Anyone ever regret doing a "Tanker" conversion?

[wonder9]

I've been kicking around the idea of having one of my garands converted into a .308 tanker. The donor garand is one I've picked up as a shooter about 20 years ago fairly cheap due to the fact that the previous owner never did too good of a job cleaning it after shooting corrosive ammo. In short, the barrel has been badly pitted and the stock was bubbafied with a synthetic stock, so little historical value remains.

I've always liked the idea of a shortend Garand, but have heard a few horror stories involving this type of conversion. Has anyone on the forum actually done this, or personally knows someone who has, and can give some input on the feasibility of doing this?

[fal_762x51]

Use an aftermarket receiver and peice the rest of it together.

[Dump1567]

Good luck. I've heard these are hard to get to run right. Find a good gunsmith that knows how to build one.

I was going to have the guy that ran Armory of Orange build me one. He closed-up shop and I lost interest.

It is a sweet looking little gun.

[Sam Hainn]

I've always passed on them when I've seen them for sale, but always check to see if the receiver is worth a buy. Nobody I've ever known that owned one ever said it worked right. Most said it it failed at least once per en-bloc loaded. I've also never known anyone to tell me they work even when they said they got it from a builder that specialized in tanker conversions. The only short M1/M14/M1A style rifle ever known to work well was Springfield's SOCOM and SOCOM II because of the special gas system they put on it. It may be a good candidate for changing things, but if you do make changes, you at least want to change it into something that works.

[eviioiive]

dont know who made it but when i first got mine it ran like crap -replaced all the springs and now its 100%

[Sgt Raven]

Mine is 30/06 and runs like a champ as long as I feed it M2 spec ammo.

[MisterDudeManGuy]

Hey, if you've got the receiver, and the barrel's shot - why not? It's not like you have to alter the receiver. Seeing that's it's a simple bolt-together, I can't see the downside. I built mine on a '43 Springfield, and the build was no more work than a standard build. I do my own reloading, and I have tuned the load that it likes.

Noisy - Yes. Kicks - Yes, like a M44. All of the good temper that a Garand has, a tanker does not have. But it sure looks cool.

[metalhead357]

Hey, if you've got the receiver, and the barrel's shot - why not? It's not like you have to alter the receiver. Seeing that's it's a simple bolt-together, I can't see the downside.

Not quite You need a shortened op rod and must alter the handguards if you're making a true "tanker" version. A little more involved than a simple put together unless you can track down a parts kits ((and half of those are truly junk)). So I guess if you DO have the parts kit its closer to bolt together

Just a thought.... you could always just rebarrel or rebarrel (Full, regular military profile) with a .308 barrel, drop in a spacer block off so ~06 dont fit in and you're good to go.

[just4fun63]

yes yes yes it sucks don't do it Go .308 but stay full length

[Sailormilan2]

I built one using a CMP Woodless Dane with a shot out barrel on a kit from Numrich in 308. So far it is just as accurate as my M1A, and much more reliable. Only one handguard needs to be altered, but the barrel band needs to be altered too.

[nsa.gov]

I had an old "Blue Sky" re-import years ago that had a worn out barrel, so I had it built into the Tanker below. It's still a .30-06 and it has quite the bark but has been 100% reliable for me.

[smle-man]

I had an Arlington Ordnance tanker in 7.62mm that was impossible to load a clip into until I trimmed the opspring. It would only function properly with a T37 flash hider attached. If it wasn't on it would short recoil. I think the gas port wasn't large enough and the FH helped contain some of the gas long enough to function the action. I finally sold it to a guy who thought he could make it work. Handy little gun but very frustrating to own.

[MisterDudeManGuy]

Not quite You need a shortened op rod and must alter the handguards if you're making a true "tanker" version. A little more involved than a simple put together unless you can track down a parts kits ((and half of those are truly junk)). So I guess if you DO have the parts kit its closer to bolt together

Just a thought.... you could always just rebarrel or rebarrel (Full, regular military profile) with a .308 barrel, drop in a spacer block off so ~06 dont fit in and you're good to go.

Well, sure, you need the right parts. My point was that if someone was sweating building on a 'real' Garand, the build does not require any mods to the receiver. Given the group, and the questions being asked, I took it as a given that a kit was going to be used.

[metalhead357]

Sorry for the misunderstanding No harm meant. I saw/read it as a 'total' of how much trouble is one to build; everything I've read, heard, seen, and handled comes down to 2 things-- the parts and how well they've been assembled. Add to that there are not tooooooooo many out there- if you reun into problems then you're pretty much on your own as the "specs" books are non existant...it'll all be either trial & error, blind luck, or stumbling across someone with abetter knowlege of Garand interworkings & not just the basics.........

[badwolf]

I think this is one of those things where they are great if done right, but are easy to screw up. If you want one done right, you could always have it done by Tim at Warbirds Custom Guns

http://www.warbirdscustomguns.com/

If you visit battlerifles.com or m14forums, he goes by the handle warbird. Seems like the ones he builds always run right and he has many satisfied customers.