M1 Garand

[at11kansan]

I bought 2 15 years ago, one for me and one for my son. Both are Springfield Armory. His is june 1945 manufacture and mine a March 1953 with the original barrel still on it and a perfect bore. Unfortunatley due to unemployment I have to sell mine.

 

[Dog1]

Jan of 1941. Lock bar sights, correct trigger group.

 

[vesan87]

Beautiful! It looks like it's in great shape! Do you shoot it often?

 

[Dog1]

Beautiful! It looks like it's in great shape! Do you shoot it often?

Thanks...all the time. When I goto the range, it goes as does a couple of bandoleers of M2 ball.

I don't buy guns to sit a look at them. I buy then to shoot. I know a few M1 owners are never shoot their M1's and I shake my head at that. They have seen combat..they are supposed to be taken to the range and shot.

I think of my Grandpa, Great Uncle and all those of the Greatest Generation, when I shoot my M1.

 

[khickey3492]

I don't buy guns to sit a look at them. I buy then to shoot. I know a few M1 owners are never shoot their M1's and I shake my head at that. They have seen combat..they are supposed to be taken to the range and shot.

I think of my Grandpa, Great Uncle and all those of the Greatest Generation, when I shoot my M1.

+1

I love to shoot my Garand!

 

[devildog178]

Nothing speaks with such authority as a Garand........ short of belt fed that is

 

[TRWXXA]

At 0842 EST, a FedEx van rolled into the driveway, delivering my CMP Springfield Special M1. I've wanted a Garand since I was 15 years old -- it was the first rifle I ever shot.

It's indescribably beautiful... :sniff:

The CMP is advertising 30 to 100 day waiting times. My rifle showed up three weeks to the day after I dropped the paperwork in the mail.

It has all new wood on it, so I think I want to knock down some of the sharp edges, and put on a couple fresh coats of Minwax Tung Oil on it before heading out to the range. Anyone else have experience with finishing the new Boyds stocks?

 

[Griffeycom]

I would use PURE Tung Oil, not the Miniwax stuff, if you want the true effect of Tung Oil. There is not a lot of actual Tung Oil in the miniwax. PM Dragonngunner for some tips or he might reply here. He helped me out with mine and I think it looks awesome. Need to get some better pics in natural light but here's a quick picture from in the basement.

 

[TRWXXA]

Very nice!

I thought about pure Tung Oil (even have a source for it bookmarked), but the CMP mentions using the Minwax Tung Oil on the new stocks Their site says that the original Tung Oil used was thinned anyway so it would penetrate deep into the wood. The Minwax also has hardeners to keep it from seeping out of the wood over time (I know... part of the fun of owning a Garand), but it doesn't leave a glossy finish.

I'm open to all suggestions though. The rifle is gorgeous and I want to preserve and protect its appearance, and not try to make it look aged. Ill be on the lookout for a war era M1 to get one with a natural "patina" on it.

 

[boozoo]

I'd stick with pure tung oil. If you read some "how to's" on PTO, you're supposed to add thinner to the first coat or two for that penetration, then you can go to full strength coats. You do have to allow a lot of time between coats but when you finally get the build up you're looking for, it will be danged nice.

This is my carbine in a CMP stock with PTO and top coat of paste wax:

 

[sloughfoot]

I got one of the new Boyds CMP M1 stocks about a year ago. They have some finish on them, but need more.

Some pure tung oil from the Ace Hardware store made it perfect.

 

[TRWXXA]

This is my carbine in a CMP stock with PTO and top coat of paste wax:

That's purdy!! What'd you do? PTO w/mineral spirits? 0000 steel wool between coats?

 

[boozoo]

50/50 mix of PTO and mineral spirits. Applied with a cotton cloth or in this case, I grabbed a pad from Lowe's for applying stains. If I remember right, I did a couple of coats of the thinned mix, then started laying down straight oil until I got a build-up. This one was my first PTO finish, so I'm certainly not an expert... but I was plenty happy with how it turned out. (been doing linseed oil until that one).

If I remember right... I did buff it lightly with steel wool when I was done to knock the shine down a bit and then buffed it with the paste wax to give it that final "satin finish" I was looking for.

 

[TRWXXA]

If I remember right... I did buff it lightly with steel wool when I was done to knock the shine down a bit and then buffed it with the paste wax to give it that final "satin finish" I was looking for.

Sounds like you did what most have done to refinish theirs, although I have heard some use steel wool between each coat to knock down the fibers that get lifted by the liquid. One site recomended beeswax to protect the final finish.

The new CMP stocks apparently come from Dupage Trading Co.. Dupage gets them from Boyd's, and reprofiles and finishes them with "a light oil". I wish I knew what oil they use. You're really not suppose to use Tung Oil on top of any other finishing product. But if folks are having good results with Tung Oil...

 

[DragonGunner]

Sounds like you did what most have done to refinish theirs, although I have heard some use steel wool between each coat to knock down the fibers that get lifted by the liquid. One site recomended beeswax to protect the final finish.

The new CMP stocks apparently come from Dupage Trading Co.. Dupage gets them from Boyd's, and reprofiles and finishes them with "a light oil". I wish I knew what oil they use. You're really not suppose to use Tung Oil on top of any other finishing product. But if folks are having good results with Tung Oil...

I believe an have been told the CMP stocks have a stain on them, not oil. Tung Oil can be put over BLO, Stains...You do not want to put it over something that has a varnish in it, many of the min-wax stains an products have a varnish additive, this keeps the BLO or TO from penetrating, it will just set...just need to check..I didn't like any of the CMP stains have always stripped them off, I used a Dark Walnut stain on a new CMP stock because the wood was either light or dark, 50/50 mineral spirits an stain, one coat then went extra coats on the lighter sections of wood to make everything even, then TO, then Formby's TO low gloss that does have a varnish additive, steel wool an then other coats...this gives it a little shine an also weather proofs it..all I have to do if it gets scratched is to rub on some more Formby's an its good to go.

 

[boozoo]

For wax you could try this stuff... this is the beeswax based stuff that the guys on surplusrifles love (and gunboads).

Home Page

I've used this before on a couple of pieces, too.

Steel wool as an applicator works fine, too. I usually use steel wool on old stocks I'm restoring to smooth it down a little bit. When I do use steel wool, I do it for the first couple of coats and then go to a hand rub for the final coats.

A really good guy that I read up on whenever I can (and they have a lot of saved threads) is on surplusrifleforums.com

Go down the lower third of the front page and look for the "Stock Care" folder. The moderator, Candyman, does some great work. Everything from a simple oil scrub to saving a pile of splinters.


Hope that helps ya out.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Dropped my paperwork in the mail today for a Field Grade HRA and two cans of ammo. Hope it doesn't get delivered while i'm out of town for christmas vacation!

 

[Plinkuh]

Who are all the M1 Garand people here? I just got mine a month ago and LOVE it! I've been shooting the surplus Greek ammo at Atterbury and it's great!

You should post some pics

 

[tman]

I like a 50/50 mix of pure tung and linseed oil. I could show you a photo of my test board of 2"x2" walnut test squares but I wouldn't want to bore anyone.

 

[Farmritch]

I was a M14 guy then bitten by the M1 Garand bug as the ammo was cheaper (3 Years ago) I've gotten pretty good at going through them
I have a couple of AL/VFW posts that I maintain thier detail rifles
I've got TE/ME ,Gas Cylinder & headspace gauges