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The best that you can do is minimize the possibility of a slam fire. If you are dealing with a M1 Garand most of these rifles are over 75 years old. If the rifle is within functioning specification than you should be okay. Unfortunately in many cases, folks buy these rifles and have no idea how old the major parts are. Springs, firing pin and extractors should be inspected on an ongoing basis. The receiver should be inspected as well. When in doubt replace. Ammunition is the other potential problem especially military surplus and reloads. As one who reloads, I take extra care to ensure top quality ammunition is shot in my guns. My quality control starts at each step in the reloading process. Check, double check in some cases triple check the rounds. When in doubt do not use. Guns are becoming too dear and expensive to do short cuts on parts and ammunition. Please inspect your guns and ammunition, stay safe and enjoy our shooting sports.
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08-06-2021 09:53 AM
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Also there are more aftermarket non US GI parts being used in the M14 clones then ever before. Years go when building
a M1A I only use original GI parts, most were NOS
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With my autoloaders I have invested in a "case Checker". These are SAAMI spec aluminum "chambers" that you drop a round in and if it fits it shoots. I have found hand loaded 5.56x45 that don't pass the test and will hold up the bolt closing on my AR. Lyman makes several different types as do other companies. They don't check the primer seating, but for that I use a machinist's 6" straight edge. They are a little bit like a Wilson gauge but will catch rounds that are not sized enough to qualify as full length sized. Good ammunition takes time and patience, especially for self feeders.
Dave
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Originally Posted by
RCS
Also there are more aftermarket non US GI parts being used in the M14 clones then ever before. Years go when building
a
M1A I only use original GI parts, most were NOS
RCS-- The M14/M1A rifles presents its own set of problems. As you stated initially the rifles were built with NOS parts with new receivers and top grade National Match barrels. As I remember everyone was on the hunt for TRW built parts. In recent years many are built with commercial parts that may or not be to the military specification. One good point is new M14 parts are being subcontracted by the US military for the M14 rifle.
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I shot the Garand in NRA High-power competition from 1998 to 2007 shooting 308 match tuned Garands and reloading using CCI BR2 and CCI 34 primers. The Garand has a keyway for the firing pin thats in the circular bridge under the bolt. If that keyway gets worn it will allow the firing pin to go fully forward when out of battery which could cause a slam fire. Ask me how I know this. I had a Don McCoy built match tuned Garand slam fire on the 2nd round of an NRA High-power match. I didn't really notice and I reloaded my next 8 rounds and finished the stage of rapid fire sitting. After I was finished thought that something was wrong and when I inspected the rifle, the heel of the receiver was cracked and a sizable corner of the bolt's locking lug was missing. I got lucky that the rifle fired when partially locked and that it didn't come apart on me. Don, who had every armorers gauge for the Garand that was ever made, inspected the rifle and sure enough, the firing pin keyway was worn out of spec which contributed to the slam fire. That was using CCI BR2 primers, but after that incident, I only used CCI 34 primers which were designed to be less sensitive and for use in military rifles with floating firing pins.
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I was catching up a bit and read this older thread.
Slam fires can come from the aformentioned high primers and worn receivers, but many reloaders do not have a RCBS precision mike for their 30-06 or .308 reloads.
I use a go and no go hs gage to see what the gage should read with safe ammo and out of spec brass with the no go gage.
I then measure new factory loads to see what they read in the RCBS precision mike, for the caliber I am loading for....usually slightly shorter than go gage by .002.
Now measure your resized brass............if more than .003 over the go gage/new brass reading..stop go aback and resize. I find the Wilson type case gages are a help but not accurate enough, even for gov't work.
Fat cases ( no sb dies) and long cases are the reason for most slam fires. I even check my factory purchased ammo in the RCBS before I shoot it.
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