M1 Garand help

white_knight

white_knight

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This past summer i purchased a "new" refinished James river armory M1 Garand. well i guess i never really noticed this until its last cleaning but it seems that the upper area of the chamber/ barrel is taking a bit of a beating. It seems the upper right of the bolt and ejector are hitting the barrel and peening that area. I've personally put about 260 rounds through and this is my first M1 so i'm new to the game, however looking at old photos of when i received it, it seems the damage is there. when i work the op rod slowly it seems to guide the bolt face right into that area so i don't see how it can be avoided. however if i push down on the bolt then it clears fine. it looks as if the top of the caming area of the op rod allows the bolt lug to go too high, allowing it to ride higher causing it to hit. so have any of you seen this before? is this type of deformation somewhat normal of a used M1 action or should i be taking this in to get it fixed or looked at? it doesn't affect function and goes into battery easily, so far it seems to only be cosmetic. id appreciate any help.

here's some pictures showing what i'm talking about.

this is when i First recieved it. looks like the damage was present but i didnt notice it.
_NIK9609 by AV12G, on Flickr

closeups of the barrel
DSC08046-Edit by AV12G, on Flickr

DSC08052-Edit by AV12G, on Flickr

some google images of other garands that raised my concern.
IMG_0401.JPG

IMG_0402.JPG

emptychamber.jpg

5837894275_037a0f0352_b.jpg
 
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If that is indeed a JRA build, I would be taking issue with them. The obvious pitting of the receiver where the barrel threads in is unacceptable. That is junk in most builders eyes. The beating your rifle is taking is far from normal. The battered bolt is just looking for a bad time to break and cause you great personal harm. Do not fire the rifle. I doubt it can be fixed short of another receiver, bolt and barrel.

Receiver should look like this.
 
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FALover said:
If that is indeed a JRA build, I would be taking issue with them. The obvious pitting of the receiver where the barrel threads in is unacceptable. That is junk in most builders eyes. The beating your rifle is taking is far from normal. The battered bolt is just looking for a bad time to break and cause you great personal harm. Do not fire the rifle. I doubt it can be fixed short of another receiver, bolt and barrel.

Receiver should look like this...
Click to expand...

thanks, the pitting wasn't as much of a concern to me as the barrel being deformed into the way of the bolt. the way it slopes i just assumed it was normal, the two shiny dings at the very bottom right where the ejector hits is what initially set me off. then when i searched google and saw that even old rusty M1 didnt even look like that it lead me to now. ill contact the importer and see how SOL i am. my concern it that ive already put about 260 rounds through this so i'm afraid i'm going to be stuck paying for repair and replacement to fix this.
 
Not a expert
But send off some emails to your supplier

Looked at you picks of Bolt and it looks Like Front of bolt is worn and back corner shows wear--> So you could try to replace bolt first
Bolt is also slaming too far forward and marking Left side of receiver
if Rails that bolt ride in could be worn = replace receiver

Used bolt can be had for 100
Used Receiver +- 50
plus install
 
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Altho the pitted receiver ring looks nasty it isn't the cause of the problem.

Metal displacement from the bolt impacting and camming down to lock at the top face of the breech isn't that uncommon. It needs to be corrected though as it might lead to the bolt binding to the point where the action freezes. Then its the butt on the ground and boot heel on the op rod handle to get it open.

The displaced metal can be removed and smoothed out by using a cratex polishing wheel in a Dremel or even a fine circular or half circular craft file. I've done this to eliminate the same problem on several barrels.

I'd try a correctly headspaced replacement bolt to see if the problem repeats itself. There are dimensional and/or wear differences on bolt exteriors so another one might work out fine. I once had a tight fitting National Match op rod on a Garand that would not pass the tilt test without binding. Rather than trying to re-bend the rod I tried it with a couple of other bolts and, voila, it worked just fine.

P.S. Make sure that the rifle is greased at all specified lube points.

P.P.S. You might want to check the length of the op rod spring as well. The correct length is 19.75 to 20.25 inches. There are longer commercial springs in use which could contribute to excessive bolt velocity. These should be avoided or cut back to the proper length.
 
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After cleaning up the displaced metal you might also try another op rod that passes the tilt test on the rifle. 3 dimensional issues can affect bolt travel; the receiver, the bolt itself and the op rod. A different op rod may well cause the bolt to return to battery in a slightly different way.
 
Thank you purple for all the great info. I grease all the areas that are mentioned to grease. Everything else is oiled. Just as an update it's with the gun store that I purchased it from now and a gunsmith it's going to look at to correct the issue. Hopefully that will be it and it will get resolved before I need to start swapping stuff around.
 
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