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#619757 09/25/22 08:51 AM
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Our local VFW Post Cmdr. asked me to do a clean up on their Garand ceremonial rifles- 6 with muzzle BFA's.. Any tips on removal, cleaning and re-installing the muzzle BFA plug and also the gas piston?? I plan to use Hoppe's No. 9, and then Rem aerosol gun oil, and "elbow grease" Those blank rounds must be loaded with a type of powder that produces a loud "bang", but not the same as the std. 172 grain Ball round. RWTF


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Run With The Fox,
I suggest you enlist the help of another post member, if you are not familiar with field striping the M-1. Likely your WW2 members will either be "gone" or won't feel like it. Korean war vets or early Viet Nam vets that were in ROTC could also help. The handle of the M-1 cleaning rod is milled to fit the gas plug and function as a wrench to remove it, by using one of the rod sections placed in the hole at the other end, as a T handle. Disassembly of these parts is pretty much self-explanatory, but while you are doing it, you may as well field strip and clean the whole rifle. The Post will be better off buying blanks than loading them. Actual arsenal loaded blanks are loaded with a very fast burning powder known as "Flash Powder" and if you could find it, is tricky and possibly dangerous to load. You can load blanks the same way as fire forming loads, using Bullseye for powder and a filler to fill the case. However, if you do this you should remove the BFAs (blank firing attachments) and reinstall the normal gas plugs. With blanks loaded this way, the filler will build up in the BFA, stopping it up and making a possible dangerous situation and maybe damaging the rifle or injuring someone. I appreciate your service, good luck.
Mike

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Thanks, Mike. I still remember how to field strip an M-1 Garand rifle, ditto its successor, the M-14. I am not 100% sure, but after the Post Commander showed me the locker in the somewhat crowded storage room where the rifles are kept, I tend to believe they do Not reload the blank rounds, and use some std. 30-06 cal. blank rounds, possibly by the Lake City Arsenal. I plan to field strip and punch out the bores, also remove the gas plug and clean that, and the BFA= itself. I doubt if these rifles have the cleaning rod sections, bore brush and patching tip and the issue handle in the butt well storage area, so I'll bring my own cleaning rods and brushes, and a basic tool kit suited to the M-1.

Still a great weapon yet today, however getting a clean SA Garand and not an armory rebuild with non-original to the sn of the rifle is IMO, almost impossible. Do you recommend I remove the gas plug and piston first, then the BFA? I will copy your informative reply and show it to the Post Commander, your knowledge of powders, reloading, primers for both military and commercial calibers, especially European, is most impressive, and I appreciate very much your sharing that with us here on the Forum. Two other comments I will pass along if I may: As you are a fellow Vet.-- have you ever received a solicitation from the Wounded Warrior Foundation? I have, and I just assumed they obtained my name and address from either the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or Marine Corps League-- I asked the Post Commander what he knew about the Wounded Warrior Foundation, and he had checked them out- they do help wounded Vets, but their CEO is paid $375,000/yr. plus an expense account. Seems a tad much to me, but then, I was perturbed when I read about the gross financial FUBARs the NRA made involving Wayne LaPierre--Second, and final remark: Young man had a Lowe Berlin1891 Gewehr he wants to sell- asking $550.00 I passed, but did look it over, and recalled that it is chambered for a different Kaliber Patronen that the later K98 Mauser. He had 2 boxes of ammo for it, another gent looked it over and the ammo-thought it might have come from Rumania?? Care to shed any light on this for me? Danke-- Der Fuchs


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The "Lowe Berlin 1891" your friend has is probably chambered in 7.65x53 Belgian or 7.65x54 Argentine. Assuming, of course, that it hasn't been Bubba'd.

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It had that "Bubba-ed-up" looked, but not too very severely, at least to my eyes. Today I looked at a WRA M1917 BA rifle- WW1 vintage-wow, and I thought a Garand was "hefty"--2 stage trigger made by the village blacksmith, IMO. Pretty beat up too, and they want $1000 for it- "as is". Boy, where has the gun market pricing gone, of course, asking price and settling price can often be a ways apart. RWTF


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Run With The Fox,
Thanks for the compliments, largely unearned though. To ID the 1891 it would help to check the Crest on the receiver ring to see the country of issue. I think, without checking, that the 7.65X53, and 7.65x54 are the same cartridge. Some countries don't include the rim in the nominal case length, and most do. Also "rounding off" results often enough in nominal case lengths differing from the actual. In any case, the 7.65 is a fine cartridge and at one time was popular enough that it was chambered in some American commercial rifles. I agree prices have gone "out of sight".
With regard to the Wounded Warrior Project, I heard the same things you said. I don't know if what they were making is out of line compared to other well-known charities. I thought we should support them, but both my local American Legion Post and the District disagreed, for the reason you gave. A 100% of nothing is nothing and that doesn't help wounded warriors very much. I think Tunnel to Towers does good work too.
Mike

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The commonly seen Argentine Mauser Model 1891 is marked:
'Mauser Modelo Argentino 1891 / Manufactura Loewe, Berlin' in 2 lines on the left recv'r wall.

Argentine Nat'l Crest on the top of the front ring,,often the crest is ground off on import milsurp rifles. This practice even goes back to the good old days of Milsurp imports . Not just anything recent.

The 7.65 Argentine and 7.65 Belgian Mauser cartridges are the same round as far as reloading and commercial ammo is concerned. Likely differences in the countries loading for their forces of course.

The odd Mauser is the Belgian Model 1889 Mauser mfg'd in the 1915/1916 period in the USA by 'Hopkins and Allen/Norwich, Conn'. That is what is proudly roll marked on the front ring.
They made a carbine version as well but fell short of their contract for the Belgian Gov't and H&A went bankrupt.
Very hard to find collectible rifle.
The Belgian Model 1889 looks like the Argentine 1891 with it's 5rd extended straight feed magazine. But the 1889 retains a sheet metal bbl jacket like the older GEW88 Commission rifle had.
All of the rest of the Belgian Model 1889 Mausers were made in Belgium. None were made by Loewe or any other German contractor.
Some will be found marked with a front top ring marking of Birmingham Etat Belge (sp?) Birmingham-Belgian State.
These are rebuilt rifles done during WW1 in England/Birmingham gun district in an area set aside for the Belgian Govt to do this work and with Belgian civilian workers.

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I did an overhaul on 6 of the Garands issued to the VFW post yseterday- varied from SA to Internation Harvestor to Winchester. All very dirty from the blank rounds and the BFA's, 3 will have to be returned to the Army Arsenal, located near Detroit, but a tribute to the design genius of John Garands, they still function with the blank rounds. A few were the spot welded variant, to prevent something. Why any body would do that is beyond me. They also had 2 Winchester 1917 BA rifles, and 3 1903's as well. Great day, good test fired with 8 rd, clips with the blank rounds. Thanks to all for the help, especially you, Mike. RWTF


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Tell us about the 03s. Were they late Remington 03A3 or early guns. What serial numbers? I check all 03s with the Springfield Research references.

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I'd like to comply with your request, Bill-but I only saw and handled the 2 1917's the post had. I only heard about the Springfields, they were stored in a separate locker, so I was just basically informed of their existence by the Post Commander. I may go back to Remus, MI again this Fall- no gun shows at the VFW post until Feb 2023, but I may take another run at that pre war M70 in .375H&H, and the dealer who has it for sale on consignment is in downtown Remus- good guy to deal with, I have found. I like both the M-1 Garand, and the M-14, but I still prefer a 1903-A3-- but then, I also like the Mauser K98-- simple, solid, reliable under all conditions-- RWTF


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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