M1 Garand from a Kit?

[wintermute]

I bought one of those Garand kits (from spare parts) a bunch of years ago, picked up a sweet Winchester receiver, refinished the stock, but never got around to building it. I think I'll actually get a chance to work on it soon. Has anyone done this and are there any things I should have a gunsmith check out before firing it? Headspace etc.?

Any one have any good tutorials to put it together? I think I've pretty much figured it out, but I want to make sure.

 

[mrmaigo]

Here's someone else's forum post, also has a nice looking guide liked in the first post.
http://www.nyfirearms.com/forums/rifles/building-an-m1-garand-from-a-parts-kit/

There doesn't seem to be any tooling so as long as you don't FUBAR the build or you don't have bad parts, there shouldn't be anything that can go wrong. :foot:

 

[wintermute]

Thanks MrMaigo!

Through that link and some research, I think my course of action is to...

1. get a muzzle wear gauge (Fulton Armory sells one, I'm not familiar with them, hopefully it's accurate) to determine if the barrel's shot out.

2. Assemble the thing

3. Find a gunsmith (hopefully a reliable) to check headspace, working condition, etc.

I guess the main thing I need to figure out now is should I screw the barrell into the receiver, or should I let a professional handle this?

Anyone have any personal experience w/ this?