calling all garand gurus

[1LtCAP 4,264]

got to fire the garand yesterday. she worked sorta. she went bang when she was supposed to, and she ejected the empty casing. but she didn't chamber the next round. at all. not a beginning or end of clip thing......after each round, i had to manually cycle it again to get the next round into the chamber.

 now....she's been setting in the safe for a couple years. she felt smooth when i hand cycled the action, so i'd expected everything to work properly. is this gonna turn out to be a simple lubrication issue,,,,as in lack thereof?

 

 

[Displaced Texan 11,748]

Paging @GRIZ

[JohnnyB 4,325]

18 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

got to fire the garand yesterday. she worked sorta. she went bang when she was supposed to, and she ejected the empty casing. but she didn't chamber the next round. at all. not a beginning or end of clip thing......after each round, i had to manually cycle it again to get the next round into the chamber.

 now....she's been setting in the safe for a couple years. she felt smooth when i hand cycled the action, so i'd expected everything to work properly. is this gonna turn out to be a simple lubrication issue,,,,as in lack thereof?

 

 

Under powered ammo?

[Scorpio64 5,156]

1 hour ago, JohnnyB said:

Under powered ammo?

Unlikely.  The Garand requires an under powered 30-06 charge to begin with.

 

2 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

after each round,

How many rounds did you send down the pipe, and what ammo was it?   If you were shooting regular 30-06 cartridges, you may be over-gassing.  It could also be the works are gummed up from sitting for two years.  I suggest giving the gun a good field strip cleaning and see what happens.

[GRIZ 3,369]

Lube?  Did you lube with grease?  That's what Garands are designed to run on.  I use mobil 1 grease but any will work.

Garands don't run on underpowered ammo.  They run on ammo designed with a specific pressure curve.  Too little and they will malfunction.  Too much and they break.  What ammo were you using?

[1LtCAP 4,264]

ammo was mil. surplus. i can't remember if it was greek or not. when i get home tonight, i'll look at the casings......

 

last time i lubed it(obviously quite awhile ago) i used old school wheel bearing grease(it's all i had). it's not goofy thick, and it very slippery. it generally sticks where ya put it.

[GRIZ 3,369]

If it was Greek its good ammo.

Wheel bearing grease works fine.  Ear wax would probably work on a Garand.

Maybe we should meet at a range and we can figure it out.

Never had a problem with any of my Garands.  Far from an expert but I know a bit.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

the system isn't letting me upload a picture. stamp is 4 sided. L C 6 6

[JohnnyB 4,325]

Lake City 1966.  I don't think that's Greek ammo!

[1LtCAP 4,264]

Just now, JohnnyB said:

Lake City 1966.  I don't think that's Greek ammo!

nope. i thought it was till i looked at the stamp. then i thought it might mean lake city, but wasn't sure. but.....lake city is supposed to be top of the line, isn't it?

 

[JohnnyB 4,325]

1 minute ago, 1LtCAP said:

nope. i thought it was till i looked at the stamp. then i thought it might mean lake city, but wasn't sure. but.....lake city is supposed to be top of the line, isn't it?

 

Absolutely!

[1LtCAP 4,264]

Just now, JohnnyB said:

Absolutely!

so then it is absolutley caused by the loose nut behind the trigger. lack of proper maintenance.......

[JohnnyB 4,325]

2 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

nope. i thought it was till i looked at the stamp. then i thought it might mean lake city, but wasn't sure. but.....lake city is supposed to be top of the line, isn't it?

 

Could be corrosive though!  Run Windex down the barrel!

[GRIZ 3,369]

Lake City 66 is non-corrosive.  That was ammo made for the Vietnamese we gave M1s to.

Greek ammo is headstamped HXP AFAIK

Can't remember now but when we gave the Greeks M1s we gave them the ammo manufacturing stuff from an ammo plant we shut down after WW2.

I still have a stock of HXP I bought from CMP when it was like 25 cents a round.

 

[GRIZ 3,369]

BTW, there is no magic in Windex.

Hatcher's Notebook is available on line for free. He did a lot of research on what was best for cleaning after shooting corrosive ammo.  The best thing was...water.  Now they weren't going to tell soldiers to clean with water.  Something soldiers were told to keep off their rifles.  Ammonia is pretty close chemically to water.  It's also considered a cleaning agent. Pure ammonia is a gas, the stuff we call Ammonia is actually diluted in water.  They told soldiers to clean with Ammonia.

The Windex thing came in when Windex was made with ammonia but was mostly water.

Clean after corrosive ammo with water, flush out water with WD40, then clean conveniently with Hoppes, Breakfree, or your preferred solvent.

 

 

[GRIZ 3,369]

Look on the CMP website.  They will show you where to grease.

Keep in mind, soldiers might carry these rifles for several days between cleanings.  They worked.

In WW2, units pulled out of combat were issued new M1s if available.  I learned this from reading "Band of Brothers".  After Normandy they were issued new rifles in England before they jumped into Holland.

[Displaced Texan 11,748]

9 hours ago, JohnnyB said:

Run Windex down the barrel!

I see what you did there 

[Displaced Texan 11,748]

6 hours ago, GRIZ said:

BTW, there is no magic in Windex.

You obviously aren’t Greek. That fixes everything. 

[GRIZ 3,369]

13 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

You obviously aren’t Greek. That fixes everything. 

My brother's fix is Pepto Bismol,  my father's fix was Vitamin A&D ointment and Epsom Salts!,

Chris Rock did a skit where Robbitussin fixed everything. Got a broken arm? Sprinkle.Robbitussin over it.

 

[Displaced Texan 11,748]

Every Greek family’s remedy