Help! I've got an original WW2 Garand!

[Joe W]

Very nice rifle and great shooting. Am a bit surprised that someone would install a National Match hooded aperture but keep the lock bar. The problem with the lock bar was the fact that at times, it would loosen up and the apperture drop. Not what you would want for target shooting.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Am a bit surprised that someone would install a National Match hooded aperture but keep the lock bar.

Unfortunately I did not make it clear in my previous posts: I actually only fitted the NM rack/aperture, which came as an extra with the rifle, putting the original safely away. I was mistaken in thinking that the rifle had complete NM sights. The rest of the sight is the service one. So I have the better view and the 1/2 MOA vertical adjustment by swivelling the hooded aperture, but only the service sight 1 MOA horizontal adjustment - with the lock bar.

[jmoore]

Not that it's apt to be a factor with Patrick Chadwick's rifle, but I installed a lock bar assembly on my CQB Garand as the rear sight had more than once gotten inadvertently pushed down during competition. Generally due to collisions with barricades and such, but at least the rifle doesn't bleed...We did well against most of the other few folk running the "big guns" (Well pre-FN SCAR days!), but the AR folk were impossibly faster. Especially at Ft. Benning for some reason!

[noelekal]

Thanks for the good photos, Patrick Chadwick. It's gratifying to see them and read of your interesting M1 acquisition.

"Jim Thompson's book had worried me, with the warnings against the straight-cut operating rod and the admonition to keep WW2 originals for the display cabinet (which I do not have) and shoot later 308s for accuracy. But I am not running an amateur museum, just trying to shoot well."

Fortunately, this veteran has not read any books, and just slots the bullets into a 1-1/4 MOA group at 100 meters.


This is exactly how my M1 will perform for 5 shots, off the bench rest, at 100 yards if I'm in a shooting humor

In only recent times the internet rumor mill has not been kind to M1s and just what is appropriate ammunition. M1 rifles aren't so difficult to feed and they love properly prepared handloads. No adjustable gas plugs required. Just stay away from really slow-burning powders, bullets heavier than 180 grains, or nuclear-powered handloads and you're there! I've fired more rounds through the M1 than any other single center fire rifle kept around here. Over a 21-year period my M1 has averaged 500-700 rounds per season in local high-power competition. This does not include all the fun shooting, load development, and bench rest accuracy efforts. The uncut op rod is still stroking right along and the barrel is more accurate than ever. It's much like your rifle, a World War II baby but with post-war gas plug and rear sight knobs. Receiver, barrel, bolt, op rod, and stock exhibit the correct revisions, cartouches, and characteristics. Trigger group is a mishmash of World War II parts. I obtained it as a DCM gun in the mid-1980s, after picking up a dog of an M1 ten years before. Attention to maintenance and lubrication reaps benefits with the M1 that sees regular use.

[browningautorifle]

Got to agree with you there noelekal. Nothing further is required.

[Col. Colt]

I would adhere to one part of Mr. Thompson's books - ALWAYS lube the M1 rifle WITH GREASE - as per the Manual. That should at least lessen the likelyhood of any problem with your current op rod.

If you can get to Italy, there should be plenty of Beretta made M1 parts - get a late version, cut op rod and then you can quit worrying about it. Like the Low Numbered 03 Springfields, who collectively probably fired millions of rounds without incident, the uncut rod had a lot of rounds through it before the US Army made the change.

So while I strongly encourage you to get a newer style Op Rod, (perhaps in a package of manual transmission parts as a "shift rod") I would tell you, if you decide to keep shooting this rifle, I would be sure to wear approperate safety gear and keep your loads moderate - and things should be OK - but you must do so only at your own risk, of course.

Nice rifle, though! CC

[Patrick Chadwick]

ALWAYS lube the M1 rifle WITH GREASE

That's just what I did:

So what did I do as my first action? - Get info off this site as to how to disassemble, clean and grease it.

I shall be looking out for an op-rod - and other items - for the very simple reason that if spares are hard to come by now, they are going to be very rare and very expensive in future years!

In the meantime, I have posted further trial targets in the "Range Reports" forum.

[Bob Seijas]

Geez, what does it take to kill that op rod myth, a stake in the heart?

[browningautorifle]

what does it take to kill that op rod myth

They just don't believe it's not true...nothing that can be said...

[Patrick Chadwick]

Could we get the op-rod thing off the level of scuttle-butt and look at it a bit more soberly?

Can anyone cite official documentation of injuries or fatalities caused by an op-rod failure?

Real documentation please, not the "I heard of a guy who knew someone whose cousin said..." anecdotes!