Just Released: The M1 Garand Accuracy Job Manual

Posted on July 24, 2008
Filed Under M1 Garand | 17 Comments

I just completed a project I’ve been working on for quite awhile now … the M1 Garand Accuracy Job Manual. It is complete step-by-step instructions on how to build a sub minute M1 Garand. From the beginning, I aimed this book at the do-it-yourselfer. I also aimed it at those who do not have a shop full of equipment. I show you how to do the M1 Garand Accuracy Job almost completely on your kitchen table (if your wife will let you). Lots of pictures go with the text. I think You will like it.

Now that this project is complete and available for sale, I am starting on an M1A manual. This blog is the forum I will use to answer any questions my customers may have regarding the manual. Please leave a comment if there’s anything in the manual that you are confused about. The M1 shown below used to make this manual is also available for sale. Call Clint Fowler at (540) 6723-0357 if interested.

Now available! The Clint Fowler M1 Garand Accuracy Job Ebook.
This ebook contains step-by-step instructions with 57 photos. Includes tightening rear sight and stoning trigger, glass bedding, op-rod alignment, gas cylinder modification and fitting, hand guard modification and fitting, op-rod guides, & adjustable gas plug. Do it yourself without special tools, from start to finish. Shown below is the actual gun that was used in the manual and the end results. Also shown are the test groups fired when the accuracy job was complete. Price for the Clint Fowler M1 Garand Accuracy Job Ebook: $34.95. Immediate download upon payment.

The group on the left was shot first. The elevation dispersion of that group told me the gas system needed more volume. I adjusted the set screws inside the gas plug outward 1 ½ turns and shot group 2. It is .910” wide and about 1/2” tall. The horizontal dispersion of group 2 told me my first adjustment was a little too much so I moved the set screws back in by about 1 hour of turn. That will cut the width slightly. You can tell I have tested a few guns cant you?

Ebook: Download Only: Click Here
Ebook + Print: Click Here

Now Available: The M1 Garand Accuracy Job bound and printed in full color. You get both the Ebook and the printed version for $74.95. When you checkout with the button below, you will be able to download the ebook immediately. The printed version will be mailed to you.


Ebook: Download Only: Click Here
Ebook + Print: Click Here

The Clint Fowler Accuracy Job

This M1A was a complete rack grade M1A with a Winchester G.I. chrome lined barrel. I did my standard accuracy job (no lugs) and tested it on my machine rest @ 100 yards. I used my standard test load of 40 grains of 1MR 4064, Remington Case, Fed. 210M primer and 168 Gr. Sierra bullet. I usually get 3/4″ to 5/8″ groups but this one was under 1/2″. A dime completely covered it. All this with a U.S. G.I. chrome lined barrel made by Winchester. This is why I never evaluate barrel quality until after the accuracy job is done.

The M1 Garand

Posted on July 23, 2008
Filed Under M1 Garand | 2 Comments

This gun has been relegated to second class status by most of the shooters and all because very few gunsmiths knew how to make them shoot below 1 MOA. I found out later than even the gunsmiths who built some guns which shot under 1 MOA also built a bunch of guns that would not shoot that well. I’m sure they were puzzled as to why, some of the guns, which didn’t shoot well, had custom barrels on them and still the accuracy was less than desired.

After spending 10 years building double lugged M-14/M1A’s practically all of which shot 1 MOA or less, I decided to take another look at the M-1 to see if the things which worked well on that gun also would work on the M-1. The first innovation was to put a lug on the rear of the receiver so it could be bolted down. Without a doubt this was successful. It relieved the trigger guard of its job of holding the gun together and greatly enhanced the life of the bedding job. Later, I added the front lugs to finish the job. There are two front lugs both small and mounted on the right and left sides of the receiver just under the front corners of the trigger plate. The action is pillar bedded with great care. Custom barrels were installed, op-rods aligned properly, and gas cylinders were also fitted properly. I expected dramatic results when I tested the first one but I was disappointed. Many of the guns did shoot under 1 MOA, but many did not which was very frustrating. The problem went into my hair-top computer and weeks later the analysis came out. The gun actually had two problems, both of which must be addressed in order to obtain peak accuracy and also to retain it. The first was that long skinny op-rod. I knew how to straighten and align them but I didn’t know how to prevent them from bending later. Accuracy procedures up to then said that the op-rod should touch nothing in its cycle so metal was cleared away in the stock ferrule, the liners were removed from the hand guard all in an effort to give the op-rod unfettered room to move but also unfettered room to bend. Clearly we needed some op-guide system like the M-14 has but how to put one on a rod with two bends in it? Further work for the hair-top computer. The solution came one day when I was examining a DCM issue M-1 and noticed a .050 gap between the bottom of the op-rod and the ferrule. Why the gap? Well Dummy, it’s a combat gun and you need such gaps so the gun will function even if cruded up with mud or sand and stuff like that. Hmm. None of my shooters use these M-1’s as combat guns so why do I
need poorly fitted parts? I wonder what would happen if we went in just the opposite direction? Instead of loose fitting combat parts we have snug fitting match parts, but again, how to do it on an op-rod with two bends in it. Then came the solution. The guide system had to be two pieces. The forward piece a circular track epoxyed in the upper hand guard and a lower track silver soldered in the stock ferrule. Both had to be fitted just right. They could not bind the op-rod, but they had to almost touch it, a light slide fit. I built the first pair and installed it in my own M-1 hoping it would still function without binding. I loaded a clip of Israeli ball and shot it into a rotten tree stump in my yard. It worked and thus a serious durability problem on the M-1 was solved. That still left the second problem. Read more

The AR15

Posted on July 22, 2008
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At first I didn’t think much of this gun, but it intruded itself into my consciousness against my will. The little sucker will shoot, but not all of them. I am an accuracy gunsmith who happens to specialize in service rifles. Without getting myself up to speed on the AR-15 my repertoire was incomplete. I’ve spent the last year and some expense doing so and found that all the things which make any gun shoot well also make the Mouse Gun shoot well.

1. Make sure all locking surfaces are square with the bore axis.
2. Make sure the barrel is mounted square. There is a trick to this.
3. Install a free float tube and get the sling swivel off the barrel.
4. Install the front sight squarely and vertical so that the rear sight is on center.
5. It is very critical that the barrel collar be absolutely square with the bore. This is not always true on factory guns. That is why I like to turn my own barrels or install Krieger barrels.
6. Test the gun. If accuracy is over 1 MOA try fire-lapping the barrel. It’s worked for me several times. This gun can be made to shoot near ½ MOA very consistently with good barrels.
7. Good handloading practices are the final element. The better the ammo, the better the groups.

Phone: (540) 672-0357
Clint Fowler Rifles Website

M1A/M14

Posted on July 22, 2008
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Much of what I’ve said about the M-1 is true also of the M-14/M1A. A double lug job, a pillar bedding system with free floating barrel, a quality barrel, and a match stock and you can expect sub-minute accuracy every time.

Phone: (540) 672-0357
Clint Fowler Rifles Website

Accuracy

Posted on July 22, 2008
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Accuracy is a measure determined by the shooting sport. To a Bench Rest Shooter at any range, accuracy levels below ¼ MOA (Minute Of Angle) are absolutely necessary. He uses very carefully selected ammunition fired in very precisely fitted chambers in very precisely fitted barrels in very precisely fitted actions. To achieve this and nothing less is acceptable because the target is perfection. Read more

Clint Fowler Rifles

Posted on July 22, 2008
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The gunsmith gets to meet his customer the first time by way of an ad in a publication or by word of mouth. The second type, when they contact me, are usually already sold on me as a gunsmith because of favorable comments from friends of theirs for whom I have built guns. The first do not have that advantage, so it behooves me to make a good impression on them by way of a phone call or by sending them this brochure. For that reason I thought long and hard about what I would say in this brochure. I finally came to realize that if I looked at their needs the way I did when I was an active shooter I could anticipate their questions and offer some solutions. First off I want you to know that I take my work very seriously and accuracy, reliability and durability are serious concerns of mine as they should be yours. For this reason, I keep records of accuracy. My last 10 M1A’s averaged .7495″ at 100 yards. That’s a pretty nice average. My M-1 Garands are also shooting below 1 MOA, my last gun shot .740 with 2 bullet weights, 168 gr. and 185 gr.

First lets examine the M-14 or M1A. There are things I do to this gun that are producing the accuracy levels needed for today’s Master Class and High-Master Class Shooters. I install both front and rear lugs on this gun. Both lugs are of my own design, a design that was copied by Armscorp and by Smith Enterprises. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Of the two lugs, many say the rear lug is the most important, but I disagree. Why? Because if you examine the forces placed on the receiver by the act of firing one round you will see that the front of the receiver tries to rise upward. The thrust on the rear of the receiver is downward because the receiver is held in the middle by the hooks on the trigger group. This being the case it’s easy to see that rear lugs only increase bedding area while front lugs do all the work of holding the receiver securely in the bedding job. This also explains why guns properly double lugged will wear out a barrel and sometimes more before a new bedding job is needed. Contrast this to an unlugged gun that will wear out a bedding job in 1200-1500 rounds. In my bedding jobs I use steel bushings around both bolts. The surest way to ruin a bedding job is to tighten the bolts too tight. My steel bushings prevent that and also preclude the use of torque wrenches to tighten the bolts. The technology worked great on bolt guns so I saw no reason it wouldn’t work well on service rifles. It did. Read more