Finally got a hold of my buddy's Garand, which had been short cycling for months. Opened her up, and discovered two things:
1. Op rod is bent. It's supposed to be straight, right? Judging from the wear marks, it's rubbing up against the handguard. When I remove the spring, however, the op rod and bolt do slide back and forth rather freely when the rifle's tilted. How does one fix a bent op rod? Hammer and anvil, call Gimli, or just order another one?
2. Gas cylinder lock is loose. In order for the gas cylinder and handguard to fit snuggly, the lock has to be turned almost 200 degrees past where it needs to be for the plug to go in, whereupon it stops. So you have to back it up to line up the plug, and when the plug goes in, it pulls the cylinder forward, and the handguard ends up being loose. Does this misalign the cylinder to the gas port? Maybe a shim is in order?
I don't have the gauges necessary to check op rod and gas cylinder, but maybe those are worn as well. Prolly no fix for that other than buying replacment parts, right?
Any other suggestions?
1. Op rod is bent. It's supposed to be straight, right? Judging from the wear marks, it's rubbing up against the handguard. When I remove the spring, however, the op rod and bolt do slide back and forth rather freely when the rifle's tilted. How does one fix a bent op rod? Hammer and anvil, call Gimli, or just order another one?
2. Gas cylinder lock is loose. In order for the gas cylinder and handguard to fit snuggly, the lock has to be turned almost 200 degrees past where it needs to be for the plug to go in, whereupon it stops. So you have to back it up to line up the plug, and when the plug goes in, it pulls the cylinder forward, and the handguard ends up being loose. Does this misalign the cylinder to the gas port? Maybe a shim is in order?
I don't have the gauges necessary to check op rod and gas cylinder, but maybe those are worn as well. Prolly no fix for that other than buying replacment parts, right?
Any other suggestions?