I own 2 BARs, one in 30-06 and one in 338, I have had the 06 for 25 years and because of its accuracy balance and dependable history I bought the 338, I have run 300 or so so rounds through the 338 without a problem
My first semi centerfire was a Rem 742, it did mot have the accuracy I wanted leading me to the BAR after seeing my friends Bar in 308 consistency print under 1"
My 742 only failed to extract once, it ripped the rim off and I attribute that to a dirty chamber other than that it also was flawless in operation.

For all you DG people none of these are CRF!
the clyle rate on these semi's has to be 600 rds a minute so I think CRF is not an issue.

The ownly problem if that is what you want to call it is the problem with speed reloading on the earlier BAR, the trap door is a pain, also on an empty mag the bolt stays in a open position held back by the mag follower, a real pain when you try and release the bolt I believe this has been corrected by the newer version. What I did to some of my magazines is to file down the lip on a small angle allowing the bolt to close which makes it easy to drop the the mag trap door or to feed another round.

i still have not seen anyone chime in here who says that they have a garand in any caliber other than .30-06 or .308. still waiting.

the sniper version of the M1 garand is called the M1C or M1D. you left out that it also had a leather cheekpiece and 3x scope in addition to the flashhider. it's effective range was 800 yds. although, some shots were made in korea out to 1,000 yds. it remained in service until the early period of the vietnam war when the m40 went into service.

about 10 years ago i went through the C.M.P. program and am now qualified to safely and accurately employ the M1 garand in the defense of this country. i qualifed expert with it in a driving rain storm, while laying in a 3" puddle.
Most guys are familiar with the C.M.P. and i will spare them the other details that were covered during the training, which took place on an army base.

all sniper rifles have had synthetic stocks since the 1970's, stop living in the past pappy. i hope you enjoyed the lesson on the M1. some of the planes in use in korea were prop driven, no one uses those anymore either.

what pearl of wisdom will you drop on us next?

i speak and understand english. what is knkia?

this board is about hunting in ak., not law enforcement or military service. if that is what you want to talk about, then go to a board that serves that clientele. you have nothing of substance to contribute here and you will not be missed.

i have 4 year college degree
2 year graduate school degree, MBA
n.r.a. cert' range safety officer, for my club.

i have taken the majority n. american 28 and have more entries in S.C.I. and B and C. books than you and your friends combined.

by what definition would i be an amateur?

you should spare the other members here from reading your non sense. contact me via p.m. if you would like more abuse.

b.t.w. the korean war is over.

Guys,

I just wanted to know if a semiauto rifle would be okay for hunting everything but brown bears in Alaskan bear country. Can every one just give their opinion or experience without commenting on, or belittling someone elses post? The idea was to read everyone's post so that I could make a somewhat informed decision.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:

quote:

Originally posted by cold zero:
i have never heard of a garand in any caliber other than .308 or .30-06.

if guys are so concerned about a fast second shot, then they should consider using a double rifle, which would be completely reliable. i do not feel that the b.a.r. would be.

the main thing is the place the first shot where it needs to be with a large enough cailber to do the job with authority using heavy for caliber premium ammo. then the rest is academic.

I'd gather you have little or no experience with a Garand from some of your comments that all sniper rifles have synthetic stocks which tells me you're a real youngster.Read a copy of the American Rifleman August 2006 page 48 and 49 shows kids like you a Scoped Sniper Garand with a flash hider along with a few pages of data,these were used a long time before you were born in all of the worlds climates.

see the above post where this thread went awry. i agree with you and i am sorry that people hijack threads and make their posts personal instead of on the topic of the thread.

back to the discussion at hand.

I have a friend who killed a brown bear that was on top of his field partner with a Garand. He fired 5 shots and the shooting was over before the first empty hit the ground. You could cover the group with the palm of your hand and it was one dead bear. After that no one talked about his "Mickey Mouse Rifle" again. There is nothing wrong with the 06 and brown bears and the Garand certainly will work just about everytime you pull the trigger. If not it would not have lasted long with our military and the hell they put that rifle through in WWII and Korea. Jim

For what it's worth-
In order for a BAR to reliably function in inclimate conditions (sub- zero cold) make sure your action is clean. As in dry. No lubrication AT ALL. The amount of times you fire it in this condition will not do permenant damage to the gun. If you must use lubrication, use a dry graphite or lithium based grease(sparingly).
A few years ago I watched two of my hunting partners try to fire their Remington 700's in sub zero cold on a 40 mile Caribou hunt in January. Click was what they got instead of boom. Keep your BAR dry (inside) and go for it if you like the gun. Just my .02.

Most shooters overlube their guns .A high quality gun lube should be good for -40 F.Very lightly lube with the highest quality oil or solid lube.The other enemy is condensation !!Bringing it back and forth from warm cabin to cold outside will certainly create condensation !!

WELL, IF you are looking for a semi that has great balance and bullet proof performance...
I shot for over 20 years in competition with the 18" version M1A (it was action shooting competition) and have 50,000+ rounds through it without a malfunction that wasn't due to a bad reload or a mag failure. And that does not include practice. The balance on the 16" is unbelieveable and with the loads avaialbe in .308 these days, except for long legs you are not losing out to the 3006 by much, but you get a better balanced product from a garand and mags from 5 round to 30 round.



SOCOM 16 *Shown with optional pre-ban 20 round magazine

This 16" version of the venerable M1A can be an effective close quarters battle rifle or just a great "ranch gun." This rifle has the minimum length barrel for a rifle under federal law. It has a proprietary muzzle brake, tritium front sight and a forward-mounted scope base that is ideal for electronic sights or other accessories.


AA9626 SOCOM 16 with Black Fiberglass Stock, Carbon Barrel(Image)
Caliber: 7.62mm NATO (.308 Win.)
Barrel: 16.25", Twist: 1 turn in 11 inches, right hand, six-groove
Weight: 8.9 lbs. (without scope)
Length: 37.25" long
Mechanism: Rotating bolt, gas operated, air cooled, semi-automatic magazine fed
Sights Front: Tritium post
Sights Rear: Enlarged military aperture with MOA click adjustments of both windage and elevation
Capacity: 10 round box magazine*
Trigger Pull: 5 to 6 lbs., two-stage military trigger
MSRP: $1,780


Still wouldn't have any qualms about carrying the BAR though. AS described at the first, we are talking close up surprise. One shot is pretty much the rule anyway, regardless of the action, and the BAR will give an edge.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr B:
500grains
How hard would it be to rebarrel a Grand to 9.3X62? I don't think any mods other than a new barrel would be needed.

Dr B

You would have to regulate the gas system which would be an R&D project in itself. Maybe the guys who make the .458 garand could pull it off, but the neighborhood gunsmith could not.

As I remember a REALLY big bear was just killed by a Forest Service guy in Ak. with a BAR in 7 mm Mag. I think it took 2 mags full but he was dead.
The Garand gas system is really tricky to balance.

mzr3yt,
Check out the ADFG website and work your way to the "HUNT PLANNING" tab it and the rest of this site gives outstanding info on recommended actions, bullet construction etc.

Pretty much recommends you bring a good bolt action and a good cleaning kit for maint. in the field.

DR. Duc-

I'm willing to wager that the story you are refering to is a fabrication sent along with a few picture of a very nice brown bear shot by a local Airman here in elmendorf airbase in anchorage, it was shot with a bolt gun in 338 win and was shot three times if I remember correctly. That email has been going around for years now. Here is a link to the real story written by the guy who shot it.

http://www.blackbearheaven.com/world-record-grizzly-bear.htm

If I'm not mistaken these will be the same pictures that you see in the email circulating around with the forest service story.