Is this a practical sidearm in case of an up close Bigfoot encounter?

[Huntster]

7 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

........There are better ways than facing off and grinding it out.  

 

Yup. Thank God for Fat Man and Little Boy. The invasion of Japan would have been incredible devastation.

[Airdale]

My dad was on Tarawa with the 98th Navy Construction Battalion heading up the sign shop; he and his crew made grave markers for the 1,100 plus Marines and Navy Corpsmen killed in the invasion as well as memorial markers for the cemeteries. They finished in March and rejoined the Battalion,  which had already left, in Hawaii. When the bombs dropped they were on Maui training for the invasion of Japan. My older brother and two sisters were born before the war, but I came along in '51. Had the invasion proceeded as planned I may never have been born. I've got his issue knife, albeit with a new grip as the leather washers rotted away while I was a kid, but still would like to find a decent M1 Carbine like he carried. 

[Huntster]

10 hours ago, Airdale said:

....... but still would like to find a decent M1 Carbine like he carried. 

 

My Dad also carried an M1 Carbine during cave clean up on Okinawa. I made a discovery the other day as I investigated M1 Garand availability for my next gin project (an M1 Garand in 35 Whelen with 20" barrel):

 

Original M1 Carbine sales out of the Civilian Marksmanship Program are completely sold out, and are now so rare that they are auction only if and when they become available, and Gun Broker prices for originals are sky high. 

 

More, the current firearm and ammo panic buying, combined with Covid closures at CMP, has resulted in near zero availability for Garands, too. Gun Broker availability of Garands is still fairly good, but prices are going up.

 

My Garand bear repellant rifle is maturing into a potential small business idea. I'm now thinking of using the future prototype to market the concept in Alaska to compete with the lever rifles.

[SWWASAS]

15 hours ago, Huntster said:

 

Yup. Thank God for Fat Man and Little Boy. The invasion of Japan would have been incredible devastation.

We are much malined for dropping the bombs but the act saved probably over a million Japanese as well as Allied lives.    The Japanese civilians were being instructed to fight to the death by any means possible.    It would have been a bloodbath unseen in history.  Fortuneately their Empiror litereally saw the light when the bombs were dropped.  

[PNWexplorer]

4 hours ago, Huntster said:

 

 

 

My Garand bear repellant rifle is maturing into a potential small business idea. I'm now thinking of using the future prototype to market the concept in Alaska to compete with the lever rifles.

I have a .35 Whelen Model 70 and it is a dandy cartridge.  To go up against the lever guns for bear defense, it needs to be as light, as short, and offer increased capacity in a proven and readily available cartridge.  

 

The M1 Garand can also be finicky in cold weather if the proper lube isn't used.

 

I think you'll have a hard time convincing them that it's a better choice than a .45-70 lever gun.

 

Definitely a cool concept, though.

[norseman]

11 hours ago, Huntster said:

 

My Dad also carried an M1 Carbine during cave clean up on Okinawa. I made a discovery the other day as I investigated M1 Garand availability for my next gin project (an M1 Garand in 35 Whelen with 20" barrel):

 

Original M1 Carbine sales out of the Civilian Marksmanship Program are completely sold out, and are now so rare that they are auction only if and when they become available, and Gun Broker prices for originals are sky high. 

 

More, the current firearm and ammo panic buying, combined with Covid closures at CMP, has resulted in near zero availability for Garands, too. Gun Broker availability of Garands is still fairly good, but prices are going up.

 

My Garand bear repellant rifle is maturing into a potential small business idea. I'm now thinking of using the future prototype to market the concept in Alaska to compete with the lever rifles.

 

Modernizing old war horses IS a thing! M1A SOCOM and this... HCAR

 

https://oow-govmil.com/firearms/hcar-heavy-counter-assult-rifle/

[Huntster]

6 hours ago, PNWexplorer said:

I have a .35 Whelen Model 70 and it is a dandy cartridge.  To go up against the lever guns for bear defense, it needs to be as light, as short, and offer increased capacity in a proven and readily available cartridge.  

 

The M1 Garand can also be finicky in cold weather if the proper lube isn't used.

 

I think you'll have a hard time convincing them that it's a better choice than a .45-70 lever gun.......

 

You're right; a 20" barrel Garand would be 2.5" longer than a Guide Gun, and a tad heavier. Cutting the barrel to 18" or 16" would simply rob the 35 Whelen cartridge of too much velocity. I need 2600 fps out of a 225 grain bullet.......2500 fps at a minimum. Also, probably more importantly, ammo selection simply isn't there. It would be a reloaders gun. What attracts me to the idea is a dependable semi automatic rifle with open sights (tritium front sights are already available), carried on an empty chamber with 7 hard hitting rounds in the magazine and quick reloads, and accurate to 150 yards. 

 

Most Alaskans who already have a Guide Gun would still be in love with their rifles, as am I, but there are plenty of idiots like me who'd just have to have one! One never has too many cool guns!

[norseman]

Good read on modernizing a Garand.

 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2020/3/11/building-a-modernized-m1-garand/

[NatFoot]

Before they were lost in a boating accident, I owned an M1 Garand and Carbine. Fun guns with tons of history.

 

My grandfather carried a carbine as a 57mm AT gunner at the tail end of the Bulge and into Germany.

[Incorrigible1]

And here's an article on "Tanker" Garands, shortened-barrel versions. The blinding muzzle-flash generally put the kibosh on their effectiveness.

 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2020/10/26/tanker-garands-the-real-story

[norseman]

In some ways I like the enbloc clip vs a box magazine. 

With a ruck thrown on the ground a guy can get low behind the sights. versus a big mag sticking out the bottom.

[NatFoot]

1 hour ago, norseman said:

In some ways I like the enbloc clip vs a box magazine. 

With a ruck thrown on the ground a guy can get low behind the sights. versus a big mag sticking out the bottom.

 

It's a lot easier to load an enbloc clip than a magazine for me. Even throws itself out when done!

 

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

On 10/26/2020 at 9:08 AM, NatFoot said:

Before they were lost in a boating accident, I owned an M1 Garand and Carbine. Fun guns with tons of history.

 

My grandfather carried a carbine as a 57mm AT gunner at the tail end of the Bulge and into Germany.

Those darn boating accidents!  I had a couple of those as well.  

 

Lol.  The feds will think that every lake and river has 20 feet of guns at the bottom.

[Huntster]

On 10/26/2020 at 6:45 AM, Incorrigible1 said:

And here's an article on "Tanker" Garands, shortened-barrel versions. The blinding muzzle-flash generally put the kibosh on their effectiveness.

 

I picked up a Fulton Armory M1 Garand Tanker at a gun show in the 1990's at the bargain price of $450. It's in 7.62x51 caliber, which is a much better caliber for a shorter barrel length. Indeed, its 18" barrel is still 2" longer than my Springlield Armory M1A Socom. I added an original blade style flash suppressor on my Tanker and ended up with a pretty cool carbine.

 

Shuff's Parkerizing has been marketing a modified M1 Garand he (Tim) calls the Mini-G with a 16" barrel ! I got to thinking how the 7 round magazine on an empty chamber of 30-06 would be pretty good bear repellant, but upon learning that he also does the 35 Whelen barrel conversion, I really got interested. But 16" is too short, regardless of what he's telling me (I called and spoke with him), even with faster burning powders. A 37" rifle is super nice for carry, but I'll sacrifice another few inches of length for that velocity as long as I stay under 40" of total length.

 

A group of friends operated a black bear bait station for over 20 years near the confluence of the Yentna and Susitna Rivers in Alaska. During those years it was illegal to take brown bears over bait, but you could be sure they'd show up, and they'd keep you in the trees well past dinnertime back at camp. One of these engineers, a bow hunter,  got a Remington 7600 pump action rifle in 30-06, bought cheap 10 round magazines for it, chopped the barrel to 16", and installed a Remington 870 shotgun pistol style grip on it for a backup gun over the standard 44 magnum revolver. Cool assault rifle for bears!

[norseman]

I had one and it was a boat anchor. This one is a lightweight model in .44 mag.