The M1 Garand is one of the best military rifles ever made and an absolute favorite to collectors and sportsmen alike. With the capabilities of this rifle, no one would question you if you wanted to modernize one with a few modifications and accessories to really bring out its full potential. If you are thinking of outfitting one of these rifles, here are a few recommendations for what to do to it.
Top 5 Top Modifications And Accessories For M1 Garand
- Ported Gas Plug.
- Holbrook device.
- Modern Scope.
- Synthetic Stock.
- Rear Butt Pad.
1- Ported Gas Plug
This is a popular modification to these old rifles. Many of them are chambered in 30-06 which is still a very popular caliber until this day but we make them a bit better than we used to. So, to be able to take full advantage of modern-day rounds and protect your rifle from possible malfunctions, you can pick up a ported gas plug and install it in just a couple of minutes.
Since the ported plugs are hollowed-out in the base, it increases the gas cylinder’s volume and decreases the pressure, therefore decreasing the amount of force on the operating rod from the propelled gas.
2- Holbrook device
A Holbrook device is a better outfitted operating rod catch. If you swap out the original with this one, you will change the way the M1 operates for the better. Here is how the Holbrook device changes the M1 Garand:
- An eight-round en-bloc clip can be inserted into the rifle and will “click” into place, but the bolt will not close until forced to do so
- An empty clip locked into the rifle can be loaded with from one to seven rounds
- The device remains in the gun, with the bolt locked back after the last round is fired. The Holbrook device only ejects from the rifle after the clip latch has been manually depressed.
To see a Holbrook device in action check out this video,
3- Modern Scope
To help keep you super accurate at long ranges, it would not hurt to add a modern scope to this beast of a gun. Although you will have to outfit it with a Picatinny rail to have somewhere to mount the scope to.
You cannot go wrong with the highly-rated and affordable Vortex Optics Copperhead 4-12×44. It allows for up to 12x magnification and will allow you to really take advantage of this accurate rifle.
4- Synthetic Stock
This may make hardcore M1 Garand history fans cringe, but with a gun that can weigh well over 10 pounds, cutting weight is a must while using it for sport. You can get synthetic stocks all over the web for affordable prices and they will definitely make this rifle easier to carry
5- Rear Butt Pad
Since this rifle is chambered in 30-06 it can have quite the kick, and if you are already changing out the stock for a lighter weight synthetic stock you may as well add a rubber butt pad to reduce the impact of the recoil.
Conclusion
The M1 Garand can be a very nice sporting rifle with just a few modifications, hopefully, you can find one for a fair price and are able to outfit it with these mods, if you do, you will not regret it.
