Garand extraction problem

Poodleshooter

New member
This rifle isn't mine, but a guy at my range was having issues with it yesterday....
He had a Springfield receivered M1 that had trouble extracting. He had extraction troubles when single loading it, but even when clip fed the claw wasn't engaging. I had to work the action about 5x to get it to extract. He was shooting Remington Bronze Point factory ammo. I noticed that the brass had a noticeable bulge near the case head. The bulge didn't seem to run the entire circumference of the head-perhaps about 25-33% around. In addition, when the rifle cycled "normally" the op rod would frequently hop off of the receiver rail. You had to retract the bolt to the notch in the rear of the rail to re-insert it into the channel.
After examining his rifle, my first guess was excessive headspace due to the case heads stretching and the failure of the extractor to grab the rim. Maybe excessive port pressure caused premature unlocking resulting in the case stretch? Do any Garand shooters out there have an idea what this problem could be???
 
I think you're correct in that the headspacing should be checked on the rifle. Bulged brass isn't a good sign and it would certainly cause sticky or reluctant extraction.

The Garand was designed to operate on a diet of military ammunition. The servicable life on the Garand can be shortened by using commerical ammo which may be higher power than the Garand was designed for. Besides accelerated wear and parts breakage, high powered loads can result in cracking the receiver. Load all ammo to mil-spec pressures to keep your Garand in good working shape. Also check the strength of the op rod spring once a year.
 
That M1 is in serious need of a trip to the gunsmith. The op-rod problem sounds dangerous and headspace seems to be wrong.
 
Back
Top