M1 Garand FTF

[dart67eb]

My CMP Garand more often than not will not feed the 6th and 7th round in the clip.  The bolt closes but no bang.  When you open the bolt, there is no round in the chamber.  Anybody run into this before?

[eaglescouter]

Sounds like a candidate for a set of replacement springs.

[dart67eb]

Which ones?

[hawkeye]

Get a wolf spring set, all the springs are 60 years old unless they have been changed. Look up the specs on the main spring length , I'll bet it's short.
http://www.nicolausassociates.com/PDF/M1GarandOpRodSpringLength.pdf

[dart67eb]

New spring set fixed the problem.  The op rod spring was stretched.

[Colorado Pete]

As I recall, the op rod spring also pushes back on the follower arm, which is what pushes the cartridges up from the magazine area to be picked up by the bolt. As the rounds are fired, the follower raises up by spring pressure, which allows the spring to expand more and be less compressed, thus storing less energy, which weakens its upward push on the follower, possibly causing slower raising of the follower and cartridges. This may cause the top cartridge to be too slow to rise up to where the bolt catches it in its forward movement and chambers it. A stronger spring ought to keep the top rounds moving up quickly even as it expands to its full captured length when the last round is presented to the cycling bolt.

Is this what was going on?

[dart67eb]

Seems about right.  All I know is that the new springs whack your thumb a lot harder.

As I recall, the op rod spring also pushes back on the follower arm, which is what pushes the cartridges up from the magazine area to be picked up by the bolt. As the rounds are fired, the follower raises up by spring pressure, which allows the spring to expand more and be less compressed, thus storing less energy, which weakens its upward push on the follower, possibly causing slower raising of the follower and cartridges. This may cause the top cartridge to be too slow to rise up to where the bolt catches it in its forward movement and chambers it. A stronger spring ought to keep the top rounds moving up quickly even as it expands to its full captured length when the last round is presented to the cycling bolt.

Is this what was going on?

[hawkeye]

Yes that's what is happening . A lot of times a weak spring is pulled on to make it longer which helps for a while. This is a common GI fix it's done with mag springs ect... to fix a problem in the field. That skinny spring in the Garand is the heart on the weapon, you should be good for 40 or 50 years.

[CharlieHotel]

I was having the very same issue, turned out to be en-blocs that were out of spec. If you have any en-blocs marked with an SF throw them away. I took it to Orion7 and he looked it over and found nothing wrong with the rifle. Have not had the issue without the SF en-blocs.
No offense guys, but I would take it to a tuner if it continues and have him check it out before I start replacing parts. Could just as easily be timing.

CH

[hawkeye]

The new springs fixed this problem.  You'll find clips out of spec on occasion but not all of that type will be out of spec, for example JMO clips made in 1971 ( German), others made by JMO are fine. All GI clips seem to work fine. Timing issue is usually the bullet guide, that little bump above the hole is worn. GI manuals have a trouble shooting guide that will same time and money in repairing a Garand. Stick with GI parts and you can't go wrong.