The M-14 Garand is amenable to accurizing and is [or used to be] shot in competition. Has anyone tried to enhance the accuracy of the M1 carbine. I have one in .22 Johnson Spitfire. It would be a great little rifle if I could tighten up the groups some. Any suggestions?

Jordan

Dont know about accurizing, but have been interested in the spitfire for some time, just haven't researched it yet. what kind of grouping are you getting and are you reloading or using the factory load. (have only noticed one factory load)

Redsplatter:

I am using the ammo produced by D-Square Munitions in Friendswood, Texas. There is also a company in Maryland making ammo.

My rifle is one of those refurbs sold by IAI. It sure is a nice looking thing, but at 50 yards it is all over the target. I seem to get clusters of about 3" at two different locations on the target. One is upper left of the point of aim about two inches and the other is about on the bullseye, maybe a little low. I am also getting some radical dispersion with flyers. The first shot out of a cold barrel is always about 5" low, but about dead center for windage. And this notwithstanding that I am
using a Leupold 3-9 scope.

Maybe the bore needs a good scrubbing. I've shot about 75 rounds through the rifle. [Which raises another issue: how to get a cleaning rod down the darn thing from the breech end!! Someone makes a delrin cleaning port for the M1/M-14 Garand, but not the M1 Carbine.]

When I first put the gun on paper about six months ago I got a couple of three shot clusters of 2-2 1/2 inches at 100 yards [at least that is what I remember]. This was with open sights. But for some reason accuracy has gone to heck. Here is what I am thinking of doing. Have a barrel tensioning sleeve made from titanium tubing and installed forward of the gas port. [I have some Ti tubing that is just the right size]. I think I could put the last 12 inches of tube under couple thousand pounds of tension with the devise I have in mind. The barrel would have a titanium tubing shroud for its length, but the OD of the tube is only .750".

Second, stiffen the stock for the length of the action/barrel mortise by laying in carbon fiber graphite bidirectional cloth and baltic mat in an epoxy matrix [on the inside of the stock]. This would first require dremeling out the action mortise quite a bit. This would make for a very, very stiff, rigid stock.

Third, figure out some way to actually bed the reciever [tie it down in the front with some sort of anchor----it is already bolted at the rear, but needs a pillar there too].

With reciever anchored solid front and rear and the barrel stiffened and then the shroud nested in a super stiff stock at the front clamp, there would be no forces applied to the barrel at all. The barrel itself would float freely in its tensioning tube [a modified front clamp would clamp around the exterior of the tensioning tube] and the super stiff stock and action bedding would insure that even though there is a clamp at the barrel, there are no stresses on the barrel.

Finally, I would try some judicious handloading with Sierra 40 grain Blitzkings or Nosler 40 grain Bal Tips. I fantasize about 1" 3-shot groups at 100 yards with an MV of 3200 fps. That is alot to ask, I know, but one can always dream.

The M1 is a neat rifle. I'd much rather capture the mini-garand ambiance with one of those than a Mini-14. I've owned a couple of Mini-14s [could not sell them fast enough]. But if I can't tighten the groups up on this M1 Johnson, the gun is about useless as a sporting rifle.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Jordan

Jordam

The M-14 and Garand are similar, but not the same. Both are rifles and are capable of excellent accuracy with an appropriate amount of time and materials. Remember that they are/were battle rifles. There are also a few people that can really make them sing.

The M-1 Carbine is a totally different creature. Mechanics are similar, but it's a funky replacement for a pistol in it's original chambering. Now, the spitfire is a different situation. I would doubt that the modifications which were performed did much more that convert the caliber as you suspected. It's possible that your gas system needs some attention. Has it ever been cleaned? If not, that could be a reason for deteriorating accuracy.

You may want to investigate the possibility of enlisting the services of a smith with credentials in accurizing this type of rifle (carbine).

Check out the post on 'getting M-1 Garand back', see the link to Clint Fowler and give him a call. I believe that he could save you a lot of time and effort.

Be safe and happy.

jeff

Thanks for the tip Jeff!

Jordan

Jordan,

I would start by re-crowning the barrel and bedding the stock. Those are relatively cheap solutions. If it still shoots like crap, then take heart in that all the other M1 carbines also shoot like crap.

U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30, M1!!

I bored a hole in the underside center of the receiver ring, threaded it, and installed a "guard screw" in a bushing in the stock in front of the magazine well, then glass-bedded the receiver and the tang section (which fit tightly on mine!!). I was able to get it down to about 1.5 MOA with a couple of handloads (one with a cast 130-grain Lyman bullet) after removing the bayonet lug and adding a 2.75X Redfield in a mount that attached in the rear sight dovetail. The damn little powerless varmint actually shot better than my Mini-30 (no surprise!!). Too bad it was only poweful enough for short-range jackrabbit shooting!!

[ 06-17-2003, 15:23: Message edited by: eldeguello ]

Eldeguello:

I too have been puzzling over how to bed that receiver at the front. There is just nothing to fasten to. What size hole did you drill? Do you think it weakened the reciever ring significantly? I was toying with the idea of epoxying a bedding block on the underside of the front of the receiver just ahead of the mag well, but I kinda doubt it would stay on there.

Jordan

Jordan I bored ant threaded my receiver 1/4X28, using a tap I had to thread muzzleloader drums for the nipple. It was strong enough to tie down the receiver ring, but not big enough to weaken it significantly. In addititon to bedding the receiver ring and the tang piece, I put a block of bedding glass to support the rear inch or so of the barrel in front of the recevier ring and last inch of the barrel under the forend tip, then made sure nothing was touching the barrel anywhere between the receiver ring bedding block and the forend tip bedding block. As I mentioned previously, my carbine had a tight fit between the back end of the receiver and the tang piece, so I didn't need to glue or solder those two pieces together, as would be necessary if there is any side-to side slop where the tang piece and receiver join together. I never got much accuracy from G.I. ball ammo either before or after this "accurizing", but was able to work up a couple of accurate performing handloads after the modifications.

Several years after I modified my carbine, there was an article, I think in the Rifleman, which showed them drilling and tapping a receiver on a carbine, almost exactly the same way as I did!!