For you M1 Garand lovers

[parallaxbill]

And did I ever forget to follow up on this?!

Okay, since I've been trying to develop a good Swedish mauser load that may more or less mimic the original M96 Swedish mauser 156 gr round nose load, I have a few loaded up for testing. For what it's worth I'm attempting to find a load that will work well with the old Swede's factory sight setting minimum of 300 meters with a 6 O'clock hold.
Either way here is the way 6.5x55 Swede cases fit and/or don't fit the M1 Garand's 8 round en-bloc clip.
The top photo is what does not work. 8 will not go.


Next are what may fit due to the firm hold the clip has on just 7 rounds of 6.5x55. There is no looseness or rattle loaded as pictured
I even dropped the loaded clip on my carpeted floor to see if they'd fall out or get moved out of position. They held firm.

So does it seem plausible to build a 7 shot M1 Garand in 6.5x55 Swede? Who knows! I wonder if I could get a barrel made on my retirement income?

[parallaxbill]

With all that being said, the 6.5-06 would work perfectly with the clips but would carry more recoil. It would still be less that the recoil of the M2 ball 30-06. None of which are that much.

[bradshaw]

parallaxbnll.... the prescient M-1 Garand has been chambered to numerous cartridges. Most I’ve heard of are on the .30-06 case----.25-06, 6.5mm-06, .270-06, etc. Hell, Uncle Sugar hisself may have played with a
6.5x55mm M-1. Conceptually, on someone else’s dime, I'd start with the M-14 receiver to take advantage of the short-stroke piston. Rather than John Garand’s long operating rod, which, 85 years ago it was thought you had to tap gas close to the muzzle to prevent battering.

If you’re going to lay there or stand there trying to cook the handguard with a .30-06, Garand’s gas operation continues sweet on your shoulder lang after a bolt action like the Springfield 1903 makes you feel like you’ve been in the ring. In 6.5x55mm Swede, an M-1 would feel like a Ruger 10/22 all afternoon. No AR-10 I’ve fired challenges my confidence in an M-1 to keep on yakking. Scope mounting favors the AR-10. Reliability favors the M-1 and M-14.

Of course, the economic road points to a 6.5mmx308 on an M1A.
David Bradshaw

[parallaxbill]

That 260 Remington would be a natural in the M1A platform. There is a 6.5 Creedmore chambering already so in ballistic effect, there is already a 6.5x55 M1A albeit in a shorter, more efficient cartridge. But, I have more love for the Garand platform having owned and enjoyed both for many years.
To me, all this is an interesting topic.

[gnappi]

Part of them? WOW!!! You're over trained!

You'll like this. Some 15 years ago a friend, co-worker and shooting buddy found a Springfield Garand UNFIRED without import roll mark STILL in whatever gluey / gooey substance they stored them in, but the stock was forever horribly ruined by it.

So, on a trip to my parent's house in the Catskills I stopped by Numrich arms and asked if they had any Garand stocks and the guy brought out two full boxes of them unceremoniously thrown together and among them was a pristine walnut stock with the Springfield crossed cannon cartouche on it!

You should have seen his face when I gave it to him to replace the oil / goop soaked one. Oh, yes he did keep the destroyed one for the next owner who came into possession of it waaayyy too soon. Rip Roy!