M1 Garand .308 Conversion Info?

[BrokenArrow]

Any info on these? How, why, when it was done?

I bought one on impulse today. Made by Springfield #302XXX, marked "7.62 NATO M11" on the bbl; told it was a Navy conversion? Chamber mod or whole new bbl? It is a very good shooter, even w cheaper surplus ammo.

I picked up a 200 rd battle pack of surplus ammo, has FNM 78-21 w NATO cross-in-a-circle headstamp. Boxes marked FNM 78-21 m/963 BALA NORMAL. Think it's 146 gr Portugese military surplus? Shoots very good from the rifle BTW.

Any info, links to same would be appreciated.

 

[Noban]

If you have a 7.62 NATO barrel, then the chamber is matching to the caliber. There are chamber inserts floating around out there that convert .30-06 to 7.62, but that's a cheap and often ineffective sollution.

Noban

 

[Backwoods]

A barrel with the chamber insert can be identified by the clearly visible, extra long neck area. Plus on the two weapons so equiped that I have examined, the junction between the insert neck and the chamber neck is clearly visible.

Like NoBan said, if the barrel is stamped 7.62 then it is just that.

The Navy converted M1s to avoid the cost of M14s and still have ammo compatibility with the Army and Marines. The chamber insert was the cheap way that flopped. Rebarreling for 7.62 was next cheapest and worked well.

Don in Ohio

 

[Lmccrock]

A while back, a local shop was selling "Navy Garands" with relatively low serial numbers, under 1,000,000. The "7.62" on the barrel looked like an overstamp because it was deeper and bigger than the rest of the markings on the barrel. The barrels had WWII era date stamps on them, so I assumed these barrels were made in 30-06, then at some point had inserts installed, and were stamped "7.62". So, there is a good chance that just looking for 7.62 on the barrel may not be enough to determine whether it is an insert.

The price was good, but the guns otherwise were not. There was severe pitting on the receivers, the finish was worn off, the wood looked bad, etc. I am more shooter than collector, so I passed them up.

You might post over at the CSP forums at http://www.jouster.com/CSP_forums.htm in the M1/M14 forum.

Lee