M1 Garand Gunsmith

1
I purchased a .308 converted M1 Garand right before the pandemic.

It sat about for a year before I got it to the range; I had jamming issues.

I got it home, disassembled, cleaned (it didn’t need it), and re-lubed up everything according to the reference guides.

I filled an enbloc with Snap Caps and cycled through a couple of dozen times. This seemed to have fixed that issue.

It again sat in the safe for a while as I wasn’t getting to the range for life reasons.

I got it out again yesterday. I rechecked everything was still functioning, loaded up many clips, and headed to the range today.

The first round fired and ejected without issue. I had to pull the slide back to get the second round loaded.

The second round is much like the first. I figured maybe something is off, or I am losing pressure somewhere, but it is still shooting fine, so I load the third round.

Pull the trigger and nothing. The slide is fully jammed shut. Safety won’t move.

The range officer helped with the jam, and after 20ish minutes, the clip and all remaining rounds came flying out.

I called it a day at that point and moved on to another rifle.

At this point, I don’t want to fiddle with it anymore and want a professional to give it a tune-up and make sure everything is working as intended.

I found several Garand specialists online, but all their websites look like they were made in the 90s, so I don’t know if they are even active at this point.

Who should I get to resolve my issues? Not going to do it myself.
If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everybody.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

3
I know a gunsmith that is in Georgetown Texas that might be able to help. I don’t know his politics, but we graduated from high school the same year and were in scouting together. He’s retired military and runs a gunsmithing business.
https://www.timsmith-gunsmithllc.com/?m=1
PM me if you like. You can tell him my name if you decide to contact him.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

4
The CMP is a good option, and your paid membership in the LGC lets you use them. Alternatively, if you would rather, the Bench Doctor is a member of the club and does all of the gunsmithing videos for our YouTube channel- he's solid and can get you squared away as well. Both options would require shipping obviously.
https://thebenchdoctor.com/
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

6
There is a book, originally a pair of books later condensed into one, by Jerry Kuhnhausen, which would help you diagnose your rifle's problem(s) yourself. What ammo were you using, what are the markings on your clips, and what can you tell us about the rifle's provenance? When you retract the op rod, what do you see stamped on the side of the barrel? If you are going to sort this out, start with ammo it is probably designed for, M80 Ball. There are lots of bad Garand clips out there, try and get some Aggressive Engineering clips from CMP, or find some Springfield Arsenal clips from long ago. Much of your description is consistent with insufficient gas, which could be a lot of things: a loose gas plug, a gas plug with a fractured spring in it, a really worn gas piston and gas cylinder, and others.

If this rifle is a CMP rifle, they test fired it before it shipped, so I would suspect bad ammo first. Working on VFW saluting Garands, I saw a couple with cracked springs in the gas plugs, and I could see light through them when removed from the cylinder. A worn cylinder with a new (big) gas piston will still work, and probably vice versa, but a worn gas cylinder coupled with a worn piston will not.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

7
- Sellier & Bellot 308 Winchester 150 Grain Jacketed Soft Point
- No text markings, purchased through ammogarand.com, and listed as Enbloc NEW US MIL SPEC
- Purchased from a private owner, I believe they originally purchased from CMP
- Op Rod stamp TBD.
If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everybody.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

9
Any decision on what you intend to do? We had a 308 Garand at our meet this past Saturday. The Garand is an awesome rifle, if no issues. My 30-06 Garand had a weak enbloc clip release spring that caused all the rounds to dump after a few rounds. After replacing it, it worked fine. Keep us posted.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

10
CDFingers wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:40 am I would try one enbloc of 150gr fmj same velocity. It might be that soft point hitting the edge of the breech. Inexpensive experiment.

CDFingers
Interesting thought.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: M1 Garand Gunsmith

11
sikacz wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:47 am
CDFingers wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:40 am I would try one enbloc of 150gr fmj same velocity. It might be that soft point hitting the edge of the breech. Inexpensive experiment.

CDFingers
Interesting thought.
Like with .45acp, those bullets jump around something fierce between the magazine and chamber. Folks who load for .45acp go through a few choices before we find one that runs. In my .308 Garand it turned out that the very tiny flat space at the very tip would catch once in a while on the first round, then would run. Like I say, an inexpensive experiment.

CDFingers
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