Brown stuff on M1 Barrel threads?

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YankeeFlyr

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Unscrewed the old 5/54 dated barrel from my M1 Garand, and the threads has this brownish stuff that looked like it might have been anti-seize compound..I thought these were supposed to be barreled dry.

Comments?

(The stuff it browner looking than in the photo.)
 

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Less see?

2015 - 1954 = 61 years old.

So, it might just possibly be 60 year old dried cosomolene, combined with just a tiny teensy little bit of rust that has developed in there over the years!!

Whatever it is, or was, there is no way to tell after 61 years, short of a chemical analysis by a PHD chemist.

And does it really matter anyway??

Rc
 
I just wondered if the Springfield National Armory (or Anniston or whoever rebarreled the rifle) used some type of corrosion protection on the threaded area.
Since it had to be good to go in war, maybe anywhere in the world.
I'll probably just scrub the receiver and new barrel threads with a burn off resistant oil like M7 and reassemble it that way...

(BTW, just cuz the barrel was marked from 1954 doesn't mean it's been installed since then, I don't think. Or, maybe that's not the date of manufacture but WAS marked at the time of installation.)
 
"...some type of corrosion protection on the threaded area..." Called it Parkerizing.
I'd almost bet that's dried Cosmoline though. Scrap a bit off with something pointy and look closely at it. Feel it, etc.
"...a burn off resistant oil like M7..." Doesn't need anything special. Mineral sprits will do.
 
No, it's not Parkerizing; and I don't think even heated Cosmoline would permeate torqued threads like that, that uniformly.

I think it's some kinda grease, but whatever.

Anyway, I indexed the new barrel with just the residual oil from cleaning the threads on the barrel and in the receiver. The barrel mating face on the front of the receiver was wiped clean first.

Everything went together well, and I estimate it took MAYBE 80-100 ft-lbs to get the indexing right on.
 
Yankee Flyer,
Glad you got it off with little problem.

RC and Sunray are very probably correct.

Cosmolene can permeate threads evenly, I have taken off an original P14 barrel off a receiver that came from India. I was expecting a titanic struggle given that the receiver was an Eddystone which are reputed to have barrels screwed in by gorillas. Instead, the wet cosmolene encrusted threads allowed me to quite easily remove the de-milled .303 barrel with a minimum which had been in place since WWI and no the receiver was not cracked to allow such permeation. I am sure that it was cosmolene as I have learned the distinctive smell of Indian cosmolene from old stocks and parts that I have used to rebuild Enfields and the like.

If you are really interested whether the U.S. Govt put anti-seize lubricant on the threads, I am sure that you could find some armorers manuals circa when your rifle's barrel was put on whether anti-seize was applied to threads. Otherwise, you could try boards like Gunboard or milsurps.com. Given that chain of custody for old milsurps is difficult to establish in most cases, it is possible that some individual owner or even armorer applied anti-seize to your particular barrel even if that was not general practice. If it was an import then establishing who did what is probably not doable.
 
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