Garand .30-06 to .308 conversion

C

Coronach

New member
I remember this being mentioned a while back. Is this a permanent conversion, or is it un-doable? How much does it cost?

Mike

PS I ask because my next purchase is one of these old warriors, and I dislike the steep price of .30-06...but I refuse to permanently alter a piece of history like this.
 
The only way to safely convert a Garand to .308 is to replace the barrel. You can keep the original barrel to change back later if you wish.
 
There was, and probably still is somewhere, an insert to shorten the 30-'06 chamber to 308 dimensions. Never used one myself, but I have heard of accuracy degradation in some rifles. IIRC the insert can be removed with a broken shell extractor.

Here it is! Never have delt with them, but Idaho Surplus Sales (208) 378-1727 advertised the inserts in shotgun news, May '01. Insert was $17.50 and the extractors were $12.50. Hope this helps.
 
They made inserts to convert 30/06’s to .308’s.
They called them “Navy Sleeves”.
I’ve never used one, but I’ve been told they are VERY difficult to remove since the carbon buildup virtually welds them into place in the chamber. I seriously doubt you can remove one with a broken shell extractor after putting a couple of hundred rounds through it.
Personally, I’d avoid them.
 
If you install a sleeve, do you still have to ream the chamber? It seems like the .308 brass is "fatter" than the .30-'06.

Regards.
 
Regarding converting the Garand to 7.62 NATO thru the use of a chamber adapter sleeve. DON'T! There is no way to guarantee that the sleeve will stay in place and not be ejected with a fired case. The Navy gave up on the concept in a remarkably short time IIRC and rebarreled thier M1 rifles instead. The idea is appealing but the concept is bad. Either shoot 30-06 or have a new barrel installed, you need to consider what would happen if the sleeve ejected with a fired round. The next round would be a short bodied 7.62 in a long 30-06 chamber, bad things would happen when the trigger was pulled.

Really hoping you take the above to heart

Don in Ohio (Who likes his rebarreled 7.62 Garand quite well, thank you!)
 
Coronach,

Re converting to .308 with a sleeve... I'll add one more step to what Backwoods said... firing a .308 in a 30-06 chamber is not that dangerous, just highly inaccurate. It happens by accident occasionally when somebody mistakenly chambers a .308 in an '06 rifle. Usually there is no damage to the rifle.

The BIG hazzard is if, after ejecting the sleeve with one round, and chambering the next round, which may slip off the extractor under the bolt slamminng home and go forward into the chamber, then you pull the trigger and get a "snap". You immediately yank the op-rod handle to clear the bad round and get a fresh round slammed into the back of the one already in the chamber. Now with a pointy ended bullet being jammed into the back of the one already deep in the chamber you get the rather unpleasant experience of a round firing while the bolt is wide open. NOT good....

Re jams with a .308 conversion..... it's no more common than jams with a 30-06. There are THOUSANDS of .308 Garands out there that shoot just fine. Highpower competitors have been shooting .308 M1's since the early 60's with no problems.

The conversion to .308 is nothing more than putting on a new barrel. This is a "stock in trade" service for any Garand smith worth his pay. You keep the old one for collector reasons if you want.

Swampy
 
Thanks for the replies. It looks like I will probably get my M1 and just get a .308 barrel for it...and keep the .30-06 one for GPs. Plus...any shooting I do won't be wearing out my 'historical' -06 barrel...yeah...I can sell this to the wife...yeah... :D

Thanks,
Mike
 
On a related note...

1. how much do .308 barrels cost and

2. how much would a smith charge (ballpark) to fit one?

Mike
 
Coronach,

Champions Choice, LaVergne Tennessee...
No website, but call (615) 793-4066 for info and ask for a catalog.

Garand barrels... Douglas Premium Grade, medium wt. 30-06 or .308, 4 or 6 groove (your choice).
Standard Catalog Item.... $195.00 installed.

Send them your barreled action, with bolt, oprod, & gas cylinder. They send it (and old bbl.) back with new barrel installed and headspaced.

Can't beat it.

Swampy
 
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