[Earthquake]

I am rebuilding a M1 Tanker my Brother bought 30 years ago which turned out to be a reweld receiver with a muffed up 2 groove 03 barrel, I have been working on this thing off and on for the last 3-4 years.

The rifle started out with a 17 1/2" barrel and I bought one of those barrels off of E-bay, it is 18 1/4" so the op rod is short by about .800", I cant afford to buy a op rod and I don't want to use a long gas piston to make the length so I thought what I would do is cut the tube off the op rod and make a new one.

I have a piece of 1/2 x .049 CM tubing in the shop, I figure I would cut the old tube of at the weld and TIG the new tube on and either bend it to fit a USGI gas cylinder or leave it straight and use a BM 59 gas cylinder and silver solder the piston on,

Does a BM 59 GC fit a Garand barrel splines?

I want to be able to use as long of a op rod spring as I can so I will modify the follower rod to move the spring as close to the bend. This is going on a mildly pitted Winchester receiver and is going to be .308 W/7.62 N, Does it sound like it will work?

I know you guys are going to tell to ship it off to Shuffs and lord know I would love too but I am on disability and don't make a lot of cash so that's not going to happen. Thanks for any help

Casey
I know if GUS was here he would say "have I told you how much I hate M1 Tankers"

 

[MontanaLon]

Why not just splice in a piece long enough to make it work?

 

[Earthquake]

Why not just splice in a piece long enough to make it work?

I thought about but I think its the dogs leg bend I don't like. I am going to research the BM59 set up and see if it will work.

Casey

 

[David Sarnoff]

If you have a problem with an op road send it here:

http://www.columbusmachine.com/oprod.htm

Or call them and see what they can do for you. These are the folks who do it right.

 

[MeatyMac]

I have built several Tanker Garands but I always modify an existing M1 op rod, bending it and cutting it short then sending it off to Columbus Machine for a new pistion.

I was going to tell you about the Wolf M1 Tanker spring with the standard follower rob but I see you've already been told about it, and how much Gus hates Tanker Garands: link http://m14forum.com/steel-wood/142098-need-op-rod-spring-tanker.html . You have been at this one a long time, haven't you...

One thing maybe no ones told you about is that to help the op rod fit into the gas cylinder all the way I open up the rear opening of the gas cylinder on its bottom surface including the squared tab, the first op rod bend back from the piston always seems to be right at the rear bottom of the cylinder, opening it up a bit releaves the interference.

 

[Earthquake]

MeatyMac
Yea, I have been working on this thing for awhile I'm not in a hurry, I still need to finish ream the chamber for head space, I have the pull through reamer here some where I bought to do it. I usually have 2-3 guns I am working on most of the time, Right now I am bounce back between this Tanker and a 1911 I am rebuilding with a occasional AR build thrown in for fun. When I run into a problem I put it to the side and play with some thing else for awhile and contemplate the problem in the back of my mind.

Casey

 

[MeatyMac]

I saw your post in the other thread about posting a pic of a Tanker op rod, I have 2 that I'll take a couple of pics of and post them up for you, but first I have to get through my Honey Do list today before I can get into the shop to play, maybe later tonight.

Okay, here's one, it's a SA curved side -9

And here's a SA curved side -6 with different bends then the one above, the bends are a little more gradual and start further back towards the handle.

 

[timshufflin]

Sir, I know that you stated you didn't want to go with a longer piston but I offer that this is the best solution. It is less expensive, easy, and the rifle will like it. The advantage to what your considering is that you'll get to store more oprod spring in a longer rod, I get that. I'd go with the longer piston, unmodified follower rod, Wolff High Power tanker spring.

Yes a BM59 gas cylinder will work on a standard Garand barrel. You'd go with a 3" brake from Standard parts or one of their BM59 gas modifiable gas locks.

Peace and good luck to you.

 

[beeks]

If I were you, I would put it up for sale to see if anyone is in need of an op rod that length.

If it sold I would buy this:
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/1555090.htm

That way you could help somebody find what they need, put some money in your pocket and end up doing what you suggested in the first post. I bought one. I believe someone cut a Springfield made Italian length M1 op rod in half just to reduce the shipping costs back into the US. It hardly looks used, but the handle is a little rough. It has 7.62x51 stamped on the side.

I put a M14 barrel and gas cylinder on a M1 receiver. That was before I found the op rod listed above. I purchased a good Italian return. I heated it red hot and straightened out the bends. It wasn't difficult at all to get it straight. Then I shortened it for the M14 gas piston.

 

[Earthquake]

If I were you, I would put it up for sale to see if anyone is in need of an op rod that length.

If it sold I would buy this:
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/1555090.htm

That way you could help somebody find what they need, put some money in your pocket and end up doing what you suggested in the first post. I bought one. I believe someone cut a Springfield made Italian length M1 op rod in half just to reduce the shipping costs back into the US. It hardly looks used, but the handle is a little rough. It has 7.62x51 stamped on the side.

I put a M14 barrel and gas cylinder on a M1 receiver. That was before I found the op rod listed above. I purchased a good Italian return. I heated it red hot and straightened out the bends. It wasn't difficult at all to get it straight. Then I shortened it for the M14 gas piston.

Beeks
Thanks for posting that, I did not know they had them, I ordered one to modify instead of the one I have. the barrel on my tanker was originally 17 1/2" the new barrel I have is 18 1/4".
I ordered one of the stripped BM59 Gas cylinders and I have a piece of 1/2" .049 wall chrome moly tubing I am to use to build my op rod. I like the idea of a straight op rod.

Casey

 

[Earthquake]

Sir, I know that you stated you didn't want to go with a longer piston but I offer that this is the best solution. It is less expensive, easy, and the rifle will like it. The advantage to what your considering is that you'll get to store more oprod spring in a longer rod, I get that. I'd go with the longer piston, unmodified follower rod, Wolff High Power tanker spring.

Yes a BM59 gas cylinder will work on a standard Garand barrel. You'd go with a 3" brake from Standard parts or one of their BM59 gas modifiable gas locks.

Peace and good luck to you.

Thank you Tim, I may try that if the BM59 GC does not work out, I like the idea of a straight op rod. I ordered one of the stripped BM59 gas cylinders from Standard parts to play with, I will need to figure out a spindle valve or weld up the holes, I am thinking about trying to make a spindle valve like a M14 valve, I don't have it in my hands yet to put the old MK1 eyeball on it.
I wish I could afford to send it to you and get it done right but my Disability check only goes so far.
I cant wait to hear what every body is going to say when they find out I am doing it to a Winchester receiver, It has some mild pitting most of it below the wood line but it has some that shows in other places too. it even has a Winny bolt and trigger group, I wish I had a junk Winny op rod to mod.
I guess I could pull down my Fed Ord and do it to it but it such a nice shooter that I would hate to take it apart.

Casey

 

[beeks]

Beeks
Thanks for posting that, I did not know they had them, I ordered one to modify instead of the one I have. the barrel on my tanker was originally 17 1/2" the new barrel I have is 18 1/4".
I ordered one of the stripped BM59 Gas cylinders and I have a piece of 1/2" .049 wall chrome moly tubing I am to use to build my op rod. I like the idea of a straight op rod.

Casey

Chrome moly? Often times Chrome moly steels have medium carbon content which makes them harder to weld and more likely to crack when welding. The weld will get hard if carbon content isn't low. Go ahead and try it. If it doesn't weld well use the tube and piston that came with the op rod. Just heat it, straighten it, and shorten it first.

 

[Frank Black]

If you have a problem with an op road send it here:
http://www.columbusmachine.com/oprod.htm
Or call them and see what they can do for you. These are the folks who do it right.

Agree. Ask for Mike Stacey @ Columbus Machine Works. He makes op rods, or re-builds them, to spec for both Tankers and full-size Garands. Knows what he's doing.

 

[beeks]

Agree. Ask for Mike Stacey @ Columbus Machine Works. He makes op rods, or re-builds them, to spec for both Tankers and full-size Garands. Knows what he's doing.

I've heard good things about them too. However, working on the tube and piston half of the op rod isn't nearly as fussy work as working on the rear half. I would try it myself first. If it's not bent correctly the first try you can just bend it again.

 

[Earthquake]

Well I got some more parts for my build today, I ordered one of the cut op rods from Numrich. The back half was pretty pitted but I think can clean it up, its a H&R back half, I was hoping for a Winchester, oh well. The tube they sent me is a little bent and has some pits so I am going to use the piece of CM tube I have on hand.
I am assuming the gas piston is silver soldered in the tube, I may order a new piston instead of using the old one. I found a 2512 aluminum arrow shaft fit inside the tube and op rod back half perfect so I have the alignment part figured out.
Standard products set me up nice on a BM59 gas cylinder, I ordered a stripped GC and they sent me one with the spindle valve and grenade launcher sight installed so now I don't have to make a spindle valve for it. The gas cylinder is a good tight fit on my barrel, it took a plastic hammer to tap it on.
More to come [with pictures]

Casey

 

[IRON WORKER]

I've made several tanker op rods ,I have a template for the 18 1/4'' barrel .The rod is 11.625'' long saddle to piston tip .
I use a 1/2'' hand held pipe bender , some careful angle determination and mark bend centerlines it fairly easy to bend the tubes. They are soft steel 1026 I believe arm section is carbon steel hence the disimilier metal friction weld they use..I use angle gage and bend first until angle is correct then bend second bend until tube sections are parallel.

I make my own pistons from 17-4 and have them heat treated to 900F PH specs.Install with 1250 STL Fusion silver braze .

 

[Earthquake]

Here's a few pictures of the cut op rod I got from Numrich, it was pretty pitted but I draw filed most of it out and I am going to bead blast it and fill the bad spots with epoxy and paint it so it wont be to bad when its done.
A Easton 2512 arrow fit inside with a few thousands play to align the tube to the handle when I tack weld it together, I changed my mind about using the cut tube because I don't want to have to deal with silver soldering the gas piston on the tube. I need to figure out what I am going to use for a gas lock before I can figure out how long to cut the tube, since the gas cylinder came with the grenade sight I would like to use the "Tri Compensator" but the Standard parts sight not to use it on a Garand barrel, I am going to call and find out why.

Casey

 

[Earthquake]

Iron Worker
The op rod that was on the rifle is 10 7/8" from the back of the hooks to the tip of the piston, the barrel that was on the rifle was a twp piece affair made from a M1 stub and a 2 groove 03 barrel and it was only 17 1/2" long, who ever built it used a brass shim to get the barrel to time on the receiver, it was also a Springchester receiver, the back half was a Springfield and the front half was a Winchester, I had a slightly pitted Winchester receiver sitting in the safe doing nothing so I used it for this build.
I bought a 7.62 NATO barrel of of Ebay that actually came from Standard parts, Its a nice barrel I need to finish ream it when I get every thing else done. I have been working on it off and on for several years so I am not in a big hurry.

 

[Earthquake]

OK I am going to weld my cut op rod I bought from Numrich, I am going to use the GI parts instead of the chrome moly tube.
What TIG wire would work best? I am not worried about Parkerizing it so I was thinking about using stainless wire, I may have some Cronatron 333 if I dig around.

Casey

 

[IRON WORKER]

I'm fairly sure the tubes are 1026 IIRC about any good filler will work
ER70 .Stainless usually does fine I've mostly use 309L ,I've used cronotron 333 in stick form .