Quote Originally Posted by 0311Shooter View Post
One more issue with those Receiver/Barrel welds.

When I encountered my AL M-1's, I found all the rear handguards cracked. I stripped, glued, and refinished. When I went to reinstall, when they hit the weld (on the first one), re-cracked. I had to take a file and file down the welds to flush with the barrel before the handguard would seat. In a sense, this almost removed all the external welds. Probably could have pulled the barrel at this point.

Just something you guys with those "found" AL and VFW Garands need to check.

In a number of cases the above mentioned welding interfers with the op rod. The remedy is the same. Additonally, some of the M-1's so modified will have op rod tips of below minimum diameter. It makes sense that such would be ultilized as the rifles were intended to be used as straight pull bolt guns anyway.