My Garand won't load the clip?

[hobgob]

I just went out to my property today to try out a few new rifles. One of those rifles was my Springfield Armory SG M1 Garand. When I tried to load a clip, the clips would not seat all the way into the chamber no matter how hard I pushed. I tried several different clips including the one sent with the Garand. Nothing worked. Any tips? p.s. I can push the follower down all the way so that the bolt closes, not sure why the clips wont load.

 

[dmazur]

I bought a Garand that had exactly the same behavior. I was kind of upset about it until I started looking at all the assembly/disassembly books, together with info from Internet sites.

The previous owner had reassembled it with the magazine follower in backwards. (Believe it or not, this is possible to do during reassembly) It worked fine once I stripped it and reassembled it correctly.

There may be something else wrong, to be sure, but this is a quick check. I know for a fact that if that darn thing is in backwards, the clip won't seat. (It's because the "wasp waist" section of the follower can't slip up inside the clip...this keeps the clip from seating all the way.)

 

[Steve in PA]

What kind of clips do you have?

All my clips work except the junk chinese ones I bought from CTD a few years ago.

 

[Tankcommander]

I reassembled mine wrong once as well and the clips wouldn't seat. I would field strip and reassemble making sure its good then try again.

TC

 

[offthepaper]

The previous owner had reassembled it with the magazine follower in backwards. (Believe it or not, this is possible to do during reassembly)

dmazur is correct I believe. when I got my Garand from CMP, I stripped it down for a good cleaning. It was my 1st time stripping a Garand. Long story short, I reassembled the rifle with the follower in backwards (it was easy to do and looked "almost right"). But my clue to it was when my clips would not seat in the rifle. It actually took me a while to figure it out as it did go together pretty easy, and as I said , looked "almost right". ugh!!!

 

[Oohrah]

Worn or broken clip latch. Follower arm upside down

 

[Zedo]

Yeah, it will go together "wrong."

 

[hobgob]

Thanks all, the follower was backwards. I field stripped the garand and righted the follower. All works well now. Thanks for the tips, saved me a bit of worrying and money!

 

[Rio Laxas]

Seems like you have the problem worked out, but if you have trouble in the future and the follower is not backwards, make sure the rounds are seated completely back in the clip.

I did the backwards follower thing too, but I have also had problems with one round being slightly forward and catching on the side of the receiver.