Help With Garand Stoppages

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lawn gnome

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I finally took a International Harvester Garand to the range but I had some problems with it. I would ceratinly appreciate everyones help with this.

I load the enbloc clip and release the bolt, it feeds the round on the forward movement of the bolt.

I fire the action, the weapon fires, then extracts and ejects the empty casing.

The bolt moves forward, but does not pick up and feed the next round into the chamber. (Bolt closed, empty chamber)

If I hand-#### the bolt, it will feed the next round into the chamber ok.

Firing, extraction, ejection are ok.:)
It doesn't load a round during semi-auto cycling.:confused:
It does load a round during hand operated cycling.:)

A bit of stubbornness kicked in during firing of the weapon. :slap: I decided I wouldn't leave until I fired all seven clips. I had a friend along, and we took turns acting as the third hand to #### the bolt every time this happened. Amazingly, during the sixth clip it started feeding four out of eight rounds, and seventh clip it fed the whole clip without resort to cocking.:rolleyes:

My thoughts are that it has to do with the spring tension of whatever it is that pushes upwards on the enbloc clip and the rounds. Could it be lacking in enough spring tension, that it fails to push the rounds up with sufficient force during the short time it takes for the action to cycle? Given a second or two more time, it fed each time on hand cocking? In the last clip or two, could it have been exercised back a bit by all the play?

Sitting in a safe for a decade or two probably doesn't help in keeping the parts exercised enough.

Anyway, that is the problem, and that is my guess.
If anyone has any ideas or can help to sort me out some more, I sure would appreciate it.:wave:
 
My first guess would go to ammo. my garand simply will not fire some types of rounds, but when i put nice rounds into her she hums along happily as long as i ask her to.
 
If it was a weak return spring, then it would at least catch the next rd, but not have the power to return to battery. Take a look at the end of your op rod and about the gas cylinder and see if you have an excess of carbon around that area. I'm guessing either the op rod or your gas cylinder is worn.
 
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You may also have some gas port issues as well.
If it did not feed, then mysteriously started to feed after a bunch of rounds i would suspect the port was partially blocked.
Question to you would be...did you throughly clean the gun before firing?
If not, you should completely disassemble, removing the gas cylinder/front sight assembly. Use a large paper clip to clean out the gas port, or you can use a welders cutting torch tip cleaner...works better actually.
Cheers
 
jollyroger said:
My first guess would go to ammo. my garand simply will not fire some types of rounds, but when i put nice rounds into her she hums along happily as long as i ask her to.
Click to expand...
Ammo could definitely be an issue, but there was also mention of impinged gas flow.
My Beretta Garand did exactly what yours is doing.

The issue with mine, was that not enough tapped gas was being fed to the action to unlock it at the right time. The slow unlock time mean't that there was not enough reactive momentum to carry the bolt far enough rearward to strip another cartridge. Check the gas plug and the housing that fits around the barrel for proper fit. Excessive leakage/blockage might be one area to investigate as mentioned above.
 
oprod

You should measure the oprod piston while you have it apart. Should have no more than .525 wear on it. Measure in several places to get an accurate reading.
 
Try taking the mainspring out and having a look. If it was in storage for a long time it may be packed with old, gummy grease. After working the action so many times it may have freed up. Take apart degrease and use a light oil on spring.

But whadda i know?
 
I'd also wonder if you have it lubed. Put some yellow moly grease everywhere you see shine inside the receiver, in the op rod raceway, on the bolt front lugs and rear of the bolt where shiny, on the bottom of the barrel where the op rod bears against it.

If you are not getting dots of lube flung onto your glasses, you don't have enough grease on it.

I'm quite certain I get better groups from an accurized M1 if it is properly lubed.

Good luck with your 'tractor gun.'
 
I have a nice old six-digit Springfield Armory (1942, I think it is) that I fire everything from soup to nuts in and it has never malfunctioned - yet. I have fired lots of reloads with cast bullets, still works. I guess I am just lucky. According to some, the rifle will disintegrate right before my eyes when shooting cast bullets. The M1 Garand is a real rifle, in my humble opinion.:p:p
 
Day two of cleaning continues. You guys had it pegged, one filthy beastie!

Kind of funny as I have six Garands, one from each US and Italian maker and this was the first time I fired one. Not as much recoil as I expected, must be the weight of it helping a lot. Mind I wouldn't want to have to carry one for a living.
 
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