Field Strip Question

[DaveHH]

Frequent disassembly is the kiss of death to an accurate Garand. The accuracy is determined by how tight the lock up is. If it takes 10 men and a small horse to close the trigger guard you are in the ball park. Not so with a carbine. The barrel/receiver is just hanging off of the recoil plate and front band. probably one of the reason it isn't a tack driver. Deteriorated wood has little effect on accuracy, where with the Garand, it is the key to the kingdom.

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[Wineman]

I agree, any firearm in a wood stock (no aftermarket tweaks) if shooting well, should be left alone except for a bore scrub, oil, grease etc. If it is so filthy that function and accuracy are degraded, disassembly may be needed. If you feel the need for scrupulous cleaning and it shoots to your expectations after, then do what you need to do to make you happy. Its a gun, not a child or a pet. A tool to be used. I still have Craftsman tools that are over 50 years old, and they still look and function perfectly. I do have wood handled hammers that have seen better days, so the material and its relationship with the metal is a concern. If something is well used, it may need to be replaced, AR 15 barrels come to mind. The good news is that you can get one pretty much anywhere. We are lucky that barrels are still being made for our old warhorses and we can keep them running like new, but might be a tad dear. I see old military rifles that have rust in places you never thought of. Should you leave it alone or strip and clean? I'm with the get rid of the rust crowd. Take care of what you have.

Dave

[Havenot]

I had some issues with an Inland carbine getting dirty and failing to fully chamber a round....cleaning and lube would fix it for a bit. Eventually I decided the recoil spring was weak and installed a new GI spring. The new spring fixed the reliability issues when dirty. I guess the old spring was weak enough it just couldn't get a round stripped and stuffed into the chamber

[M94/14]

There's one area of the Carbine that does need continual scrutiny. The extractor area on the Carbine bolt is well noted for getting carbon fouled. How badly it's fouled is obviously determined by the number of rounds fired, powder used etc. If the extractor is fouled to the point it won't snap over the rim of a cartridge, it will break when forced to do so. I keep a careful eye on it, and flush out the area completely with brake clean when needed, and re-oil. If you prefer disassembling the bolt to clean it instead, then do that.

[johniv]

Field strip and clean after any shooting. Birchwood Casey Barricade for rust prevention, Lithium grease on the sliding surfaces. I don't worry about taking it out of the stock, it's not a M.O.A. target rifle, and accuracy is always fine. Just my opinion, of course.

[Bruce McAskill]

As long as one can have a bit of barrel hang above the barrel channel of the stock when putting the action back into the stock the accuracy will remain the same. A nice tight fit with the recoil plate is required for the barrel to hang.

[M94/14]

Also, it helps to have a stock that hasn't been sanded down to a splinter, and still retains some longitudinal and torsional rigidity.

[imarangemaster]

I agree. When I get a firearm, wether new or used, I detail strip and inspect. I clean thoroughly and lube with Ballistol. Weapons like Mini-14s and M1 Carbines, I run a smidge of RIG gun grease in the bolt track area and op rod (slide) and bolt cam points.. If I just have a range session and shoot say 20 to 200 rounds, I field strip clean the bore and bolt, and reassemble. About once a year, I do a detail strip and inspection again. When I was an active LEO, though, I did complete strip and cleaning every time I fired my duty weapons.

[bombdoc]

I tend to consider two criteria when deciding what regular cleaning to do..

1. What have I just fired through this? If it is my own manufacture or new factory that I have used before, I can be pretty sure I know what the outcome is, and probably only need a bore clean and wipe down. Even with black powder, modern cleaners like BC Pink stuff means that a couple of wetted patches will lose the residue and follow up with some barrier oil. If however I don't know what is in the ammunition, and/or if it is old ammunition it will get the full forensics! If it is military ammunition, it gets the full forensics AND it gets boiled out with washing soda to ensure I do not get a visit from the rust fairy!

2. The second criterion is the type and state of the gun, in particular, the state of the bore... some of my ladies do not have the smoothest of bores, and need the attention of a bronze brush to clear out their pits! The breech/ignition system also dictates a specific cleaning regime that needs to be followed. Regrettably as now I am a UK Civvie, I do not have access to semi auto firearms, so that the need to clean out pistons and gas regulators does not come my way. If it did however, forty years of military service means that I would never put away a dirty gas system...

I have a number of members of my shooting circle who follow the "oh I don't clean my guns - modern ammunition means you don't have to" mantra.. My view is that, particularly with old guns is "Do The Maintenance - Rust is not Patina" !

[browningautorifle]

"oh I don't clean my guns

I knew a guy that collected Winchesters that had that exact train of thought. He said it took from the guns and took value away from them...