Need some advice.

[Sandrjam]

Ive got a IAI M1 Garand with a barrel alignment issue. Looking through the sights you can see that the barrel is canted by few degrees. I wanted a garand just to do some plinking and I only have $150 invested in it. I put 8 rounds through it and it jammed 4 times and slam fired the last 4 full auto, but the ammo was old and beat. So now what should I do? Sell it or get the barrel alignment fixed and if so, where? Is it even worth getting repaired? Fulton-Armory charges $100 just to look at it. Its a mixed bag of parts that are in decent condition. Almost new stock with no cartouches, SA Bolt and 1963 barrel. Any suggestions?

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[jmoore]

$150 may have been too much it seems! At this point it's not safe, so you've got to at least spend enough to see if it's not just parts held together by junk! If Fulton is the only route (i.e. no local gunsmith competent to service the weapon), then send it off PDQ.

[smellie]

You don't say where you are (I would assume the USA) so it's pretty hard to make recommendations.

The barrel is not all that big of an issue except insofar as headspacing is concerned. Even then, if it's not out by too much, the rifle should still be safe with the barrel scewed-in all the way or backed off a bit nd a washer inserted or whatever. Just which can't be said because you haven't told us to which side the barrel is canted.

M1 rifles normally don't full-auto if the engagement is good between the hammer-hooks and the hammer itself. More likely is a broken firing-pin or a jammed firing-pin with the tip of the pin protruding from the forward face of the bolt. Something such as this would give uncontrolled fire. I once had the alarming experience of standing behind an FAL when this exact failure occurred. From the "Standing Load" position used in the Canadian military, the rifle came right back over the trooper's shoulder, firing the whole way. Last round was just above my head. Thankfully, we were only issued 12 rounds for a target!

Parts for the M1 were held to extraordinarily close limits for the time period in which the rifles were made. As it made no difference to the weapons techs who made the parts, so it should make no difference to your rifle. If the part are allright, the rifle should work.

Your rifle is not working right, so you should tear it down and inspect each part very carefully. The culprit will show himself.

Three-quarters of the problems in testing any semiautomatic or automatic fiream are ammunition-related. When you get the rifle back together, I would suggest test-firing it with a box of fresh GOOD ammuntion. Testing the rifle with ancient, grungy, grubby ammo teaches you nothing and invites problems from the rifle. Just as a matter of interest, it is entirely possible that a chunk of primer, blown from an ancient round, could have jammed the firing-pin and given you that 4-round burst. Did you pick up your brass and inspect it carefully?

Do let us know. This could be fun.
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[Sandrjam]

I live in Augusta GA. While looking down the sights the barrel is canted about 3 degrees to the right. The sights align, however canted. The individual who sold me the rifle didn't point out the barrel mis-alignment but did however have some go no-go gauges to show me the headspace is good. He did however give me about 100 rounds of ammo and told me he had the problem with closing the bolt hard and discharging a round so its probably bad ammo. The ammo head stamp is "60A 59 30" and is discolored. I will not be using the ammo and have not fired it since i noticed the other problem. I'm not a collector so I don't care that its a IAI with mismatching parts. I would just like to have a operational rifle that I don't have to sink a huge amount of money into. I have stripped, cleaned and inspected the parts and all appear to be in good working order, including the firing pin. I am a Soldier so I have a good working knowledge of firearms and firearm maintenance. I just know a whole lot more about a M4 than a M1. There however appears to be no quick fix and ill have to find a gunsmith to take a look at it, or i might sell it.

[TonyBen]

Make sure you keep the firing pin channel and firing pin clean and dry. +1 on using good ammo. The good news is that your safety bridge is working properly and keeping your rifle from exploding. And just a side note, did you have the rifle loose in your shoulder? The Garands and M14's kick more than AR's and sometimes guys milk the trigger and the rifle can fire multiple rounds (bump firing). Usually only 2. I've had it happen to me on a couple of occasions. Make sure you have the rifle shouldered tight and are following through on your trigger pull just to eliminate variables. This can happen to anyone new to M14's and Garands.