xenophobe Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 (edited) Hey everyone, I'm a noob here... my name is Mike and thought I'd share something with all of you! I have an original 1963 military Beretta M1 Garand conversion semi-auto BM59. If you can't see the pics, on the receiver tang, it says: Cal 7.62mm P BERETTA 63 The original CAL 30 M1 on the Springfield receiver is obscured by a wavey scroll rollmark. It also has two serial numbers. The original Springfield, and a pen etch number below it, as well as one on the left side of the receiver. It is absolutely NOT a reweld, and bears no import marks. Any clue on how rare these are? What countries originally had these converted? Relative value? Any historical data, other info or comments appreciated! (I've owned it for nearly a decade and NO it is not for sale... It is one of the most fun guns I have to shoot, and I have a fair share to play with http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/wink.gif Oh, it's in 90%+ condition wise. I always considered this my "holy grail" BM-59... I've seen a lot of the Springfield imports, but I've only seen two of these in real life, not including the one featured in some GCA Newsletter I saw a while back... http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2439/bm59mo1.jpg http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5233/bm59cl0.jpg http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/999/bm599gs.jpg EDIT: Oh, if someone has a copy of the GCA Newsletter that has info on these, I would pay for a copy, an original, or even appreciate scans! Thanks in advance! Edited September 23, 2006 by xenophobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJ Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) Mike - Well, the nitro pill finally took effect and I'm calm enough to respond. Obviously a rare rifle, I wonder if it was brought back from Europe by a service member. Can you give us a general idea of how you obtained it? The Beretta receiver heel marking is interesting and very similar to the heel marking on the BM62 in the 1980 Beretta US catalog. Is the elevation knob a 1200 yd M1 type or an 800 meter BM59 piece? Is the rear sling swivel standard BM59? What did the GCA newsletter have to say about these? MRJ PS - The bolt is not marked "MNAM-FES" is it? Edited February 1, 2006 by MRJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenophobe Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) Hi, thanks for the reply and the compliments! The rifle is at work now, but I do know the rifle pretty well. The bolt has a lot number and was made by Beretta, I'm not sure if the marking you specify is on the bolt anywhere, but it is not on the top. I'll look tomorrow. The front and rear sight is 800m Beretta, as is the top handguard clip, the sling attaches to the front left side of the stock on the stock cap, and the rear bottom swivel held in by the buttplate screw and swivels to the left side... pretty much typical BM59. Standard rubber buttplate, no flip up portion. The bolt release/hold-open is marked BM59. The op rod is WRA, and obviously shortened, but not bent like the imitations. The barrel is marked P.BERETTA 7.62mm. The trigger group is mostly springfield, the housing, milled trigger guard as well as most internals except for the hammer, which is marked PB BM59. I bought it at a local gun shop from the owner who had a number of the Beretta BM62s and 69s... I think I paid about $1600 for it nearly 10 years ago... I have no idea how it got here. No back story, I bought it because it's really tightly built, and because it's interesting. I also bought a fully decked out/remilitarized BM62 that I later sold (the pin for the bolt release kept walking out). The GCA Newsletter just described many of the confusing variants of the BM59 series, but focused on the Garand conversions, and pictured an identical one, and that some earlier ones had a "62" and were marked BM59 on the tang, but the "63" didn't. They explained the conversion process that Beretta did. I have a photocopy somewhere, but I haven't seen it in at least a half-decade. I'll try to dig it up and scan it if I can. Edited February 1, 2006 by xenophobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJ Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Mike- Thanks for additional info. Moroccan BM59's have bolts marked "MNAM - FES" on the top of the bolt and this is the only marking on the bolt. Also most of the small parts which normally carry the "PB BM59" markings such as the bolt stop, windage knob, and elevation pinion are not marked on Moroccan '59's. So it looks like my guess of Morocco was wrong. Next contestant please! MRJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 xenophobe, You have a BEAUTIFUL ITALIAN LADY!!! Where is the other one that you saw? Do you think that one is for sale? hahaha I wish! Anyway, any more information, MRJ? BoeBoe, Do you have a copy of that GCA Newsletter of the BM59/62? Have you seen or heard of this rifle type? mikebaker1129, have you encountered this rifle also? Oh well, my supervisor is coming...gotta go. Be back when I can!!! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebaker1129 Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 No Pete , This is a first for me . Very interesting rifle ! I have a couple of the buttplates with out the flip up feature . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenophobe Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Pete, thanks! I believe the GCA Newsletter is issue 4-4-2. I saw another very similar to it in probably 97 or 98 at a local gun store, and don't know the whereabouts now. Sorry. I'll try to find my GCA and scan the pages for reference here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenophobe Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 A picture of the side of the trigger housing.... http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/999/bm599gs.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenophobe Posted August 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 I found the particular GCA Newsletter that features this rifle.. I'll scan it in the next few days or so and post it here... I see my original images are long gone.... here's a teaser: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2439/bm59mo1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted October 3, 2006 Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 Board Members, Do ya'll think this rifle was a Benet Arms import? Missed out on a Benet Arms BM62/69 on a gun board! DANG!!! My BM59 addiction is worse than my...shall I say, FALaddiction. I still want an early imported BM59 military decked out and a Belgian 50:63 FN-FAL metric para rifle, as well as a Joe Poyer Australian L.1.A.1 inch rifle. BUT ALWAYS, THE BM59 FIRST!!! PS Does anybody know how to create a smilies/icon of a silhouetted BM59? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 I have in my collection the following manual ARMI BERETTA Gardone Valtrompia (Brescia) Italy BM59 7.62 mm NATO Beretta-Modified M1 Garand Date December 1961 Manual quotes $42.00 USA to convert a M1 to BM59 Mark 1. It includes a fold out chart listing unmodified M1 parts used, new made Beretta parts used, M1 parts that are modified and used and M1 parts not used that are returned. Section 7 (page23) tells of a December 1st 1959 vist to the Beretta factory by NATO Headquarters (SHAPE) to view the manufacturing process and "shooting tests of various models BM59." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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