Garand malfunction

[Ian]

Can one of you Garand guys help me out for a minute? I have a .308 tanker M1, which I've put about 600 or 700 rounds through. It had two malfs in the first couple clips worth of ammo (one light strike and one clip failing to eject), but after that it has been flawless - until yesterday. I was at the range, and within 120 or so rounds, I had three identical malfs. Each time, a round stripped from the right side of the clip would push too far to the left, and the bullet tip would hit the back of the barrel instead of going into the chamber. Here's a photo of one:


I was using Indian surplus (yeah, I know... ). Does anyone have an idea what might be causing this issue? If it's a worn spring or part, I'd like to fix it asap...

 

[Ian]

Whoops, here's the photo:

 

[bernie]

My SWAG would a possible timing issue. Could it be that it is pushing the round up at the wrong time (we are talking miliseconds here) from when the bolt begins to close. As I said, this is simply a guess.

 

[countertop]

How often do you clean it?

I've had smilar problems occur in the past (on other guns, I don't own a garand), and they seem to be cured with a good cleaning. I've usually chalked it up to friction within the chamber slowin the timing down.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Timing is crucial on the Garand action. The helix (cutout in the Op-Rod) is designed to operate (unlock) at a certain speed. Shortening the barrel means that the gas enters into the piston much sooner. Thus the hole should be smaller to reduce the gas pressure build up. That's something that those who convert the gun don't take into account (that and the shortening of the Op-Rod also affects timing). I would suspect that as use wears the gun down, you can expect to see more problems with it.

 

[Dienekes]

I would think timing and cycle speed, possible short stroking as it looks like the bolt was a little ahead of the round rising into place. "Tankers" are full of gremlins and possibly odd-spec ammo wouldn't help matters. Not to mention that most M1s are over 50 years old. Lots of parts in there.

Righteous M1s come via the CMP and are brought back to their true glory by dedicated owners and lots of TLC.

They are still one of the finest pieces of machinery ever made. Used a totally stock one the other day to chip pieces off a VW sized rock at about 900 yards with a spotter watching the strikes through binoculars.

Try that with an M4 carbine.

 

[Bwana John]

Does anyone have an idea what might be causing this issue?

This would be my first guess

I was using Indian surplus

See if it happens with good surplus ammo (Port, Hirt, SA, RG, aussi)
My second guess would be that the 308 conversion was not done right, is the magezine blocked so cartreges cant walk forward under recoil?

 

[Bwana John]

Double Tap, (Why no ability to delete ones own post?)

 

[Ian]

Bwana John - Yes, the conversion was done well. The mag well has a block in it (you can see it in the photo), and the gun has run perfectly until now. With the op rod spring removed, the bolt and op rod will slide forward and back at a 25 or 30 degree angle. FWIW, when I'm out of this Indian stuff (not much longer now), I'll be buying up Portuguese instead...

countertop - It had been 200 or 300 rounds since its last cleaning. I did give it a thorough cleaning after getting back this last time, though. I guess I'll see how it works next time I shoot it. Perhaps the overly-dirty Indian ammo gunked up the head of the op rod and made it too tight?

 

[Freedomv]

I would suspect the magazine block may be the culprit.
I have shot thousands of rounds of 7.62 (308) ammo in m-1 garands and never had a malfunction such as this and I have never had one of those blocks in any of the rifles that I built or shot during competetion. These blocks are simply not needed.
These would be a simple and inexpensive fix,,,, just take it out.
Vern

 

[cracked butt]

I would start with your oprod spring.

 

[BamBam-31]

I had my Garand converted to .308, and I bought a spacer block and installed it. I've had ZERO malfunctions with this rifle, block or no block. I seriously doubt the block is the problem.

 

[Trebor]

Ok, you've got a lot of things going on here that can cause problems. "Tanker" Garands are harder to keep running right then regular Garands. .308 Garands are relatively easy to keep running, but do require a different gas port diameter. When you build up a "Tanker" in .308, you really increase the odds of malfunctions.

Personally, I'd look at ammo first. Try some ammo you know to be good and see if the problem persists. If it runs with everything but the Indian, just dump the Indian and go with ammo that works.

The next thing I'd do is replace the Op-rod spring with a new one that is correctly sized for a Tanker. That will take a little digging, but you should be able to find someone who knows the correct size and has a spring. Check with Fulton Armory and see what they reccomend. A lot of "short stroke" problems with regular Garands can be traced to worn out Op-rod springs and I see no reason why "tankers" would be any different.

After that, it gets difficult. Timing problems are hard to troubleshoot in normal Garands and tankers are worse. I'd send it to a good smith at that point and have him check the diameter of the gas port and generally check for overly worn parts.

 

[JaketheSnakeOO7]

BAM-BAM I can't believe you "de nutered" you garand to .308. Mine still howls with those nice AP 30-06 rounds.

 

[BamBam-31]

Original barrel was pretty shot out. Plus, .308 surplus (Aussie) is cheaper and more readily available w/o steel in the bullets. My Garand was never a "correct" rifle anyways. Someone dolled it up to be a parade rifle, I turned it back into a shooter.