~Garand Gas Cylinder Problem~

Vimy Ridge

Vimy Ridge

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Okay, so I picked up a new Garand recently and I was stripping it down to give it a thorough cleaning / inspection and I get to the gas cylinder and it's stuck on there pretty good. On my other Garand the gas cylinder just slides off without any effort. I'm thinking a bit of carbon build up has made it stick. I don't want to use much force and damage anything. I tried tapping it lightly with a rubber mallet but it won't budge.

Any suggestions? Has anyone dealt with this problem before?

:confused:
 
The possibility exists that a previous owner peened the splines on the barrel to stop the gas cylinder from moving. It's one of the things done when accurising an M1. I'd give a harder whack with your mallet. Or a hunk of wood and a plastic mallet.
 
Leave it alone! Maybe it's on that way for a reason, like to make the rifle shoot more accurately. If the rifle was matched at any time the gas cylinder would have been fitted tighter!

Scott
 
Okay, so to clean out the gas system I would just pull out the oprod and clean without removing the gas cylinder? And I guess removing the front wood is not an option then either. I think I'll just leave it well alone. Glad I asked first, thanks guys!
 
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Vimy Ridge said:
Thanks for the link, I'm a bit of a Garand noob as you can tell, but I got the itis!

Garanditis. It's hitting me hard. :runaway:
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I know exactly what you mean, I got a beautiful 1953 International Harvester with a beautiful IH stock. I like showing it off so here goes.
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The Depot Maintenance Manual (TM 9-1005-222-35 on pg.29) clearly shows the Gas Cylinder being removed with a hammer and drift by the technician. Make sure the cylinder lock is removed (ya I know a bit obvious but you never know…..) and check to make sure some knob hasn’t welded it on to compensate for a lose fitting cylinder and try giving it a few good hits with your mallet. It may have a build up of carbon at the gas port.
 
Never met a gas cyl I couldnt remove. keep trying with a rubber mallet. lumber, even pliers that have a thick rubber coating on the handle. you can give it some wd40 too.
 
#4mk1(T) said:
The Depot Maintenance Manual (TM 9-1005-222-35 on pg.29) clearly shows the Gas Cylinder being removed with a hammer and drift by the technician. Make sure the cylinder lock is removed (ya I know a bit obvious but you never know…..) and check to make sure some knob hasn’t welded it on to compensate for a lose fitting cylinder and try giving it a few good hits with your mallet. It may have a build up of carbon at the gas port.
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Well, now I'm in a fix, about half of you say lob it off and the other half say don't touch it!!! :runaway:

And no worries #4mk1(T) the cylinder lock was off. lol :p

Okay, say the splines are peened, and I knock off the gas cylinder, is it buggered?
 
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OK the splines are peened behind the sight as the cylinder goes on so unless you see peening marks in front of the sight immediately under the cylinder lock all should be well. This is one of those situations where having the rifle in front of you instead of at the other end of the internet is best. If in doubt wait and check with Hungry.
 
#4mk1(T) said:
OK the splines are peened behind the sight as the cylinder goes on so unless you see peening marks in front of the sight immediately under the cylinder lock all should be well. This is one of those situations where having the rifle in front of you instead of at the other end of the internet is best. If in doubt wait and check with Hungry.
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Looks pretty clean to me.

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A tight gas cyl fit is good as that prevents gas cyl/front sight rotational movement-a good thing for accuracy.Assuming that the barrel splineways have been peened to tighten up the gas cyl fit,you can still remove/replace the gas cyl if you wish. Frequent removal/installation will loose the cylinder fit over time.Do not strike the face of the cyl or the front sight directly with a hammer or mallet when driving it on and off.Use a hardwood block on the front and rear of the bayonet lug and then tap the block in the direction you want the cylinder to move.A bit of solvent or WD40 is useful to disolve accumulated grease and fouling from the splineways. I keep a labelled hardwood block on my work bench expressly for this purpose.I have peened quite a number of barrel splines to achieve tighter gas cyl fit.This is a standard practice when tweaking the Garand for accuracy.
 
I own about 20 Garands. Just get a piece of hard wood doweling and a hammer, and tap it off. Some are just harder to get off that others. The tighter ones are the better shooters. They really shouldn't just slide off, that means they are too loose. These rifles were made for soldiers to take apart.
 
On the other hand, it it ain't broke, don't "fix' it.
Reminds me of folks wanting to unscrew the fiting pins on Lee-enfield bolts when there is nothing wrong with them.
 
On the other other hand you have no idea what kind of buildup there is including corrosive ammo buildup. I feel its best to keep the odds on your side, so cleaning and inspecting everything yourself is best.
 
WW2GURU said:
On the other other hand you have no idea what kind of buildup there is including corrosive ammo buildup. I feel its best to keep the odds on your side, so cleaning and inspecting everything yourself is best.
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I agree, I'm glad it came off, it had a fair bit of carbon caked on inside. IMO, cleaning carbon out of the gas system is a must if at all possible.
 
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