 1. Joke to a stock maker about "More wood is always better" or 2. Name drop someone who might have pissed them off, expect to have to do a bit of work.

As you will see from the following picture, there is a bit of wood that needs to be removed from the tops of the hand guards.

Oh, and expect a redux thread. I picked one of these beuties up last night ... Time for a 1903-a4

*That is not rust, it is crud. My damned iphone doesn't like taking pictures at midnight....*

 

[Bfish]

Looks like it's coming along! Exciting little project... subbed to see the final product!

 

[N_K_1984]

Looking goooooood!

 

[midget]

So after a call to Wenigs, it was discovered that they have two different rifle patters for the garand. The WW2 and a very over-sized one. I didn't know this when ordering and never made a request for the WW2 stock. This would explain why I have so much wood

Lesson learned... Ask for WW2 pattern if you order from them.

 

[midget]

Just ordered a couple oz of alkanet root to make a stain. Google Alkanet root walnut to see the idea

 

[red_zr24x4]

Boy, that pic with the hand guards installed looks good

 

[sloughfoot]

That appears to be the normal amount of wood on your front handguards. You will be glad to have it when you unitize the front handguard. You are unitizing it and modifying the gas cylinder, right? Or are you not building a NM rifle?

 

[midget]

That appears to be the normal amount of wood on your front handguards. You will be glad to have it when you unitize the front handguard. You are unitizing it and modifying the gas cylinder, right? Or are you not building a NM rifle?

I am building a service rifle, not a NM. Actually as it turns out, there isn't all that much wood when you get to sanding and smoothing it out

 

[midget]

Well this will likely be the last update for a little bit as we have a family trip coming up next week.
Last night, we fit the barrel assembly to the stock. We still need to remove some material so that the trigger group sits deeper as we are having a problem with the trigger resetting. I will be bead blasting some of the small parts and sending them off to be parkarized.
Here are some pictures:

 

[Bfish]

Looks AMAZING!!!

 

[midget]

First coat of blo+alkanet root on. Here is a teaser

 

[AllenM]

That looks great, wish I had the patience for something like that

 

[gregkl]

That looks great, wish I had the patience for something like that

Says the guy who machines works of art!

Allen, I tried a Steel Challenge at a club close to me this weekend. I didn't do so well, but I learned and had fun. I practice at 15 yards so the 30 yard targets were hard to hit for me, lol..

 

[Bfish]

Yeah no joke! I feel like I need to beat up my carry gun so I can justify sending it to AllenM for some machining... and then get it refinished!

That wood looks fantastic though! I feel like you will have us drooling soon enough!

 

[AllenM]

I did say that tongue in cheek but I certainly don't want to hi jack this thread. The rifle looks awesome

 

[gregkl]

That stock looks really nice. I want to see how you finish it. Last winter I refinished my Garand stock and it turned out too shiny. Please keep posting your progress.

 

[midget]

That stock looks really nice. I want to see how you finish it. Last winter I refinished my Garand stock and it turned out too shiny. Please keep posting your progress.

That is one of the concerns I have, but thus far, it doesn't look like that will be a problem. I actually found this recipe from a guy that does stock restoration/finishing for a business. It is 4oz of boiled linseed oil, 2oz of turpentine, 1/2 oz (weight) alkanet root powder (need to put in a dark jark for a couple weeks and shake it periodically, then strain).
I should be able to get a second coat on tonight, so I will hopefully post more pictures soon.

 

[darend505]

Looking good!