Garand hammer problem - decocks itself

[DCRTorr]

Hello, I recently bought my 5th Garand, an H&R from the CMP store at Perry. After I bought it I had the trigger tuned up by a former Army armorer who usually does nice trigger jobs. When doing this, he replaced the trigger because he said the original one had problems.

When shooting it, I've had a problem: the trigger doesn't re-set and I find the hammer down on a chambered round about 1 - 3 times out of an 8-round clip. When this has happened, I am able to pull the bolt back far enough to cock it w/o ejecting the chambered round and it will then fire. It always ejects & feeds fine, and has not doubled or slam-fired. I was shooting HXP 68 Greek ball ammo that functions fine in my other Garands.

The rifle is clean, in near-new condition, and well lubricated. I asked the guy who did the trigger job and he speculated op rod problems, short stroking, gas system loose or dirty, dirty chamber, or headspace problems.

Can anyone give me some thoughts on what might be causing this problem? I suspect it's the trigger mechanism, and plan to swap it out with a reliable one from another Garand next time I take it to the range, ans see whether that solves the problem. If that doesn't work, I'll try a different op rod. Thanks

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[browningautorifle]

Let's see, you had some trigger work done and now it's not right....and he was an expert?

[DCRTorr]

Well, he came highly recommended by other Garand shooters, and had already done a good trigger job on another of my Garands, and that one shoots perfectly. He seemed to have issues with the H&R trigger group, and said that H&R had some milling problems late in their production run (this rifle is post-Korean War).

Are you indicating that the trigger could be the cause of this problem?

[browningautorifle]

I would think simple process of elimination. It was new. He worked on it. It don't work now. Change 'em up and I'll bet the problem disappears.

[Mark in Rochester]

did you change the stock?

swap parts and the problem will follow the bad part

[emmagee1917]

You answered your own question in your 2nd paragraph.

I am able to pull the bolt back far enough to cock it w/o ejecting the chambered round and it will then fire.

If it is moving back far enough to eject and feed the next round , it has gone way past the cocking of the hammer phase. Your hammer is not being held by the top hook and is following the bolt back . Very bad Mojo here. Good thing your reciever is cut right or you'd go full auto , I'd think. When you re-cock it , I bet you let the trigger go , and you're catching the hammer on the lower hook. With it empty and the trigger held back , work the bolt and see what the hammer does.
I'm guessing trigger is bad or he filed on the hammer.
Chris

[DCRTorr]

I did change out some parts after I bought it --I bought two Garands at that time, an H&R and a Springfield (both '54 or '55 production). The Springfield had an H&R op rod and stock, and the H&R vice verse. According to the guys at the CMP store, the CMP had swapped those parts & sometimes the bolt on a number of 'correct' grade post-Korean War rifles so they could sell them as service grade. They were actually suggesting that buyers try & find two rifles where they could swap the parts back and make them both 'correct' grade. So, that's what I did. I am going to try a different trigger assembly and see if that fixes it.

[ma96782]

IMHO......just send the trigger group back and explain what's happening.

IF........you didn't want to do that.......well, change out the parts to new GI replacements. Course your "gunsmith trigger job" will no longer be.......but, more than likely it'll work. LOL.

Aloha, Mark

[gulliver62]

I think swapping the trigger group will fix your problem.
As stated above it sounds like the front hooks on the hammer are not catching reliably on that part of the trigger.
It is possible he worked on those hooks although I have always seen work done on the rear hooks to lighten the trigger.
I would - swap the hammer first, then the trigger if that doesn't work.
You could look at the trigger spring and make sure it wasn't shortened.