Everyone has at least 1 gun they wish they'd not sent down the road........Tell us about Yours
- Thread starter hm1996
- Start date
Methinks I see a pattern here, sarge.
That Winchester garand reminds me of the first M1 I ever bought. Never sold it, but sure did "mess it up" from the get go, as things turned out. It is a Springfield, but had the old lock bar sights on it. Ordered from an ad in the American Rifleman from Klein's for a total price of $98 IIRC and that included an extra $10 for extra selection.
I was a short timer, shooting on the post AMU, and had hopes of continuing competing in service rifle matches as a civilian. To say that I was a bit disappointed in the condition of the rifle would be an understatement. The stock had been sanded down with a disc sander, leaving a 3/16" gap at the rear of the receiver and the bore had light pitting from throat to muzzle. Truly a sad sight alongside the beautiful NM M1 I was issued. Oh well, when you get lemons................. I took it to the range the next day and was really surprised at the "accuracy" when fed 1957 LC M72 ammo! Not a match rifle, but would pass the service rifle specs.
I started out by changing out the lock bar sight for a set of NM sights, and over the next few months added new wood which I bedded and performed all the steps outlined in the NRA bulletin on accurizing the M1.
I carried it to the 4th Army matches at Ft Hood and the Tx State Matches the following week hoping to get one of the Benning armorers to tune up the trigger for me. At that time, all the army armorers were supporting not only military competitors, but also all of the civilian service rifle shooters. The Benning teams were always accompanied by their armorer's van and would replace anything on an M1 except the barrel.
I took my trigger group up to the van, made sure the armorer knew this was my personal rifle, not issued, and asked if they could clean it up. He threw what looked like a new trigger group on the bench and said "try this one", then asked if I was going to shoot the rifle in competition. He then explained that it would break below the 3.5# rule, but that he guaranteed it would never double! That was absolutely the best feeling garand trigger I ever tried, and since I had never seen a trigger weighed that had not first doubled in a match, we made the swap.
It was 21 years later, before I was finally able to start shooting competition again with that rifle. Made master with that rifle before the barrel finally gave up the ghost, but I refused to change it out because of the British proof marks on the barrel, indicating it was a WWII lend lease rifle. I have since, restored it to the best of my ability to it's original state but it still wears the bedded stock and the NM sights have been replaced with the newer style (not lockbar) sights. Thought long and hard before replacing that trigger group with the older style w/the milled guard.
Sgt_Mike
Well-known member
hehe yeahhhhh about that. One can install the lockbar side on the NM (hooded w 1/2 moa adjustment) sight.... ask me how I know... once locked it yeah there is absolutely NO movement.. does it shoot better??? can be debated for hours. So ya think there Might be a pattern?? I would say so. But hey whe Uncle Sugar says go here ohh and BTW housing is not available for XXX months and a waiting list that moves slow. Or just not available because of "Privation" of the post housing .. yeah gets expensive.
Yeah, wish I had not destroyed the windage knob on that old lockbar sight. I never thought I might want to restore the rifle to original issue and used that knob to experiment on making a 1/4 min click rear sight. I'm not a machinist, but have a gunsmith friend who is). He set up in his lathe and faced off the knob, then drilled 8 dimples around the circumference of the bearing surface of the knob. He then, drilled the side of the receiver to accept a small (about 1/16") spring loaded ball, resulting in a 1/8 moa clicks. Worked like a champ!
Remington 520 (I think) bolt action 22 with a tube feed mag.
I shot it so much I was hitting 3" dirt clods 8 or so out of 10 times out of the air. In most every direction. I traded it for a shiny ruger 10/22 that I never shot well. Those old Remington 22s had adult sized wood stocks and just shot well. Or mine did. And I screwed the pooch trading it away.
I shot it so much I was hitting 3" dirt clods 8 or so out of 10 times out of the air. In most every direction. I traded it for a shiny ruger 10/22 that I never shot well. Those old Remington 22s had adult sized wood stocks and just shot well. Or mine did. And I screwed the pooch trading it away.
The biggy was (if a PA boy) an old model 760 Remington in 244. Made bout 60% on what i stole it at, but its worth about $2500 now that they dont make em anymore. And a fn fal for $900.......just as the obama/sandy hook thing was about to explode....needed the cash in both cases. Could of definitely gotten more in hindsight.......the there was the Armalite AR just as the same crisis was rolling along......traded it even for a 7615 (which now is worth more, but wasnt then!). Had been thru back surgery, was headed for neck surgery, and after 08, work was definitely lacking.
204 AR
Well-known member
The one that breaks my heart still is my first high power, a sporterized m98 in 243 with a Fajen stock with some scroll work and a green plastic grip cap lol. What made it special is that my uncle, who died very young in '77, owned it. When he passed another uncle took possession of it for 10 or so years, and when I was getting into hunting I bought it from him for the price of $50, which was what it had cost him to get the headspace set properly. Before that it would split cases. It was a 12 twist. My uncle helped me load some rounds, I used 75 gr Hdy hp purchased from Grafs for $6 something, and 46 gr H4350. Shot great. So great that I had it shot out within a couple years. Not having any money to rebarrel I traded it for a M77 220 Swift, which was also a fantastic shooter, for a while lol. Anyway, I always kicked myself for selling off an ancestor's possession and wish I had it back.
AWS
Custom Accessory Maker & Retired PM Staff
Thinking back about guns I wish I still had, I was in highschool and wanted a deer rifle, the whole family bow hunted to the point my dad didn't even own a deer rifle, when he got the invited to a deer hunt he borrowed a Krag from a friend, his first deer rifle I bought for him while I was in the service. Back to my first center-fire, I knew nothing about rifles. My only experience with center-fire rifles were borrowed ones I used to hunt feral dogs for the local warden. Well I was working summers in a factory and around the corner was a gun shop and they had an absolute beautiful full custom Epps Enfield. I bought it and a box of shells, they went through the paper sideways, perfect key holes. The rifle turned out to be a 35-303, I knew nothing about handloading ant took it back and got my money back. I bought slugs for my shotgun until I went out into the service and came out three years later a fullblown gun nut.
It would be nice to have that Enfield today it would fit right in with my 35 Rem, 350 Rem Mag and 35 Whelen.
It would be nice to have that Enfield today it would fit right in with my 35 Rem, 350 Rem Mag and 35 Whelen.
yotehunter6
Active member
Yes it was, very fun to shoot. Although factory ammo was pricey even 20 years ago. Never bench shot for accuracy, but I could shoot rabbits all day and never noticed it shooting bad.
I've only ever gotten rid of one gun. It was a Remington Viper .22 that my buddy was going to cut apart and throw in the trash because it was broken. He gave it to me and said if I could fix it, I could have it. I fixed it and it was okay but the trigger was terrible. I ended up trading it at a gun shop for a Glenfield model 60. I traded up I think.
I dont get rid on guns very often. 4 off the top of my head.
Remington 783 .223
Tc compass .204 ruger
Glock 26 gen3
Beretta m9a1
I wouldnt mind having the glock back because, well its a 9mm glock and will outlast damn near anything. The only one i actually regret is the m9a1 though, simply because i carried a beretta in combat.
Remington 783 .223
Tc compass .204 ruger
Glock 26 gen3
Beretta m9a1
I wouldnt mind having the glock back because, well its a 9mm glock and will outlast damn near anything. The only one i actually regret is the m9a1 though, simply because i carried a beretta in combat.