En Blocs-Old Subject But I Need Help!

[Punch The Clown]

Hi Guys-first post. After being Garandless for 2 decades, I bought a sweet WWII Springfield. I am having a heck of a time with enblocs. Out of about 50 enblocs maybe a few will fit-and that's using a lot of force. They are assorted brands and all new. When you look in the receiver grooves where the lips of the blocs slide you can see the parkerizing scraping off on them. I'm going to do the wire wheel-polish off the parking but I find it hard to believe that I can have 4 dozen bad enblocs. I'd love to find some worn surplus ones and give it a try. I bought a sled for now but the "ping" is what it's all about. Stu

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[Major Tom]

Never heard of that happening with so many clips. Maybe that garand ain't so sweet after all. Did you check to see if the receiver has been welded, ie: front half welded to a rear half? A check of the serial number compared to the drawing number on the front leg may show 2 different receiver halves.

[Dan Shapiro]

Have to agree. 50 enblocs? Newly parkerized might be stiff, but you shouldn't have that much problem getting them in. Also check your op rod spring, is it between 19 1/2 - 20 14/4 inches long? Is the spring guide straight and not warped.

[Punch The Clown]

I checked the receiver carefully before I bought it and it's not a reweld for sure. I replace the op rod spring with one from Orion 7. The real bad offending enblocs are marked "DAQ". They are tighter than tight, not even serviceable. The ones that fit are marked "AEC". I bought some more of those and they seem to be just fine. I'd like to get some original SA's but I can't seem to find any. Also, the Greek ammo seems to be tighter than commercial 30-06 although I won't shoot commercial of course. So "AEC" marked enblocs and commercial ammo slip in real nice. And I thought an enbloc is an enbloc. Live and learn. Stu

[High Plaines Doug r]

If you are using European made enblocs and GI brass there is a little incompatibility there. Greek HXP brass has 7.62 type extractor groove that is a little taller than the GI 30-06 groove. The Euro clips I have used have the rib that captures the brass extractor groove in the enbloc moved or widened a little bit to accommodate the 7.62 type groove. This change interferes with the GI groove. You can use GI enblocs with Euro (HXP) brass but using Euro enblocs with GI (LC) brass can give you problems.
Is the parkerizing on your clips all frosty looking/feeling? I got some US made enblocs back from Greece that looked like that and were a bugger to use until I rubbed the finish out with steel wool. It didn't take much effort but I did stone the inside edges of some of the lips where there was an obvious burr. Ultimately all were useable.
HTH

[Punch The Clown]

Thanks Doug, yes they are very frosty-the wire wheel removed it all and left what looks like a blued finish. I filed the lip a little and it works-nowhere near as good as the AEC ones but it works. Thanks. Stu

[Jim K]

I believe DAQ is Dominion Arms, Quebec.

Jim

[NuJudge]

The only en-bloc clips I've had trouble with are those on the Greek ammo (a little trouble) and the Tapco Chinese ones (a lot of trouble).

Some clips I've used dozens of times with both .308 and .30-'06, and based on that I have trouble believing they ever wear out.

It sounds like a problem with the rifle. If you'll PM with an address I'll be happy to send you some clips that work in mine.

CDD

[Punch The Clown]

The only en-bloc clips I've had trouble with are those on the Greek ammo (a little trouble) and the Tapco Chinese ones (a lot of trouble).

Some clips I've used dozens of times with both .308 and .30-'06, and based on that I have trouble believing they ever wear out.

It sounds like a problem with the rifle. If you'll PM with an address I'll be happy to send you some clips that work in mine.

CDD

Thanks NuJudge. PM coming your way. Stu

[Punch The Clown]

Problem solved with a special thanks to NuJudge! Well, since my original post I picked up another M1. Same problems. Anyway, turns out that that HXP and Lake City will pretty much work with any enblocs, but the Korean stuff will only work with AEC mfg enblocs. Now, with the blocs I had and the generous supply that NuJudge sent, I'm good to go. Thanks all. Stu