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Back in 1969, when I drew a dozen 7.62 NATO Garands from the USN Small Arms Match Conditioning Unit for issue to members of a major USN command's rifle team, I asked the shop manager if they had been ejection tuned. He said no, but to stop by the ammo room and get a couple bandoliers of clipped M80 ball ammo then do it myself. The next day at the Unit's rifle range, I and another team member began tuning them.
Loaded an 8-round clip then with the rifle butt in the crook of a leg above the thigh and held normally upright, shot all 8 rounds watching how they ejected then tuned them as follows:
* Rifles ejecting empties back to the 5 and 6 o'clock position had 2 or 3 coils of their ejector springs cut off, then retested. They usually ejected out at 1 to 2 after that.
* M1's ejecting empties back to the 3 and 4 o'clock position had 1 or 2 coils cut off their ejector springs.
* Garands ejecting fired cases to the 1 and 2 o'clock were left as is.
* A few ejected empties straight forward and those had their very weak ejector springs replaced, then retested.
These rifles shot all ammo such that their empties went out between 1 and 2 o'clock. That includes M80 ball and M118 match ammo with 50,000 cup pressure, long range loads with 190's having about 55,000 CUP and our "Mexican Match" ammo which was M80 ammo loaded with 41 grains of IMR4475 stick powder whose 147-gr bullets were replaced with 168 Sierras that had almost proof load pressures at about 63,000 cup. Proof loads were 67,500 cup with the same case, primer and powder charge but a 172-gr bullet.
I learned about this a couple of years earlier when the Garand I was issued put empties under the bill of my ball cap I wore and bounced them off my fore head. A couple came to rest on the bridge of my shooting glasses; burned my fore head pretty bad. The 'smith at the range handed me a combination tool to get the ejector spring out and a pair of diagonol cutters to cut coils off the spring. He said to make empties go out at 1 to 2 o'clock so they don't bounce of the shooter to my right and stay behind the firing line so they could be picked up safely.
I disagree. It only indicates how strong the ejector spring is. Weak springs don't eject the empty until the bolt's all the way back and started forward. Strong springs eject the empty as soon as its mouth clears the breech.
I agree.
Back in 1969, when I drew a dozen 7.62 NATO Garands from the USN Small Arms Match Conditioning Unit for issue to members of a major USN command's rifle team, I asked the shop manager if they had been ejection tuned. He said no, but to stop by the ammo room and get a couple bandoliers of clipped M80 ball ammo then do it myself. The next day at the Unit's rifle range, I and another team member began tuning them.
Loaded an 8-round clip then with the rifle butt in the crook of a leg above the thigh and held normally upright, shot all 8 rounds watching how they ejected then tuned them as follows:
* Rifles ejecting empties back to the 5 and 6 o'clock position had 2 or 3 coils of their ejector springs cut off, then retested. They usually ejected out at 1 to 2 after that.
* M1's ejecting empties back to the 3 and 4 o'clock position had 1 or 2 coils cut off their ejector springs.
* Garands ejecting fired cases to the 1 and 2 o'clock were left as is.
* A few ejected empties straight forward and those had their very weak ejector springs replaced, then retested.
These rifles shot all ammo such that their empties went out between 1 and 2 o'clock. That includes M80 ball and M118 match ammo with 50,000 cup pressure, long range loads with 190's having about 55,000 CUP and our "Mexican Match" ammo which was M80 ammo loaded with 41 grains of IMR4475 stick powder whose 147-gr bullets were replaced with 168 Sierras that had almost proof load pressures at about 63,000 cup. Proof loads were 67,500 cup with the same case, primer and powder charge but a 172-gr bullet.
I learned about this a couple of years earlier when the Garand I was issued put empties under the bill of my ball cap I wore and bounced them off my fore head. A couple came to rest on the bridge of my shooting glasses; burned my fore head pretty bad. The 'smith at the range handed me a combination tool to get the ejector spring out and a pair of diagonol cutters to cut coils off the spring. He said to make empties go out at 1 to 2 o'clock so they don't bounce of the shooter to my right and stay behind the firing line so they could be picked up safely.
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