Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Scout Garand

It's been a while since I showed the Garand any love.

Now, about me, for you new people.  When I started this blog, Jeff Cooper was only recently dead.  And before I started writing this I was reading stuff.  So I was an Art of the Rifle sold-on-the-concept true believer about Scout Rifles.  Made sense to me, instantly.  Some folks still don't get it, and that's fine.

It's also one of few firearm concepts I haven't discarded as I got more experienced.  I still like the long eye relief help for my old eyes.  And you can put a red dot on that forward rail, too, if you want.  The only rifle I had to convert to a scout-style was the Garand, so I did.  It's really the best way to put glass on a Garand design.  M1 or M14 or M1A.  Scope mounts on the reciever have never satisfied me,  It's just an aluminum rail sold by Fulton Armory.  Plus a Leupold scope.

When I did this I felt a little funny.  It's one thing to swap out stuff on 1990s era M1A made in Illinoise for schlubs like me, it's another thing to change a piece of history by bolting on ticky tacky.  Well, I got that M1A and set it up ticky tacky with a scout rail.  And this week I cleaned and oiled the Garand, built in 1944 and converted to 7.62x51 by the Navy, later in it's life.  I also took off the Ching Sling and restored the rear hand guard to it's original format.   Seems more right.

Voila.



8 comments:

NotClauswitz said...

The .308 Navy Garands are a Good Thing! My old '43 Springfield Garand in .30-06 has already been messed-with so I wouldn't hesitate much to put one of Lyle's Ultimak rails on a Garand - I did it to the '43 Postal Meter Carbine...

Windy Wilson said...

How did you find the Ching safari sling to work out? I've been thinking of one of those if I ever get around to making a Swiss Scout (no need to get all snuffy, guys, no two serial numbers match except the receiver and the barrel. Not even the bolt is electropenciled.).

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

The Ching Sling is just fine for a quick off hand sling up. Faster than the military, prone, naturally, and almost as steady.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Prolly put it on the Savage 99.

Tam said...

Your rifle is converted back to '06, right?

http://thecmp.org/wp-content/uploads/NavyGarand762ConversionReport.pdf

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

No... And those details all weigh on my mind already.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

The barrel is marked "M II" or "M 11". All Navy Garands are Mark 2. Mod 0 has a chamber sleeve. Mod 1 has no sleeve. This isn't marked. Which would allay my fears.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

You don't want the chamber sleeve.