garand style rifles & water? (m1a-m1 carbine-mini 14)

[wlemay]

This is a question I have pondered for a while but have not been able to find any real info on; How will a rifle with a garand style action (ie rotating locking bolt) preform when: totally submerged, partially submerged, or when exposed to heavy rain? Some good examples of these style rifles would be something like a m1a/m14, mini-14/ac-556, or m1-carbine.

I think I remember one person on a forum saying "good luck with that mini-14 if it starts raining" however I think they were just talking trash...

I would think that such rifles would probably preform decently seeing how simple the action is, but I sure as hell am not willing to jump in a pond with my mini and pull the trigger...

Here are some videos I watched that got me interested in this topic; of course they are using AR style platforms but, all the same I still want to know how a garand style action would preform under similar circumstances. Tell me what yall think...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGwkHktkTxU

-this is a video that compares a colt m4 with a hk rifle (the colt blows up at about 1min 30sec)
(i do not think a garand style rifle would explode in such a manner b/c of how much more robust they are)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MA1IFKwdAQ

-this one shows a guy fully underwater shooting an AR-15

 

[12guagecody]

i imagine with all the beach landings in the pacific and at normandy that if the garand had issues with water that it would have been a problem. i've watched a lot of documentaries on rifles of wwII and havent heard anything about it.

 

[Vaarok]

There was a mythbusters episode about this, the Garand functions.

 

[wlemay]

There was a mythbusters episode about this, the Garand functions.

Do you recall which one it is?... I would like to see it

 

[R.W.Dale]

There was a mythbusters episode about this, the Garand functions.

I was amazed that with the bore full of water the bbl didn't split or and the action held

 

[Demos]

If you are interested in seeing the Garand on Mythbusters, go over to youtube and search Mythbusters testing weapons under water with dutch subtitles. The commentary is still in English, and the actual Garand shot is at 2:00 minutes in. It shoots, but it isn't really effective underwater, not that I know why it would need to be.

 

[VA27]

I remember reading something about the Garand 'freezing' in a heavy downpour (Pacific Theater). IIRC, the article also had pix of testing it under sprinklers to duplicate the problem and find a fix. I think the fix was to issue a waterproof (lithium?) grease. It really seems to be a non-issue, since information on the problem is really old and hard to find.

I personally wouldn't worry about it...unless you live somewhere in the South Pacific and don't have access to waterproof grease.