Anyone Know About "Tankerized" Garands?

V

VictorLouis

New member
Saw two of these at the show this week. The "low" end was a $600 shooter, w/a Springfield receiver. The seller claims these are forged units, with a new barrel chambered in .308. Still loads from/uses the en bloc clip.
High-end was in a multi-colored laminate stock at over $2,500! Needless to say, that would be out of my range. But, I thought the concept must be sound for someone to have gone to such trouble to make up a "match" version. Thanks
 
The first "Tanker Garands" sold in the US were brought back from Italy. BM 59 was the designation. I don't know if they were converted over there after the .308 became the NATO cartridge, or sold by us to them under some contract. They were never a US Army rifle issued to tank-troops.

But, some folks think they're a good idea, and given good old Yankee ingenuity--you get the picture.

Since I have jaundiced eye toward the value of this sort of thing, I'll let somebody else comment about price...

:), Art
 
VictorLouis--Try Fulton Armory [www.fultonarmory.com] for just about anything you could want to know about the M1 Garand and its variants.
 
from what little I ever heard/read about the so-called "tanker model M-1", they were, to use a polite phrase, problematic.

Years ago, I saw in a gun shop, the Beretta BM-59. It was a full size rifle, with 20 round (possibly from BAR's) magazine. As I recall, it was chambered for the 30-06. They were not expensive then, but that was about 50 years ago.
 
try the new spingfield armory version of the tankers garand its called the scout bush rifle.it fits the need of the bm59 and the tankers garand.it also will accept preban mags/
 
The Beretta BM-59 is a 7.62 mm Nato weapon which was fed from a magazine which is different from the M14.

If Beretta did make a Garand that would take a BAR mag, I'd be one of the first to grab it.
 
The reason it caught my attention was PRICE. The "bush" SA-M1A is a great looking rifle, but at more than double the price of the "tanker". I can live w/o a 20rd box mag, as long as the basic rifle is sound, and reliable.
Alfadog, thanks for the FA link.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by VictorLouis:
Saw two of these at the show this week. The "low" end was a $600 shooter, w/a Springfield receiver. The seller claims these are forged units, with a new barrel chambered in .308. Still loads from/uses the en bloc clip.
High-end was in a multi-colored laminate stock at over $2,500! Needless to say, that would be out of my range. But, I thought the concept must be sound for someone to have gone to such trouble to make up a "match" version. Thanks [/quote]

The "tanker" Garand is really a modified standard rifle, and it's frequently much more problematic than the unmodified M1 Garand. I have a few Garands, but I doubt I'd want a sawed off one... :) You can have a real, full sized Garand from the CMP for $400 + $20 shipping, no reason to buy one that someone has been hacking on.
 
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