Well, the time has come for me to build a Garand. Found a nice postwar 4.3 mil SA receiver and have a SA bolt on the way. Lothar Walther will be sending me a 308 heavy barrel to test. I'll begin purchasing parts as I sell items and can afford the rest.

Sept/Oct 1953...

last 3 of the S/N blurred out...






I've got a hackberry wood stock that some friends refinished and gifted me last year.







I added up the price, and if I buy all new, correct unissued parts, minus the stock and barrel, I should spend around $1,200 on this one.

Hope to have this finished by the summer.

Tony.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: benny6,

Very nice Benny! I look forward to seeing this come together. I'm sure it will be a work of art.

Looks like you’re off to a good start.
I’m looking forward to seeing this come together

My service grade is about the same vintage.

I cannot wait to see the finished product. You do beautiful work.

Bruce

That stock is a beauty. Can't wait to see it done.

I will be watching this. I have a Garand itch but I know I cant afford to feed one right now.

Looking forward to it.

Honestly, one of the most exciting threads I’ve seen in a while, can’t wait to see this unfold

Very cool project, I'm going to enjoy following this!

That stock is off the scale. Can’t wait to see the finished rifle

Due to the comments on the stock, here's the original refinishing post from one of the other mods at the M14 forum. One of my friends bought this stock and sent it to him to have refinished.

https://m14forum.com/stock/469...efinish-project.html

[QUOTE=Doug Carlton;4190824]New project I'll document here on a Garand refinish. I've worked on these in walnut but never Hackberry wood. Very hard, dense.

Before:





Cleaned with soy-gel, the stain came running off...gonna be hard to coax it to stain/dye. Will most likely have to use an aniline dye. Drying out this week.

[/QUOTE]


[QUOTE=Doug Carlton;4193988]The sanding/wetsanding revealed the grain and the undulation of the profile. Smoothing this into an Exotic-Style finish is not advisable. Started rough at 220 and 320 then 400 dry. Started the wetsand at the next waterproof 400 paperwork then 600. Being a stark white, the Hackberry took on a beige color as it dried.




Started with Stew-Mac tobacco brown, the wood hated it and it looked like a pumpkin, added more and it washed out the grain looking painted. Stripped the whole thing again and back to 600 wet. Moved to an aniline dye and was way too dark, but held. At that point it looked like the stock wanted to be a "vintage" look over a "finished" look. Wet-sanded off the dark areas areas only and started working in the copper/red back into the grain and it started to look like a Garand.




Buffed it out, applied 1st coat of Antique Mahogany wax, stripped it and buffed, looked really nice.




Multiple layers of final wax and buff and she is ready for her glamour shots.



[/QUOTE]

SAH-Weeettt!!

Can't wait to see it done!

Its going to be a great rifle. Will you use GI sights, NM sights or optic ? I used to know a builder who did conversions to feed from either M14 mags or BAR. A little over the top IMO.

I might go NM sights if I can find an extra set in my stash. If not, just standard sights.

I'm going to check into the Sadlak BM-59 scope mount to see if it will fit the Garand. I may try that as an option just for testing purposes.

Tony.

I got the receiver today. I cleaned the decades old grease off and snapped some pics.

I couldn't have asked for a better preserved receiver and bolt. The thing is in perfect condition and has seen little use. Once it's assembled, it will look new.

The finish is original.













I dug through my stash and found a set of NM/2A rear sights. The elevation knob seems to say SA above the 8 and below the 0.




I borrowed a customer's HRA trigger group for a minute to see how it fit in my stock.


The color of the receiver, bolt and rear sights match perfectly.

Next will be the gas cylinder and maybe the trigger housing.

Tony.

Well, I sold a few things and got the rest of the parts I needed. All I'm waiting on now is the barrel from Lothar-Walther.

The trigger group is the correct SA trigger group too.



Tony.

So this guy will be a 308 LW barrel, with a stock that takes on all contenders. Said it before, but that stock is killer!

This is going to be an amazing build

Looking forward to the result of your build. I’m hoping to have the opportunity (and the disposable cash) for a somewhat similar project someday.

I got the barrel in yesterday.


It's just hand tightened and backed off a little for the picture. The gas cylinder fit is real snug. I'll cut the shoulder for timing, then cut headspace and then polish the chamber and send the barrel off to be parkerized.

Should be done by the end of March.

Tony.