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Bart B. · April 11, 2013, 08:38 AM

I have a copy of the USN's manual for match conditioning Garands to 7.62 NATO. I could make a copy of it for a nominal fee then send it to you.

The USN's Small Arms Match Conditioning Unit in San Diego rebuilt many 30 caliber Garands. The best of the 7.62 versions would shoot good lots of Federal Gold Medal .308 Win. or Remington 7.62 NATO match ammo with 168's inside 4 inches at 600 yards all day long. Good .30-06 ones would shoot inside 8 inches with good lots of commercial match ammo. The US Army and USMC rebuilt Garands never came close to that. These shot much better than the DCM's National Match specifications which were not all that great to begin with; about 15 inches (2 MOA) at 600 yards. The high scoring 5 ring on the 600 yard military "B" target was 20 inches with a 12 inch tie-breaking V ring inside of it. The arsenal 30 caliber and 7.62 NATO match ammo accuracy spec from bolt action test barrels was about 10 inches; 3.5 inch mean radius.

Four key areas of match conditioning the Garand (as best I remember without reading up).....

* Regarding handguards, the front one should have it's metal plate removed then epoxied to the barrel. The gas cylinder ring that goes around the barrel should be ground off 1/16th inch on the back to ensure clearance to the front handguard. The ring should be reamed out so it does not touch the barrel at all. The rear handguard should also be epoxied to the barrel. The original design was established for easy field maintenance.

* When the barreled receiver is epoxy bedded in the stock, there needs to be a 3/16ths inch thick spacer betwen the stock ferrule and barrel and the trigger guard in place on epoxy fillets then the trigger guard half closed and a staple holding in half way in. This puts the bore axis a bit high and when the lower band's fit to the stock ferrule, there'll be about 30 to 35 pounds of pull-down pressure on the barrel for best accuracy.

* After the epoxy is cured, remove the barreled receiver, knurl the barrel where the lower band goes then drive it on aligning the pin holes so it'll be a very tight fit and not shoot loose.

* Fitting the op rod is crucial. Without an op rod fitting gauge (of which none are available anymore), it is a hit-and-miss operation to get it right. I doubt there's 5 people left in the USA who can do it right.

Nobody got good accuracy reloading fired cases from Garands. Same for the M14NM's when they came out. Bolt faces were never squared up during rebuilding and fired cases had way out of square case heads. Both contributed to poor accuracy. Only new cases shot the most accurate; handloaded or new match ammo shot the best scores and smallest test groups.

When you're not shooting match grade Garands, release the safety half way so there's no compression of the stock in the receiver area.

April 11, 2013, 08:38 AM	#17
Bart B. Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 2009 Posts: 8,927	I have a copy of the USN's manual for match conditioning Garands to 7.62 NATO. I could make a copy of it for a nominal fee then send it to you. The USN's Small Arms Match Conditioning Unit in San Diego rebuilt many 30 caliber Garands. The best of the 7.62 versions would shoot good lots of Federal Gold Medal .308 Win. or Remington 7.62 NATO match ammo with 168's inside 4 inches at 600 yards all day long. Good .30-06 ones would shoot inside 8 inches with good lots of commercial match ammo. The US Army and USMC rebuilt Garands never came close to that. These shot much better than the DCM's National Match specifications which were not all that great to begin with; about 15 inches (2 MOA) at 600 yards. The high scoring 5 ring on the 600 yard military "B" target was 20 inches with a 12 inch tie-breaking V ring inside of it. The arsenal 30 caliber and 7.62 NATO match ammo accuracy spec from bolt action test barrels was about 10 inches; 3.5 inch mean radius. Four key areas of match conditioning the Garand (as best I remember without reading up)..... * Regarding handguards, the front one should have it's metal plate removed then epoxied to the barrel. The gas cylinder ring that goes around the barrel should be ground off 1/16th inch on the back to ensure clearance to the front handguard. The ring should be reamed out so it does not touch the barrel at all. The rear handguard should also be epoxied to the barrel. The original design was established for easy field maintenance. * When the barreled receiver is epoxy bedded in the stock, there needs to be a 3/16ths inch thick spacer betwen the stock ferrule and barrel and the trigger guard in place on epoxy fillets then the trigger guard half closed and a staple holding in half way in. This puts the bore axis a bit high and when the lower band's fit to the stock ferrule, there'll be about 30 to 35 pounds of pull-down pressure on the barrel for best accuracy. * After the epoxy is cured, remove the barreled receiver, knurl the barrel where the lower band goes then drive it on aligning the pin holes so it'll be a very tight fit and not shoot loose. * Fitting the op rod is crucial. Without an op rod fitting gauge (of which none are available anymore), it is a hit-and-miss operation to get it right. I doubt there's 5 people left in the USA who can do it right. Nobody got good accuracy reloading fired cases from Garands. Same for the M14NM's when they came out. Bolt faces were never squared up during rebuilding and fired cases had way out of square case heads. Both contributed to poor accuracy. Only new cases shot the most accurate; handloaded or new match ammo shot the best scores and smallest test groups. When you're not shooting match grade Garands, release the safety half way so there's no compression of the stock in the receiver area. Last edited by Bart B.; April 11, 2013 at 10:12 AM.