loose Garand barrel

[rmckeon]

hi guys,

seems that the barrel on my Garand is a tad loose ... when I field strip my Garand I can, quite easilly, unscrew my barrel. is this common? more importantly, is this in any way dangerous? is there any way to keep it in place (ie lock-tight)...?

cheers,
Rob

Information

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[tiriaq]

Its not common at all at all. I can think of a couple of fixes. The barrel could be removed, and the shoulder gently peined all the way around, unsetting the metal so that the shoulder contacts the receiver before the barrel is indexed. The barrel is then torqued into index. Be careful, you will get one chance to get it right. The other way would be to turn the shoulder back perhaps .125", make a breeching washer a couple of thou. thicker, and then torque the barrel to index.
First method doesn't require a lathe.
A receiver wrench, barrel vice, and parallels or a machinist's level, etc. will be needed to do the job properly.
I suppose that a thread locker by itself might work, but a proper torqued mechanical fit would be better. There is also the issue of why the barrel is loose. This is definitely not normal. A replacement barrel could have been over torqued at some time.
You should check headspace when the barrel is in place.

[rmckeon]

sounds like this requires the skills of a gunsmith... I was hoping for a simpler solution.

[tiriaq]

If you are anywhere near Central Ontario, I could help.

[rmckeon]

I'm in North York (401 & DVP)

if you feel you can help, would you mind PM'ing me?

[sdh1911]

I am a gunsmith, but a little out of reach. If you know anyone with a lathe the fix is quite simple. You chuck the barrel and measure from the face of the barrel to the shoulder. you load a 3/8" ball vleer into the tool holder and set the lathe on slow speedand run the vleer into the base of the barrel about 1/8" behind the shoulder, hard. The compression caused by the hardened ball in the vleer to displace the shoulder forward. Because you will need enough material to make it tight, I would suggest 0.010" displacement minimum. A loose Garand barrel can ruin ones day fast. Old time armorers would plate the front of the receiver in some cases, but, for the most part barrel replacement or scraping the receiver was the fix. I have seen welds but, would not suggest anything that may mess up the heat treat or permanently deface the gun-HTH-SDH

[rmckeon]

thanks gentlemen... I think the ugly truth is that I'd better get my Garand looked at sooner rather than later.

[Ken T]

SDH 1911'S fix is the one used by U.S.Army Ordnance.The 1947 dated TM for the M1 has fabrication drawings for the barrel rolling tool.TM is 9-1275 or TM9-1276.Rolling the barrel shoulder can also be done with a heavy duty pipe cutter with the cutter replaced with a roller.The roller used to replace the cutter is the same as the two rollers that oppose the cutter.I have seen this done to M14 barrels with light draw.

[Hungry]

If you can wait until I move into my new subdivision house here in Collingwood, just 50 kliks west of Barrie, we can fix you up.

I'm taking possession of the new house around the end of April. I've got all the tools to accomplish your job. It will only cost you a Kelsey's steak....

Peace out.

[purple]

Before attempting any fixes you should verify that the receiver ring is not cracked.A cracked receiver is dangerous and must not be used.A quick test for this is to immerse the front of the reciver in gasoline or any other solvent which will quickly evaporate.If there is a crack the solution will be retained in the crack which will be readily apparent.I once discovered this with a Remington Model 1903 which had a loose barrel.
If the receiver is sound it may be possible to achieve an acceptable degree of barrel tension by roll swaging the barrel as previously discussed.Peening the barrel shoulder to displace enough metal to achieve an acceptable degree of tension against the receiver face is iffy as it is difficult to achieve a uniform amount of metal displacement around the barrel shoulder by peening with a hammer.
When installing used military barrels I look for an initial hand tight position of between 14-25 degrees off plumb in order to achieve the correct tension between the receiver face and barrel shoulder.For a new GI barrel the accepted start point before tightening with the receiver wrench is 9-15 degrees off plumb.
On overhaul it was found that some receiver faces could be sufficiently worn to a point where they would not permit a barrel to be installed with the required amount of tension.The Springfield Armory fix for this was to chrome plate the receiver face to add additional metal.I once had a Winchester receiver which had been so treated and it accepted a barrel just fine.