2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 27, 2006 18:21:41 GMT -5
After about 8 months of trial error, frustration and squandered financial resources I have finalized the design that is workable and I think reasonable. I am offering complete kits (in limited quantities) to convert your Marui M-14 into a reasonable M1 Garand. The Basic kit as shown: includes all the parts needed to modify your existing gun in roughly 2 hours (probably less). Cost is $350.00. The kit tweaks actual Garand wood and real steel veteran parts so they can be mounted and will stay secure on your Marui M-14. I prep and gather the parts along with additional brackets and supplies and provide them as a conversion kit. The end result, though not perfect, looks very impressive. Additional efforts can be made to refine the finished product further and more elaborately then shown. A more complete (and expensive) kits will be created but the photos depict the basic kit after 2 hours labor. (or less) with no additional efforts. Instructions and photos cover the base transformation (as shown) and suggested additional efforts for those wishing to do them which further refines the transformation. Simple to follow, step-by-step instructions with extensive photographs and diagrams along with all brackets and adapters make the process easy. You'll need a hack saw and screw driver or dremel for one simple cut and ordinary tools (A small hex wrench thats needed is included in the kit.) Everything you need to create the gun shown is included in the kit. (except the saw or dremel and screw driver. At last an affordable AEG alternative to Thompsons. Your total cost will be well under $800 for a wood and metal custom WW2 Custom replica. (Figure the base gun at $400.00 or so and the kit at $350.00.)
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yonazarith
Private
Gren. Adler 719. I.D.
Posts: 12
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Post by yonazarith on Mar 28, 2006 14:31:42 GMT -5
Now I just swiched my M14 for a Thompson, but anyway... How have you you done with the mags? Short things or regular M14 ones? Looks good anyway.
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Post by westesson on Mar 28, 2006 15:37:14 GMT -5
wow thats just amazing. A small question, can you send it outside US? Because i'am living in sweden. If you do that a will take one.
Can the gun be build back to an m14?
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Post by westesson on Mar 28, 2006 16:10:00 GMT -5
oh a forget one thing are the barell a real one or not? If yes the kit would be "no no" in sweden
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 28, 2006 18:22:22 GMT -5
The kit of course can be shipped anywhere I would imagine. The kit uses your M-14 Marui barrel with my enhancement parts (so it all fits) so if you have a M-14 you're all set. You have to cut about 3 inches off the end of the M-14 stock in order to accomodate the garand front handguard so essentially you couldn't go back with the basic kit to an M-14. The cut comes essentially right at the sling swivel.
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Post by westesson on Mar 29, 2006 0:15:17 GMT -5
But wit a new m14 stock a can go go back? (a have two, one OD one white)
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 29, 2006 1:20:38 GMT -5
Absolutely If you have two M-14 stocks currently you could use one for the conversion saving the other to switch the gun back and forth. In essence you'll wind up with two guns in one. M-14 and Garand.
About an hour and a half to make the switch. Nothing is modified on the M-14 mechanicals that will prevent it from going back to it's original form. Keep in mind for the simplest conversion the Marui wood variant is the best base M-14 to use. I have however used the OD M-14 as a base gun and while it requires a little bit more work it can be used. I guess you'd have to decide which base stock to use.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 29, 2006 20:37:37 GMT -5
Check with your countries laws to be sure. The parts I will ship with the kit will in fact be REAL parts from a Real gun. They will have been modified and would no longer be scoped and able to fit properly on a Garand but odds are your Customs inspectors won't know that. In no way could they be in and of themselves converted to a gun. Mostly they are wood stock parts and modified Gas reservoir assembly parts. Quite innocuous in and of themselves but you'd better check to be sure they wouldn't get seized.
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Kardinal
Private
Oh Noes Ruskies!
Posts: 10
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Post by Kardinal on Mar 30, 2006 11:31:25 GMT -5
I'm extremely interested. So how do the mags work?
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 30, 2006 11:41:11 GMT -5
You can use regular un modified magazines for the M-14 or cut them down for looks and more realistic ammo capacity. I include one cut down magazine (protrudes about 1/4") and directions with the kit so you have a templete for how to do others.
(see first post for large images ;D )
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Apr 7, 2006 2:53:05 GMT -5
I just did an OD stocked Marui conversion. I was able to buy one cheap on Ebay. $340.00 (M-14s are pretty hot guns on the market and somewhat hard to come by stateside.) I wasn't sure how invoved doing an OD stocked Marui would be. I spent the better part of the day working on the stock getting it basically to the point a simulated wood stock starts out at. First I had to dissamble the gun completely so I could work on the stock in isolation. Some of that would have had to be done anyway but typically you don't have to take em apart nearly as much when converting the kit. I pulled the wiring out and removed all the metal hardware from the stock.
Then I sanded the textured grip waffle marks both at the grip and forearm of the lower stock. (Uhg!!!!!) I hate sanding. Obviously the simulated wood stock wouldn't require this. Once the signs of a fiber stock was gone I did the normal prep efforts to improve the wood like looks of a Marui stock. I streak the plastic with a sharp blade and sand it with extremely coarse sand paper following lines that woodgrain would take. Once i finished that and cleaned it off I painted it. I used a paint called of all things "Wood" which is a color I got at a hobby store. It was way too light and I was not pleased. (A very very light tan) I then went to the hardware store and found a flat medium tan called "Nutmeg" I did a coat in that and let it dry only to discover that my two coats of paint had now eradicated my texturing effects with the blade and coarse sandpapaer so I repeated those steps. Having completed that I cleaned it off and applied black thinned out dye that essentially fills into the grooves formed with the blade and sand paper which gives the gun a much better real wood sort of look then the plastic Marui stocks. Once that dried I thinly coated it with the brown dye until the shade matched the real wood stock components from my donor garand.
Every set of donor Garand wood I have is slightly and in some cases extremely different so there is something of an art to getting the stock to match reasonably well. The secret dye I use is liquid shoe polish like you buy in a five and dime store. It comes in a small bottle with it's own applicator sponge on the end. I streak coat it on lightly and if it bubbles up a bit I simply run a cloth lightly over it in the direction of the grain. Once you apply enough coats to get the shade you want you let it completely dry. (it dry quickly!) After that I apply real shoe polish over the whole thing to seal it and give the plastic a finish like a real stock would have.
I finished assembling the Garand conversion and once together it looked great. You'd never guess that the base stock was an OD fiber replica stock. The Garand wood and lower stock is my best match yet and looks super.
This process that I use for my conversion kits can be used on any replica gun you currently have with a simulated wood stock. I've done it to my AKs and Thompsons as well as M-14s (and of course now my Garands) I highly recommend it for your WW2 weapon to further set of your impression. I often have people guess that I've put a wood kit on my airsoft weapons when in fact they're just dressed up plastic.
When time permits I'll do a full explanation with pictures in the technical section. All of this is spelled out with photos in my Garand conversion kits and the materials including the shoe dye and sand paper are included in the kit.
After my day playing with this OD Marui I know it can be used but unless you get a great deal on one or have one already I'd highly recommend you use a simulated wood M-14 as your base gun if you're considering the conversion. One positive about the OD stocks is that the black circular ring in the side of the M-14 stocks are not present in the Fiber stocks so this is one step (filling the holes) that you don't have to do that I recommend people do with their wood stock conversions as Garands didn't have that ring.
Incidently several people asked me in Private messages if the cut down magazines fit in the 10 pocket Garand pouches and they do.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Apr 16, 2006 16:31:38 GMT -5
My second shipment of Garand components is due in Monday and I should have another 10 to 12 complete kits modified and assembled by Friday. (I am home this week) Also I added a few additional comments and pictures to the assembly manual (Based on feedback) along with some details on further tweaks that can be done to add even more realism to the modification for those wanting to do the extra steps not depicted. (Filling and grinding) About half of the kits are unsold at this time so if anyone is interested let me know.
The response has been great. Thanks to everyone
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Apr 28, 2006 14:23:59 GMT -5
Kits have been sent to Airsoft Extreme so if I'm out of stock you can purchase them from them. Their cost is $350.00. They should be available for shipping in less then a week.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on May 1, 2006 16:47:15 GMT -5
As mentioned elsewhere I have my one remaining prototype (original design) prior to the finalized current version listed currently on Ebay. It may end up representing a very good buy. (Depending on what it ends up selling for.) It is in many ways superior to the finished guns I currently sell for $800.00. It is upgraded considerably shooting at just under 400 FPS with .20 gram and the details on the replica are actually more authentic to an actual Garand. (It gas far more actual Garand parts then the current configuration) The steps I took with it from a time and effort perspective are too involved to justify. I have well over $1200 invested in the gun itself and know it'll most likely sell for well below that. (I hope however that I'm wrong!) Here is the link to the listing: cgi.ebay.com/Airsoft-Custom-M1-Garand-AEG-original-Prototype_W0QQitemZ7238282504QQcategoryZ64635QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemI hope it stays in the WW2 airsoft community!
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