M1 Garand Tanker?

K

Keeper

New member
Sorry to start another M1 thread but I stopped by my favorite gun store and found out that the had a M1 made by winchester. It is a shorter version but does not look like the carbine. From what I can gather looking it up on the web it was built in 1943. It has some use but for the most part it is in great shape, especially the barrel. They want 499.00 for it so I put it on layaway until I could get some advice from people that know. The guy said it was a more compact version to go inside tanks. Everything on the gun is original from what I can see. Is this gun worth it or are they asking to much? They had a full version M1 there that was converted to .308 with a match barrel but I would rather have an M1 chambered in 30.06.

Thank you.
 
Go to the Fulton Armory Website and I think there's a writeup on the history of the "Tanker." Also, if it was fabricated by Fed. Ord of CA, stay away. Fed Ord was known as the "sparks & chips boys" for their brutal way they'd churn out guns. Their conversion is strictly a parts gun.

In short, only a few shortened Garands were made. The genesis was in both jungle fighting where a shorter gun was handier or for paratroopers (for obvious reasons). The name, "Tanker" was a marketing title coined after the war to sell guns. It works.

Returning to the shortened Garands, a field expedient conversion was sent to Springfield Armory where John Garand examined it and made a couple. These were tested and while short and handy, had terrific muzzle blasts and the idea was dropped. If you go to Springfield Armory National Historic Site today, they have both a field expedient conversion and a Springfield Armory manufactured one on display.

To make a shortened Garand requires modification of the Op-Rod or fabrication of a new one. You just can't shortened the existing rod as the rod length and barrel length is integral with the timing of the function (unlocking, feeding, locking). Gas port size may have to be changed to accommodate the faster drop in gas pressure (thanks to the shorter barrel). Another modification could be in the cutout of the op-rod where it engages the locking lug of the bolt. Cut it a little deeper or shallower will also affect the time it unlocks.

Problem is with these field expedient models, while they could work, in time they could pound themselves apart if not properly engineered. About the best one made was the Beretta version where an entire new op-rod was fabricated. Check out this month's (June 1999) issue of the American Rifleman for a short blurb on the Beretta version in .308.

Enough blabbing for now. The issue is covered fully in Scott Duff's book, "The M1 Garand: World War II."

If you have any other questions, please post it and we'll try our best to respond.

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Fusby, they want 600.00 for the one converted to .308. It looks to be in good condition, it had a ton of grease on it and in some spots I had to smudge some away to look at the condition of the metal.
 
4V50Gary. Thanks, I am mainly trying to find out if the winchester is converted or it was produced in the shorter version. It sounds like the one I am looking at is a conversion. It is kind of disappointing, I want a rifle that is as original as possible. The stock looks original but I am not positive that it is.

Thank you.
 
Keeper,

It's a conversion. The only documentable originals are at Springfield Armory Historic Site. The one you've found has no historic value.

Gary

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Hi Keeper,

To make matters worse, many of those "Tanker" M1s were made up from "cut-and-weld" receivers, so even the receiver may not be worth using to build up a "real" M1. Repeating Gary's advice, look at www.fulton-armory.com for info on these.

Also, at the time, M1s were still in limited service and the war reserve, so they were scrapped because they already had some sort of problem even before they were cut up and then welded back together. (Some people call these "re-welds" but that implies they were welded previously; I prefer "cut-and-weld.") After the "surgery" these were reparkerized with a rough, light gray parkerizing that looks nothing like an original WWII M1 of either make but served to cover up weld marks. They can look pretty good to anyone not familiar with M1s.

Jim
 
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