Its a reet Garand gun is that (Garand kit build)

Is the stained stock the original M14 item?
Looking nice tho buddy. Have you had to re-machine anything?

no the rear woodwork just hasn't been rubbed down yet its part of the kit,the original stock is black plastick .i had to make so many corrections in the woodwork it was never going to be acceptable to re-stain as it would be harder to match the colour than start again ,it could be assembled without visible corrections in the stained woodwork but the fit would have been awful and we decided it was worth the extra effort to get it as good as i can.
i haven't had to re-machine anything per-se but i did strip the front barrel assy down and put it in the lath to wet-n-dry it and blue it,gives a better finish,you could probably do the same with a black and decker drill with a bit of thought and would be worth the effort,otherwise no machining that could not be done with a dremel and a bit of time.

Nice I like it.
So was the original finish on the metalwork just black paint or was there some sort or poor bluing?
Would you say these kits are worth the money if you're handy with the spanners, as it were?

Also, what are the plans for mag choices bud?
I noticed with my k98 that DE M50/UTG M324 magazines have the same feed but are shorter and flatter so may have been a better fit in the k98 woodwork and I wish I'd tried them before hacking out for the VSR mags

Didn't know if you'd come up with a similar thing rather than crop M14 items down. If you get me

the original metal finish was paint but was very thin and came off easily ,as for magazines currently there's no plan to do any custom mags,i think mr il duce has some already or at least he's not mentioned mags to me,he's been in on these kits from the outset that they appeared and got the first one so i think he probably snapped up some of the mags then.
as for value for money ,these kits are cheep for what you get, its just the fit and finish thats not top notch but with a little elbow grease its possible to get a really nice standard gun.if you have the skills and inclination then its all good but if not or you'r expecting marui quality then maybe its not for you.
as for the length of the socom the answer is to measure the length of the outer barrel from the point where it exits the clamp fixing at the gearbox end to the end with the flashhider removed and let me know and i'll measure it up ,if its too short then we could come to a deal and i could make up a new front outer barrel that extends further back into the woodwork to meet with the socom barrel,it would also mean boreing the fore-stock out internally .

I know the socom takes an internal 420 mm barrel while the full length m14 marui takes a 500mm, in my garand i have managed to fit an PDI 560 MM barrel made for Mauri M14. If this information is usefull too you.

any updates yet dadio? got the same kit in the post today

more tomorrow ,ive just done 7 days straight all over 10 hour shifts so today was a rest.first thing on the list will be to find an additional fixing to the front wood section and barrel assy because as standard its mounted with a singe grub screw through the outer barrel onto the m14 barrel and im worried that if you use the sling to carry the gun on your shoulder it will pull it all off and it will all go a bit laurel and hardy .so im hoping to secure the metal part with the front sling mount to the main stock somehow to take the stain rather than just a single grub screw.you'll see what i mean when you'r kit terns up,or when i post some more pics.

yeah, can see what you mean, pics on what your gonna do would be great

more tomorrow ,ive just done 7 days straight all over 10 hour shifts so today was a rest.first thing on the list will be to find an additional fixing to the front wood section and barrel assy because as standard its mounted with a singe grub screw through the outer barrel onto the m14 barrel and im worried that if you use the sling to carry the gun on your shoulder it will pull it all off and it will all go a bit laurel and hardy .so im hoping to secure the metal part with the front sling mount to the main stock somehow to take the stain rather than just a single grub screw.you'll see what i mean when you'r kit terns up,or when i post some more pics.

If it is the S&S kit(?) then the front end coming off is what happen to a couple of ours. I put it down to using them for US rifle drill, which requires the picking up of the rifle from the very end.

anyway, I think it is a very good idea to strengthen it.

well once i started thinking i sort of did it,nice and simple,i drilled and countersunk two holes in the recess either side of the sling mount and screwed wood screws back into the stock behind,nice and strong now.while i was there i also drilled another hole from behind the sling pivot hole and tapped it so that a screw goes between the ends of the sling loop to stop it sliding left to right , couldn't do much to straiten the loop though its a bit lopsided.lastly a replaced the screw that holds the block to the forward wood section for a stouter one as the original was a little loose in the hole.damn-it i was suposed to rest today ,only leaves sanding and staining and blacking tomorrow then its finished.



finally this shows the position of the screw that secures the sling loop

drill from behind right into the hole for the loop but not all the way through and out the other side,that way its unseen.

i dont think this was the s+s kit ,im sure warren's standards are a little higher.

nice idea for supporting the front end

i dont think this was the s+s kit ,im sure warren's standards are a little higher.

They're definately not S&S kits, I've built 3 Garands using the S&S kit and they are very different, what you've got appears to be AZR kits as they look the same as the 2 AZR kits I've got.

ah OK.

It may have just been the couple we had, and it was only by repetitive drill practise that they became loose.

Im unsure whether to fit a fake gas tube under the front wood piece? you going to do that on this one?

not to difficult to put a gas tube in there but trying to find reference pictures is a little hard and i dont want it to look wrong,i can cut the groove in the wood on the mill and putting a fake tube in is easy,have you got a picture of it?

ah OK.

It may have just been the couple we had, and it was only by repetitive drill practise that they became loose.

they may still be held together the same way.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=10053

http://thepaulkfamily.com/gunweb/M1Garand_SFA.htm

http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand ... ands3.html

http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand ... nance.html

these are the best I can find for now

http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/php/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=10053

http://thepaulkfamily.com/gunweb/M1Garand_SFA.htm

http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand ... ands3.html

http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand ... nance.html

these are the best I can find for now

cheers some usefull stuff ,its just an angle you never get to see but ever those show it much wider and deeper than i imagined.