The Found M1

[read6737]

OK,
Right I have started to strip the M1.
It is durty. Dirty old dry oil / greese with dust.

The question is :-
do I clean or do i not clean ?

It is hard to see serial No,s withh the muck and
I dont have however any intention of ever shooting the gun
as
one, I do not want too,
two, I do not have any amo. no cases, Not a problem though as I can make the cases and everything else necessary to reload.
Three, I do not have any charger clips.
So to not touch just a take apart and record what I see may be one way.
To clean and remove all muck and re greese, well that is the other way.

The wood needs to be fed that is for sure, just one tiny crack in the top rear hand gard not a worry though.
The surfase of the blued areas have a patina a sort of corrosion with no pitting but the surfaces are not smooth.
I cannot see anything broken, there are now odd spots clean because I have worked the action a bit.
The internals are in a very good condition, just the tube has the patina as well.

For me to clean or not is a hard one.
Sorry spelling is a little off today.

[browningautorifle]

I would go ahead and clean it to stop further decay. Rust will consume it over time and should be dealt with. You don't have to strip it to silver but clean and oil and remove the greatest part of the rust. A varsol bath and some fine steel woll will probably do the most of it. The wood needs a drink for sure. There's many wood products available and the opinions of what exactly to use vary as much as the availability of product.

By the way, a full pic expose would be nice as you work...

[read6737]

There is no real rust but to prevent any other deteration I did gove it a a spray lube silicone, the wood I will give it a good drink with a thin wood oil, do use a lot of teak oil on my other stocks mainly as I like the smell and it is a non staining colour.

[Bob Seijas]

FWIW, the Preservation expert at SANHS insisted that "Wood does not need to be fed." He uses microwax on the collection.

[TDH]

Sounds like the family gave it a break. Good to see it survive. Too many ignorant people turn these in for destruction by the police. A gun friend who works for Goodwill industries says they get guns all the time and Goodwill makes them turn them in to the cops for destruction. I always watch the video footage of police "buy-backs" to see what history is being lost...

Like I really believe all that history is really destroyed by the cops. The question is more likely is how many don't find their way to the chopper.

[69 Stang]

I found my dads WW2 rifle range score book from boot camp in San Diago USMC from 1942. His serial number of his Springfield was 1007815. I also have a letter he wrote his parents telling them they got issued the new M1 Garand rifles.

[Prince Humperdink]

People sure have a lot more self control than I do,because after I stabilized the rusting and checked the bore,I'd have to shoot it...at least once

[browningautorifle]

I'd have to shoot it

I probably would too...

[TDH]

I know I would.

[read6737]

Just started cleaning the M1.
I have started to put parts in to a sonic cleaner, there is alot of dry hars grease.
I am not going to take a wire brush or wire wool to the parts as I
want to preserve the patina that is there so mugh history in the ageing.
so NO polishing.
Does every part have a serial No ?
as I cannot see numbers on some parts.