M1 Garand Failure to Cycle

Hello experts,

I have recently ran into a problem with my post war Garand that was not the case the first 50 rounds I fired; It does not cycle completely. I've tried doing my own trouble shooting and here's what I've got

Problem: My main problem is short stroking(?) as most rounds will eject, but does not feed the next round. I assume it does not complete rearward travel completely to pick up the next round. Sometimes it will not cycle enough to even extract the round. What leads me to believe it's a short stroke problem is hotter commercial ammo I've tried (1 full clip) cycled flawlessly. Also prev mentioned it functioned perfectly before with ~50 rounds of surplus m2 ball. Now the problem exists with m2 ball surplus, and my hand loads to m2 ball spec.

Here's what I've troubleshot:
1.Gas piston measures .526" Gas cylinder measures roughly .5265/.527. Doesn't seem the be a undersized piston problem?
2. Gas port is clean and open
3. Gas plug was hand tight with screwdriver
4. Op rod spring looks good (and fed hotter ammo fine)
5. Passed the tilt test after i brought it back from the range even with the carbon fouling prior to cleaning (to get the bolt to completely rotate it took a few extra degrees of tilt though). Tho when i install the trigger group without op rod spring the hammer hangs up the bolt; I assume this is normal. The extra degrees needed could also very well be "over cleaning" as i had a very liberal amount of grease on the bolt, follower, and receiver. But still "passes" tilt test.
6. Chamber is nice and white since I normally snake and patch the bore after every session.
7. The ejector in the bolt does not protrude past the bolt face.

Things I've not checked rigorously:
1. Headspace - I dont have a head space guage but I now have problems with surplus m2 ball on top of my "to the book" handloads. But everything seems to feed/extract perfectly when manually operating bolt.
2. The gas plug be just not be sealing properly and be defective. I HAVE tried a new adjustable gas block though, and has the same problem with the setting "completely screwed in"
3. Loose gas cylinder. It seems to wiggle a couple thousandths but not any more so than when i got the rifle, and would previously operate fine. Would .01" or so in a loose gas cylinder make a difference in the rifle not fully cycling?

What do you think; Could it be one of the things I haven't checked, or did I overlook something?

Have you cleaned and greased the rifle?

Is the spring in spec. Don't remember the proper length off the top of my head, but a search should bring up the length? If it's not in spec that could contribute to your issue.

Use only mil spec ammo. The "hot" commercial ammo risks your op-rod.

Thanks for the reply; I definitely didnt want to shoot more than the 8 shots i did because of what you mentioned. I actually dont know if the spring is within spec. Ill look into that.

Good news is I went out and shot a few more after cleaning it and worked fine. It was definitely lubed when it was causing problems, and was only dirty from less than 25 rounds. I just found it hard to believe fouling from 3 clips would cause it to no longer function 100%.

Guess I’ve got alot to learn!

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 PM ----------

Is it possible to overclean?

Prior to, i had some heavy grease almost anywhere i could think of. After the proper cleaning, i rid all that and put a dab of grease in the follower, and some light oil on the rest of the moving prts

Quote:

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Originally Posted by willrh111

[/COLOR]Is it possible to overclean?

Prior to, i had some heavy grease almost anywhere i could think of. After the proper cleaning, i rid all that and put a dab of grease in the follower, and some light oil on the rest of the moving prts

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I follow this method when greasing my Garand. I borrowed a couple tablespoons from the grease gun at work. Should last me a lifetime, following the protocol in this article.
Greasing the M1 Garand

Quote:

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Originally Posted by willrh111

Is it possible to overclean?

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There's a sticky here you should read and re-read for a while. It's a complete reference from the books...

If you don't get it sorted, look up Gus Fisher at the "Gus' Garands" booth at gun shows from Fishersville to Richmond to Hampton. Gus was a Marine armorer in the '60s and specializes in Garands.



Bob

Short Recoil is caused by several things. They're listed here. Not the least of which is a dirty gas system.
TM 9-1275, MALFUNCTIONS & CORRECTIONS
Free .pdf manuals(where the above came from are here. Note the need for the provided UN & PW. FM 23-5, TM 9-1275 and TM-9-1005-222-12.
TM 9-1275, MALFUNCTIONS & CORRECTIONS
Buy a copy of Hatcher's Notebook and Hatcher's Book of the Garand. About $30 each on Amazon. The latter has a trouble shooting chapter than came right out of the FM/TM.

op rod spring "looks" OK? Takes alittle more than "looks"
Spring should be straight with no bends or worn pots and measure between 19 - 20 1/4 inches uncompressed
If not within these specs buy one from Orion 7 or Garand Gear, stay away from "extra" power springs as they can cause issues

Replace the op rod spring with a new one from Orion 7 any way. You have no way of knowing how old it is or what it has been subjected to. I replace the op rod spring in any M1 rifle I buy as a matter of course. It's the best $13 you can spend on your rifle. And, it will alleviate at least one problem-point. Also, when you tighten the gas screw, make sure it's really TIGHT, as in if King Kong tightened it.
Jon