Bent op rod help

[E.Hall 43 m1]

I just bought and M1 garand from a neighbor and I beleive the op. rod is bent. The reciever, barell, trigger group, and bolt are springfeild, around april of 43', or so I think. The op rod is an HRA from 56' (i think) I searched through some of the older threads on here and found that Jim Swartz is the man to see when it comes to these things, is he still striaghtening them? last related thread I could find was early last year, is his contact information still the same? thank you _Eric

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[HILLBILLY-06]

I just bought and M1 garand from a neighbor and I beleive the op. rod is bent.

The OP Rod has a natural curve in it anyway, its supposed to have a natural curve. What brings you to conclude it is otherwise bent? Can you bring the bolt all the way to the rear where it locks, then release the bolt and it go all the way home, or does it bind up? There are other posibilities too, the Op Rod spring could just as well be binding/rusted,etc. Have you taken the rifle apart and lubed everything good? I am not the expert here either, but I did see your post and at least want to ask a couple questions while I had a chance.

[E.Hall 43 m1]

well a number of things... the previous owner took it apart to replace the front gaurd, he noticed the spring was broken, so he replaced it. I fired it for the first time the other day and the first round didn't fire, so I ejected it and chambered the next round, this one fired but then the op rod jumped off its track and left the bolt hung up on the round. Upon further inspection the op rod isnt parallel with the groove in the hand gaurd. it runs slightly to the right. also if you look at the handle of the op rod, the arm that runs next to the reciever does not look completly straight either. I found another post on this site with a member who experienced a similar problem and fixed it with a new op rod. I did take note this morning before I left for work that the new spring is 21" long. I read elsewhere that it should be a max. 20.25" not sure if thats true or not though...but i have considered cutting it down. what do you think?- Eric

[boatbod]

You might want to post some photos so we can more easily see the problem areas:
- overhead and side view with op-rod installed and bolt locked back
- right side view of receiver, out of stock with op rod removed
- inside of op-rod lug
- any unusual wear areas on the op-rod

If you remove the op-rod spring, does the rifle pass the tilt test?

[HILLBILLY-06]

I did take note this morning before I left for work that the new spring is 21" long. I read elsewhere that it should be a max. 20.25" not sure if thats true or not though...but i have considered cutting it down. what do you think?- Eric

• Minimum Uncompressed Op Rod Spring Length (From Gathered Empirical/Actual Test Data): 19.00” (measured end to end – see blueprint picture on how to measure).
• Maximum Uncompressed Op Rod Spring Length (From Blueprint C6147568): 20.25” (measured end to end – see blueprint picture on how to measure).
Garand, M1, M14, M16, Carbine, 1911, 1917, Militaria, Small Arms

Where did the new spring come from? (Who Made it)? Also the tilt test will help out a lot, and looking for abnormal wear/shiney metal somewhere along all the bearing and contact surfaces.

[browningautorifle]

I'm not a mechanic, so when my car doesn't work I'll take it to one. Rather than guess about this M1...that seems to have a plethora of difficulties...

[Sarge1998]

I'm not a mechanic, so when my car doesn't work I'll take it to one. Rather than guess about this M1...that seems to have a plethora of difficulties...

I agree, an experienced eye is what you need, it may be nothing more than lubrication and putting it back together...correctly. Put out your zip code and see if someone familiar with the M1 lives nearby and is willing to have a look. We could come up with a dozen "Uh Oh" possibilities, but the odds are it's something simple.

[Ben Hartley]

... Jim Swartz is the man to see when it comes to these things, is he still striaghtening them? last related thread I could find was early last year, is his contact information still the same? thank _ youEric

Eric,

Jim Schwartz retired, and passed his business along to:

[[[ http://www.columbusmachine.com/index.htm ]]]

I've not used this service, but the general consensus is very positive.

Coupla quickies:

1) Columbus Machine Works can completely refurbish your op rod, including all the proper bends, dimensions, etc.

2) "Wolff" springs are more problem than they are worth, Orion 7 sells what are reputedly the best in the business:

[[[ http://www.m1garandrifle.com/Garandparts.htm ]]]

HTH

Ben Hartley

[Mark in Rochester]

I had a wolff spring that produced slam fires - changed it to Orion 7 spring and never had one again

[E.Hall 43 m1]

All, I trimmed down the spring a bit and everything feels a lot better. I'm going to take it a gunsmith before I hit the range, but I think all it needed was a shortened spring. I dont know where the previous owner got the spring. Thanks for your input.- Eric