Rust on an old 12-41 rifle

Hey all,

My father and I recently picked up an M1 Garand dated 12-41. It belonged to a gentleman from California who's father served in the U.S Army from June 1941 until he was discharged in December 1945.

SUPPOSEDLY when he returned home it was with this rifle in hand in a green wool blanket. It came with an even older 1905 bayonet dated 1909. As is always, buy the rifle not the story, so when I saw that the rifle had no British proof marks on it, my father and I decided to take the chance.

Upon examining the rifle, there is a significant amount of rust that was never apparent in the photographs. What would be the best way to remove the rust without compromising the integrity of the rifle? I want to keep it "as is" as much as possible, but I'm concerned about the level of rust.

More photographs of the rifle. I didn't realize you were allowed to attach more than 10 photographs.

Looks good from here. I'd use 0000 fine steel wool and oil and it would take off rust but not finish. I know this works because I've done it. Some here will call me a heretic.

Looks like a correct rifle, without getting closer.

The internals are correct (and a bit rusty). I will provide a few photographs when I return home from work. There is quite a bit of rust in the underside of the receiver where the bolt extracts to.

The trigger assembly is also exhibiting some rust that made removing it to inspect the internals an ordeal. The gentleman said he never took the rifle apart in the sixty years he’s had it since his father passed it to him.

Nice piece. Might be a good candidate for electrolysis. I have had good results with much sicker patients.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I'd use 0000 fine steel wool and oil and it would take off rust but not finish. I know this works because I've done it. Some here will call me a heretic.

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Looks like some light surface rust. It looks worse than it is, as many oils will make the rust brighter and appear like all is ruined. If the parkerizing has already worn and lost its "roughness", Jim's method will do just fine, although I reserve it for blued finishes which are mostly intact. Parkerizing is more delicate for such things. Go slow, don't get aggressive. Use a very light oil like Kroil or Ballistol. Good ole Hoppe's no. 9 will do the job too. Keep stroking it lightly, possibly for hours, and it will come off without wearing the finish. If you try to speed it up by scrubbing, you will dull, smooth down, or lighten the parkerizing (I didn't say remove to avoid a lengthy debate, but yes scrubbing park aggressively with steel wool will wear it down). Scraping with a copper penny works too - but again the caution of dulling the "roughness" of the park.

Now, the "safest" way to do it is by boiling in plain water - by this I mean there is no possibility of destroying anything. This also has the advantage of being the cheapest alternative as well - compared to a fancy or DIY electrolysis rig. You can use whatever container the barreled action will fit in...rain gutter with end caps JBwelded on, or even with high-temp silicon caulk, placed on a BBQ, stove top, gas fire pit on the porch, whatever you have, will do the job the cheapest. I do a lot of this and slow rust bluing and so I use a 4" cellular core PVC pipe with a water heater element in the bottom. Use a black pipe nipple and coupling to screw the element in. The element by itself doesn't have enough threads to maintain a seal in the hot plastic. I use old tin cans on a hot plate for small parts. Drop your springs in too. I know of no steel that is ruined at 212F. They will come out squeaky clean.

Any old oil will boil out, and the active (i.e. stuck to metal) red iron oxide will be converted to magnetite (bluing) - this is the same process as the traditional slow rust bluing. Any excess red rust will become loose flakes and brush off with the lightest of passes with your steel wool, leaving only bluing (and not white metal) behind. There are plenty of videos online. Boiling is the most professional, an durable, form of "conservation".

Old lubricants that have trapped dust and dries out will become acidic and can lead to rusting if you don't do regular maintenance. Boiling also gives you a chance to start over with your preservation. Once done boiling (an hour is plenty - any longer won't accomplish anything), and you carded off any excess rust or magnetite, paint in Kerosene and let it cool down overnight. Plain motor oil works great too. Just don't use anything that has a rust inhibitor or detergent in it for this first oiling- No WD40 or CLP or Hoppes. You can use this stuff all you want later on, but the first oiling needs to be pure and clean. Oil it down with whatever you want the next morning.

Search YouTube for Mark Novak's channel.

I would remove all of the metal from the wood. I remove the metal from the wood to protect the wood from the oil you will use to remove the rust. Soak all of the metal with rust in a coat of oil (I let it sit for a couple of days). Like browningautorifle, I also use the 0000 steel wool with ALOT of oil and regular wipe downs with paper towels to remove the rust in the oil. Using a bronze brush may change the color/finish but the steel wool is gentle enough to leave as is when you use lots of oil. It would be best to try it on some internal pieces where you can gauge the impact on the finish. That is a beautiful rifle and should be left just as it is minus the rust. If you have some really stubborn patches, I have used a pre-1970 copper penny to power through those spots. When I'm done removing the rust, I coat the metal with CLP to preserve it and prevent future rust. Congrats on finding such a terrific piece of history!

Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rShG_F85W1Y

A really good light rust remover is boric acid. It's very mild, will not hurt the finish but it removes every speck of corrosion, even from complex parts. Warm a pot of water and dissolve as much boric acid as it will take. Immerse the part and keep it warm on the stove for several hours. Remove and rinse, it will be spotless.

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Originally Posted by Bob Seijas

A really good light rust remover is boric acid. It's very mild, will not hurt the finish but it removes every speck of corrosion, even from complex parts. Warm a pot of water and dissolve as much boric acid as it will take. Immerse the part and keep it warm on the stove for several hours. Remove and rinse, it will be spotless.

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Thank you!

Can you tell me if the stock is a long channel or short? Thanks,,Rick B

I wanted to thank everyone who raised suggestions on how to properly deal with this rust.

I'll go over these options and carefully assess them to see what my father and I feel most comfortable doing. If the rust wasn't too spread out I'd leave it alone, but I don't want a good piece of history like this rusting away due to my negligence.

Hi Rick,

It looks to me like a short channel stock with a faint inspection stamp of 97 in the channel.

There are also spots where the wood has turned black and a tad bit of mold where the receiver sits. I have provided photographs of all these identifying marks. Any idea why those black spots could be?

The black in pics two, three, four, five are simply oil in the wood. Is that what you refer to?

Thanks Mike and if you pull the butt plate I would like to know if the lower screw hole is equal size to upper or large. Also if it is a 2S butt plate. They showed up later but just incase. Thanks,, Rick B

Hey Rick,

I'm sorry but I couldn't get the lower screw to budge. The first I was able to get to turn with a larger screw driver, but the lower one refused to dislodge. I'm starting to strip the screw which I'm afraid of.

I took a few photos of the buttplate; I know this won't reveal what you're looking for but at the moment it is all I can provide. What should I be looking for? I'm not well educated on butt plates other than the 2S marking.

Thanks for trying. You can leave it as the lower screw is centered making it a Springfield. If it was shifted to the left it would be a Winchester. No need to take it off. Thanks for the pics. Rick B

That is a really nice find!
I own one almost just like it, and as rust goes it's really not bad.
My approach is always to do as little as possible, simply shoot it, clean it and oil it as you would any other rifle.
You will find that after several sessions of this most of that rust will be gone.
The cleaning solvents and light oil will eventually get under the rust and lift it, don't be in a hurry.
As long as you keep it oiled and store it properly it will not get any worse and remember, the worst thing you can do to any machine is to let it sit unused.

I agree, that little bit of surface rust is no big deal, has probably occured in the past 5 years, and similar happened to it back in time before. Just put oil on it (don't let the oil be so thick next to the wood that you'll stain the wood) and wipe it off after every handling session with a cloth rag. Remember the rust that comes off is abrasive, turn your rag often, use oil on it.
Extreme methods like boiling, steel wool, acids, bases, needle guns....are what ruins guns. Not a touch or red powder that oil will remove in a few sessions.

Kroil is your friend on Butt screw. Dribble it into sling swivel to get to screw threads.

The elevation cap should be checkered not grooved

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Originally Posted by RCS

The elevation cap should be checkered not grooved

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I noticed this as well. I reached out to Ed Byrnes about it, who believes the elevation cap is original to the rifle. He mentioned he’s seen grooved caps in this range. The cap has also noticeable speckled wear that is uniform with all the steel parts of rest of the rifle. It seems like an arbitrary piece to leave uncorrected.

Regardless, it’s not something I would change on the rifle. The gentleman I spoke to said his father returned home with it wrapped in a wool green army blanket. I know the case of the “buy the rifle, not the story” but he was sincere enough in the sense that he had very little understanding of M1 rifles. I took a chance buying the rifle because his lack of knowledge prevented me from seeing many parts in photographs. He didn’t want to take the rifle apart so I took a chance with the internals and the lower band pin.

I have very old data on 326308 with 8 41 barrel and the elevation cap is grooved.

Does it still have the sight seal. The picture is dark in that area, unless I’m missing something. Regards

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Originally Posted by cpc

Does it still have the sight seal.

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Looks like it...

I would not change the elevation knob either, but I must point out the reason for my post, is that all the data from Duff's WW2 book and my own data from
Lend Lease rifles show a checkered elevation cap.

Duff's book, sn 421106 and sn 469909 both with checkered cap
Lend lease rifles 380931 and 471665 both with checkered cap

Mine was 328219 SA and a checkered cap.

In my old research I found that SA seemed to use up old parts on the LL rifles they sent to England. The few original non-LL examples found in the serial range often have the new version sooner. The rear sight flush nut is a good example, LL guns have them long after the lock bar was introduced.

A little late to the party here but DO NOT USE steel wool, it will ruin the finish. Yoy need bronze wool with some gun grease and a true vintage copper penny, it will knock off the rust spots and not mar the finish. Use these two items all the time to cleam up my M1's and k98's

That’s good to know??

In general, leave it alone. Write up as much as you know about the PO and the story, date and sign it and put the sheet of paper in the butt trap.

A very fine stainless steel brush with oil and gentle use will get most of the staining off if concerns you. For the love of Pete, do not sand, steel wool or strip the stock, just oil it.

If you think the metal is dry under the wood, you could take it down and address that if necessary, but resist the temptation to clean off all the patina and residues.

For a time there was a mania for "refinishing" vintage and antique furniture, then gradually the light went on and people realized the value of patina. All the pieces they ruined are worth far less today.

The day will come when "unrestored" surplus rifles will be worth a premium because that status will be the best or only guarantee of a rifle's originality.