CMP delivery

My 2 service grade Garands came on Friday. My first one 2 years ago had a refinished 300k receiver, barrel wi 0+ throat erosion, 1+ at the muzzle, and new cmp wood. It is a wonderful shooter.
These two are 3mil and 4 mil.
Here is the first
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It has used wood, with what looks like the remnants of an HRA 3/8" square stamp with eagle and stars? but it's not clear. The wood fits nice and tight, just as tight as the others with new wood. The hand guard rings and butt plate were put to a wire wheel, and left bright. Bolt has the correct drawing number for the serial, but looks newly reparkerized.
I found a complete IHC trigger group, and an HRA gas plug.

I have both rifles fully disassembled right now for deep cleaning and inspection. I thought of doing a thread as I went through it. When I get to the bore, I'll do some before, after, intermediate, and after bore cam pics. Every old rifle has a story, even the ugliest parts queen.

While my hoppes No. 9 soaks a bit, here are some before pics.
Receiver and barrel drawing numbers. There is an S on the other side of the receiver, I'm guessing an arsenal rebuild stamp.
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The bore, as I found it below. A bit of rust in the chamber.
crown, 12 inches in, throat, freebore, chamber shoulder.
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Pic on the left in post #2 is crown? A bit of rod wear at the crown? Quite evident if I understand your pics...

that's right Jim.
Plenty of Hoppes No. 9, 20 strokes or so, let it stand for 20 minutes or so, then 50 strokes and patch out until dry. All the old oils/grease and top grime is off. I use a ratcheting brush on the chamber. No more rust there! Shiny copper comes out next.
crown, 12inches, throat, shoulder.
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some deep tool marks revealed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

some deep tool marks revealed.

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Yes there are. Most impressive to me is still the end of the land worn by steel rod use. Very damning evidence of what instructors told troops about over use of a rod when cleaning...then insisted on them scrubbing the crap out of their rifles.

Sweets next. I use a parkerized steel rod with brass bore guide for this. follow the directions. letting it sit longer than a minute or two does nothing for it's effectiveness. Soak a loose patch, short-stroke and rub the bore - doesn't have to be vigorous. your not scrubbing it, your wiping away dissolved copper from the surface, exposing more.
It took 3 passes (patch out dry in between) to get the lions share of copper out.
after pass1, pass2, pass3
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I have found that at a first real cleaning of a neglected bore with "character" like these, it does no good to continue. Copper lodged in the scratches, pits, what not takes forever to get out with just sweets and patches, and sweets doesn't work well on a brush either. it's most effective as printed on the directions.
Good thing there is JB paste with kroil. Coming up! This gets the rest of everything we missed, copper included, as well has smooth down the edges of any places where there was active pitting or rust going on.

2 passes with JB paste. Going from the muzzle is a bit challenging to get a good tight fit. Swab with kroil first. Then I put JB liberally on the top third of a patch, then fold over just that part and wrap around a Dewey style jag. Back and forth, short stroke, whatever is your fancy - extra passes in the first third of the bore. I use a brass guide at the muzzle for this even though I use a coated rod since this is the most vigorous part. Patch out with kroil, then patch dry. I made 2 passes like this, 30ish strokes each, with double in the throat area.
You would think your bore is dirty because every patch keeps coming out blackish grey. This is just jb packed into every nook and cranny. Plain old denatured alcohol is great at dissolving all this. Couple tight patches with alcohol before it comes out sparkling white every time!
12inches, throat, freebore
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perty pretty. There is a couple trouble spots deal with. I should have gone a 4th pass with sweets - I missed a long streak of copper that now shines mirror bright.
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Don't forget to clean the muck out of the gas port!
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Bore still looks a bit dark in places, especially in the throat. It's not dirty - this is the underlying layer of burned on lubricant - stained just like your wife's favorite stainless steel skillet that you put on high and forgot about until it started smoking and set off the smoke alarm.
Best way to get rid of it...Go shooting - only from now on degrease your barrel just before you head out to the range, and clean as soon as you get home. Degreasing before shooting not only saves your barrel from burnt on oil, but makes cleaning easier too.

Here is birds eye view of the gas port area. Lights on the camera create shadows in all the micro imperfections of this old military barrel, whereas the side view shines bright. On my match grade, hand lapped barrels, Birdseye shows mirror bright. That will never happen on these old rifles, so don't expect perfection.
gas port is the bright white area at the top.
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Sorry this was likely a "captain obvious" thread so far, but I thought it would make a good pictorial "here is what to expect" for any of those 7-8 million new gun owners who may have bought a milsurp.
Exterior and parts next. Pics if I find anything interesting.

I like to detail strip any new-to-me rifle, especially milsurps. The M1 is easier than other. I clean and completely degrease everything, then relubricate. Why? curiosity on my first milsurp - I learned every square millimeter. But also, I like the comfort of knowing everything will be correctly preserved. I dunno what the last guy used or did or didn't do, but I'll make certain that it never matters. Mineral spirits and/or denatured alcohol with a nylon brush to degrease every nook and cranny. Wipe off, blow dry. Finished areas will appear chalky now. Take it outside and hose down with wd-40. Let it sit on there a few minutes, wipe and blow off the excess. everything then gets a layer of RIG. These products are the cheapest, and the best for rifles that will get used and maintained regularly. Reasons and references are here https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....897#post492897, along with links and guidance for museum practices better suited for wall hangers.

I disassembled the bolt to triple check headspace. It says in the docs that came with the rifle that CMP does this...but I like the satisfaction.
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Clear gap on the no-go gauge above. Go gauge sat flush.
Bolt looks to be refinished or was NOS - little to no wear behind the lugs or underneath. Drawing number is correct for serial, but the heat lot code is ~1.6million late?
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The new parkerizing is rough, and when feeding some dummy rounds it sticks on top. A quick toss in case tumbler with walnut media for 15minutes or so while I work on the gas tube should smooth it out without wearing the finish too much. This works great for new enbloc clips too.

Attachment 115209some tool marks and surface rust in the gas tube. could be dried oil.
whatever it was, it's not there anymore!
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how hard could it be to resemble the bolt? lots of videos out there make it look soooo hard, unless you buy the fancy tool. Well, took me all but 30 seconds. I used a tapered punch to line up the ejector from behind, using the GI tool that comes with the cleaning kit to depress it. Holding the tool on top just enough to keep the ejector from flying out, press in the extractor, popping out the punch. easy peasy.
Definitely a new firing pin too. the tip still has it's parkerized finish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

how hard could it be to resemble the bolt

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I liked to used the M10 cleaning rod handle like the book shows. That way it's all held in the rifle and just turn the tool with the rod...stripping or assembling. No, It ain't hard at all.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

No, It ain't hard at all.

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in all honesty, I tried for a few minutes with just the handle and failed every time. the goofy ejector kept twisting every which way. it was easy peasy to align with a punch on the other side. I suppose you could align it with the threaded end of a rod just the same - so still no extra tools.

I cold blued one of the hand guard retainers that where left bright. I didn't like the look of it, so I ordered parkerized replacements - both retainers and the butt plate.

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Looks like a complete IHC trigger group. The hammer is stamped with a drawing number and IHC as well.

I couldn't find anything else on the stock. Just the ~3/8" square with indeterminate interior and the circle P on the pistol grip.
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trigger is perfect, 3.5lb first stage, 2 lb second stage.
The op rod spring is very stiff. When I first opened the package and cycled the bolt, it was like dragging a boulder down a gravel road - took about as much force too. If you ride the handle up even the slightest, the bolt sticks. I figured it was just dirty, and set to work.
When I disassembled, the oprod spring was coated with a yellow/orange crust, and the inside of the oprod was correspondingly filthy. I immediately thought "there is my problem", perhaps along with the brand new park under the bolt not gliding smoothly along the follower (fixed that in the case tumbler above).

Everything is now clean. I soaked the spring in mineral spirits while I worked on the bore. The filth is off it, but it seems to have stained the metal an orange color. I relubricated, wiped off the excess, then greased it well. The rifle functions much better now, but the spring is still too stiff. It takes undue pressure to insert a clip (compared to the other 2 Garands I have), and the last round ejects late when pulling the rod by hand, and sometimes gets pinned between the clip coming out, and the top of the receiver.
First guess is obvious...it needs a new spring. Comparing the oprod to a better functioning rifle, I think it is OK.

I swapped springs with another rifle and...perfect! On close inspection of the original, it has a slight bend in it about halfway down. I tried to take a picture, but you can only see it if you roll it on the table. New spring on the way. Now on to rifle no 2!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

On close inspection of the original, it has a slight bend in it about halfway down.

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So, your op rod spring has a kink? Not unusual when some guy loses control during strip or assemble. Easily replaced if needed.

New furniture and spring came in Wed. morning - so I got everything together after work and headed to the range. The first round was a big surprise...I switched the gas plug before heading out, thinking I put in the schuster adjustable, but actually put in another regular one. I was mildly surprised for a millisecond when the brass ejected unexpectedly.
My surprise escalated to panic when it bounced off the wall in my stall and into my hoodie! I jumped up and proceeded to dance the hot brass shuffle. It jiggled over to the left side of my neck, and into my shirt. I was left with a main burn and blister on the side of my neck where it first hit bare skin, and smaller lesser burn spots as it made it's way inside my shirt, and down along my skin. As luck would have it, the path it traced perfectly along my left shoulder pocket. What luck! I've had hot brass get in my collar from the marine next to me before, but never this perfect.
I shoot primarily left handed, and so I switched to righty. I'm pretty ambidextrous at most things, shooting included, with just enough advantage to favor lefty shooting, so I don't think I gave the rifle it's due attention. A friend joined me, and put 5 rounds on paper, first round a flyer then ~2 inch group of 4 rounds. So I'm optimistic. I'll take it again next week.

I hope you were by yourself when you got the hot brass down your neck. It's a lot worse when you've got friends laughing their butts off at you!

My friend who was with me is also a veteran and no stranger to the hot brass shuffle. Anyone who has been packed onto a firing line at boot camp with only 4 ft either side has had hot brass hit them, and more than once get stuck in their collar if firing prone. His laugh was one of understanding. In fact, he took his eye off me to watch the guy next stall over and had one bounce off the wall and into his forehead. We joked that if that brass was shaped any different he'd have a mushroom stamp instead of red scratch.