Garand and gas problem.

[Maineshooter1]

I have a Garand that I've narrowed down to either a CMP special or the Garand I built in the CMP advanced maintenance course several years ago. Because of moving and selling homes, these rifles have been in the safe for a few years. I've only put a few hundred rounds through them each. I was able to take them out this week for some fun at the range and have a consistent failure to cycle with one of them. It ejects the fired case but the bolt is apparently not traveling back far enough to chamber the next round (22/24 times at least). The piston is in spec as best as I can tell from measuring with a micrometer. I don't have any gauges to check the bore of the gas cylinder. However, whether it was a CMP special or or my CMP build the gas cylinders should both be in spec given the source and also the low round count. The op rod doesn't hang up anywhere on the tilt test and the only ammo I shoot is American Eagle .30-06 made for the Garand or a load specifically for the Garand from Hornady's manual (I don't want to go downstairs to look up the data, but it was on the lower end of the loading data- I only occasionally plink with these rifles and am perfectly satisfied with 3 MOA- the load consists partly of a Hornady 150 FMJ and Lake City '54 brass and if the powder and charge is relevant I can go look this up). This failure to cycle the rifle occurred with both types of ammo. I also changed en bloc clips as well to no avail. Both types of ammo and clips worked flawlessly in my other M1. After running into this problem earlier in the week, I stripped and cleaned the rifle. It was properly greased. Other than light carbon, there was nothing the struck me as odd. I went back out to the range and ran into the same problem. I'm wondering if I could be losing gas through the gas plug. Do they go bad? Other than wiping off the carbon is there any other tips to cleaning it? I'd rather buy a new gas plug than a new gas cylinder or sending my current parts off to Columbus or buying a new gas cylinder, but not if there's no point. Looking for suggestions on what to do next. Thanks

ETA: Gas plug was also properly torqued and the style used for grenade launching.

 

[Jeremy2171]

Your ammo/ load is likely the problem...

 

[Zygodactyl]

Take the gas plug from the working rifle and try it in the faulty. If it works you know what the problem is. The plugs can go bad and leak gas.

 

[Jeremy2171]

Take the gas plug from the working rifle and try it in the faulty. If it works you know what the problem is. The plugs can go bad and leak gas.

Gas cylinder lock screw...only gas trap garands have gas plugs.

 

[retDAC]

In addition to the above, any chance the recoil spring is too stiff?

 

[Blue68f100]

Did you lube the guns after removing them from the safe? After storage this should have been done at a min.

 

[Maineshooter1]

In addition to the above, any chance the recoil spring is too stiff?

possibly--- i replaced the original with a Wolff

i'll try switching out the lock screws first, then also try switching out the op rod springs.

thanks all

 

[Maineshooter1]

Did you lube the guns after removing them from the safe? After storage this should have been done at a min.

one was lubed with mobil 1 synthetic and the other with brownells action lube plus--- neither appeared to have gummed up at all but it was still problematic even after i cleaned and regreased everything

 

[dfariswheel]

If you installed any kind of "extra power" spring that's very likely the problem.

In the M1 the spring is much more then just a recoil spring, it powers the entire action, and is critical for proper action timing.
I've hear of several people installing Wolff springs in the M1 and having trouble.
A spring too strong or too weak and you get all sorts of problems.
The M1 was specifically engineered to work correctly with a very specific length and strength spring. Use anything else and you get trouble.
In other firearms where the spring is just a recoil spring you can play around, but not with the M1 Garand.

Smart M1 owners buy a new spring from Orion 7, or Fulton Armory. These are made to explicit USGI specs and are the standard for M1 shooters........

Fulton Armory Home Page

https://www.m1garand.com/

 

[Jeremy2171]

If you installed any kind of "extra power" spring that's very likely the problem.

In the M1 the spring is much more then just a recoil spring, it powers the entire action, and is critical for proper action timing.
I've hear of several people installing Wolff springs in the M1 and having trouble.
A spring too strong or too weak and you get all sorts of problems.
The M1 was specifically engineered to work correctly with a very specific length and strength spring. Use anything else and you get trouble.
In other firearms where the spring is just a recoil spring you can play around, but not with the M1 Garand.

Smart M1 owners buy a new spring from Orion 7, or Fulton Armory. These are made to explicit USGI specs and are the standard for M1 shooters........

Fulton Armory Home Page

https://www.m1garand.com/

Most people who have trouble with the Wolff spring actually have issues in other places. If you garand isn't running with a Wollf spring look elsewhere for the problem...starting with the gas system and proper lubrication. Some ammo is very weak and can also cause issues.