New member, question about HRA Garand

[mmopar]

Greetings and Happy Holidays. My Dad gave me an HRA M1 a few months ago. It was supposedly "non-firing" per my brother-in-law who originally gave it to my Dad about 10 years ago, so my Dad never attempted to fire it; it was mostly for nostalgia.

I disassembled and cleaned it, and everything was intact and looked in good shape, so I lubed it up and took it out to a friend's ranch to test fire it. I obtained some PPU ball rounds, and En bloc clips and she fired no problem but had problems extracting; the extractor was tearing off the rim of the case and I had to stick a cleaning rod in the barrel to knock the case out. So I had a "single shot" Garand. I obtained some Greek HXP from CMP, but still had the extraction issue. I finally figured out that the chamber must be rough or something, so "polished" it with a cleaning rod, 45 brush and steel wool using a drill. That helped a lot, but wondering if I should consider a new criterion barrel, which brings me to my question:

Should I rebarrel, reparkerize, etc. and just have an enjoyable shooter, or will this devalue the rifle significantly? The receiver and barrel are both HRA, but the bolt is SA and I haven't examined other parts in detail to see if they are period correct or whatever. I'm not hung up and creating a collector grade/number matching/museum piece, etc. but since this is my first Garand I thought it wise to consult some of the experts out there. Any and all opinions welcome.

Tom

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[browningautorifle]

It really depends on the condition of the rifle's barrel. Hold it a bit closer to the screen and I'll have a look at it...is the chamber pitted? Is the barrel rough? Don't just re-barrel it off hand. Sounds like you should have it examined by a competent gunsmith before you go further. By the way, what did you mean by "Non firing" as per your brother in law? What was done to it?

[Rick B]

If you are any where near me in Ohio I can help. Rick B

[mmopar]

[QUOTE=browningautorifle;283830 By the way, what did you mean by "Non firing" as per your brother in law? What was done to it?[/QUOTE]

My bro-in-law said the guy he bought it from told him it was "non-firing" and when I pressed him for more details, he had none. Maybe the guy sold him the wrong Garand. No matter at this point as it does fire no problem. As for accuracy, I haven't shot it much but I can hit a coffee can at 70 yards offhand so the barrel can't be too bad.

[Rick Cummelin]

A common cause for the extraction issues you describe is a very dirty/pitted chamber. If the pitting is deep enough, not much can be done. If it's just dirt/carbon or very superficial pitting, polishing may help, but to polish effectively, the barrel needs to be removed from the receiver, which is best left to a pro unless you've done several.

I once polished a pitted chamber for several hours, using an empty case attached to an electric drill, and some valve-lapping compound. After all that effort, the chamber was nice & shiny, but STILL badly pitted. Didn't improve extraction one iota--disappointing. The next step was a new barrel. No choice.

[browningautorifle]

The accuracy you describe doesn't answer if the barrel chamber are pitted. That's the question...

[mmopar]

The accuracy you describe doesn't answer if the barrel chamber are pitted. That's the question...

Looking in the chamber with a small mirror, it does not appear to be pitted to me, but tough to see all of the chamber very well. I ordered a bore viewer from CMP so maybe that will help. I do know that after I polished it using the steelwool/45 brush/drill it did seem a lot smoother dragging a q-tip across it, but not a very objective test. Open to suggestions on how to check or measure how pitted or smooth or rough it is.

As for accuracy, my point was the barrel/rifling must not be excessively worn for what I will use it for. Where I hunt, the longest shot is maybe 100 yards, most under 75.

[browningautorifle]

Understood, the barrel will appear shiny and so will the chamber. If pitted, they will both look...not shiny. This can be minor pitting or major...

[mmopar]

If you are any where near me in Ohio I can help. Rick B

Thanks for the offer Rick, but I live in Houston.