Trigger group status while storing the rifle?

[Bob Womack]

Yea! A fun poll for the nice Garand folks. Here's the dilemma:

I hear many say to remove the trigger group from the rifle when putting it away to prevent compressing the stock. Most also say make sure not to leave springs under tension. Of course, opening the trigger group cocks the hammer. Does this mean you have to close the trigger group and drop the hammer after you remove it? What the heck do you do? What did armories do?

The poll offers options for you to tell me what YOU do but I'm interested in what armories did as well. Oh yea: I'm not a competition shooster.

Bob

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[Bill Hollinger]

Hammer down!

[goo]

i never saw it documented that it made a difference whether the trigger guard is released or not. the uncocked part is just common sense.

[Major Tom]

Keeping in mind, after the garands were stored by military units, they did not unlock the trigger guard. Umpteen thousands were stored locked.

[Dan Shapiro]

I store mine with the hammer down. Then I slowly unlatch the guard to ease the compression on the wood. Since I don't pull the guard all the way forward, the hammer spring is not compressed.

[Devil Dog]

Dan is right and there is a bonus by keeping the hammer un-cocked on an un-latched trigger group....the hammer excerts enough force on the guard to keep the trigger group from falling out of the stock.

[mousegun]

I've gotten into the habit of storing the rifle with the hammer down and the TG unlocked after doing a major stripdown/cleaning. With the TG unlocked I can return to the rifle at any time and apply additional cleaning, lube, adjustments, tilt testing, etc. without undue wear on the TG lugs. It's wear on the lugs that makes the stock fit loose. Once I'm ready to shoot again or for dry fire practice, the TG is locked down. "Settling in" rounds are fired making the rifle ready for score. Afterwards the rifle is cleaned and then stored with the TG locked and the hammer down. The TG stays locked until the next major stripdown/cleaning or repairs must be made.

[George Sr.]

I store mine the same way as Dan and Devil Dog.

[Griff Murphey]

The only "match" arms room I ever saw was the 4th Army Rifle Team gun room at Fort Sam Houston, which I dropped by off and on in 1967-1971. The match M-14s were stored in locked racks with the trigger guards popped. I assume they had the hammers dropped. I never saw issue M-1's or M-14's stored any other way than fully locked during my 7-year "career" of Army ROTC. I drew a match M-14 on Okinawa in 1975 from a USMC Armorer's van but I have no idea how it was stored, but when I drew a match 7.62 M-1 at Subic Bay Naval Base that year I remember all the M-1s had trigger groups locked. I BELIEVE match M-14s were stored with the guards popped if they were not actively being used. My brother is 10 years older than I am and started shooting M-1s in about 1955. He shot at Perry on the 4th Army ROTC team in 1960. I never saw him store his match M-1s that way. So I think this idea came in about in the mid 60's with the match M-14s, and was then picked up by some M-1 shooters. JMHO.

[Maury Krupp]

What benefit is supposed to be derived from unlatching the trigger guard?

Once wood fibers are crushed they're crushed. Changes in humidity aside (which have no real effect on the actual strength of the wood fibers) they will never expand, return to their original shape, or otherwise miraculously heal.

Once an M1's trigger guard is locked it doesn't exert any additional clamping or squeezing pressure. The distance between the receiver rails and magazine floorplate is fixed and remains the same.

I leave all my trigger guards locked.

I figure everything is already as clamped and crushed as it will ever get and all the yanking and tugging necessary to repeatedly unlatch and relatch can't do anything any good.

Maury