Shooting Original M1, how safe is this?

+1 on everything DaveHH said. Clean, lube, check headspace and close exam of the locking lugs for any cracks then shoot it and enjoy it!

This is a cracked highwood stock on an nice S'G'. The whole chunk is ready to break right off. To each his own, but i would prefer to save the original ones for future collectors and use the rackers for plinking!

Thats my point exactly, why take the chance of cracking wood

Pick up a Springfield Armory replacement stock, and put the good wood in the safe.

You'd be crazy to fire any mil surp weapon without a detail strip, cleaning, inspection, gauging (head space) and lubrication. After that, just the routine maintenance and inspection should keep you fairly safe, but it's never really 'safe' to fire any gun - always a calculated risk.

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Originally Posted by stickhauler

Maybe you can't take the lawyer to the range for target practice, but somebody really should establish a hunting season for them. I'd vote for a no bag limit for the season as well. They tend to seek out each other and reproduce, likely birthing new potential lawyers.

I've got 6 operable carbines, and shoot each and every one of them. But then again, nothing in my gun safe isn't fired at least once a year, some guns more often.

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Some of us lawyers actually collect and shoot carbines too! (I have 9)

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Originally Posted by LeagleEagle

Some of us lawyers actually collect and shoot carbines too! (I have 9)

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Ouch! ZIngers, you got them. My best friend is an attorney in Kalifornia, and he is the biggest gun collector I know!

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Originally Posted by LeagleEagle

Some of us lawyers actually collect and shoot carbines too! (I have 9)

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Ok, ok, ok.... I promise not to use lawyers for targets anymore... but politicians don't work as well - with all their tap-dancing, they never seem to keep one position long enough to get a clean shot off!

The shot will always be cleaner than them , don't worry about it.
Chris

it is a fascinating book and really nails some of the ideas people have about headspace and rifle danger. He worked at Frankford Arsenal and essentially just screwed around trying different things to blow up rifles. I may not be so afraid if headspace anymore, but one thing I'm very sure of is I'm NEVER, EVER shooting a low number '03 or any WW1 vintage ammo. He has pages and pages of those things coming apart along with their barrels, some guys didn't get hurt, some were severely wounded.

MPD: If you offered my that high wood stock for sale and I saw the crack, I wouldn't buy it anyway, why not fix it? If that was mine, I'd sure do something as casual handling could bust it off.