M1 Carbine Problem

F

Fudgie Ghost

New member
I've posted the same question over in "The Smithy" forum, but this forum probably gets looked at more, so I'm going to ask it here as well: How do you get the slide spring and guide rod assembly to go back in the hole of the receiver and into the indent of the slide? I can't get the spring/rod to fit in between these, and it seems like I'm going to bend the rod if I really try to "muscle" it back in? Any suggestions? BTW, it's a new IAI M888.
 
have the same gun....

You kinda just have to play with it. It is a very tight fit. I don't think that you will bend the guide rod. I also have to muscle mine back in. It almost feels like that you have to use three hands. The other problem that I have is getting the receiver back enough to drop into the recoil plate without undoing the screw. I have a US Army manual for the M1 Carbine that I bought at a gun show and it suggested that you tap the stock on the ground and it will drop right in. Haven't tried this yet! Also a note of caution...make sure the handguard, barrel band and band spring are set up right. I was firing mine and the handguard flew off on recoil. I then noted that the handguard was not under the lip in the barrel. Watch your magazine catch too. I was using 30rd and 15 rd magazines at the range and the 30rd ones were fine but I tried 15rd ones after it and it didn't want to lock them in quite right. On recoil it fell out! I think that the mag catch is still tight or it was set up for 30rd magazines(m2 catch). I just push the 15rd ones up in the receiver with a little more umph then the 30rd ones and listen for the "click" Welcome to the M888 club. Hope that this helps! let me know.---DAROGUE1
 
Fudgie, you can help a bit by pulling the spring to the rear as you move the guide into place. Sometimes you have a bit of play in the slide, also. You should not have to bend anything.

Darogue1, if the carbine and trigger guard are OK, I suspect your mag catch is a repro. If not, you can trim it a bit with a file. Anyway, always install the late type catch before using 30 round magazines, as they need the extra support.

Jim
 
Hey, I fixed it, but guess what. . .

I guess I am a doofus, after all. I had the slide behind the bolt cam, instead of in front of it, making the space for the rod/spring about 1" smaller than it wants to be. I had put the whole thing aside, and was doing work on the house, waiting to check these posts later. I stopped at my work bench, and went looking into my manual, and lo and behold I saw my mistake. When I went to put it in with the slide in the proper position, bam!, no problem. Well, I don't think I'll make that mistake again. I even had my wife give it a try. She's helped me before when I couldn't get something to together right. I once had taken the center console out of my Dodge Caravan to clean it out. Went to put it back in, and damned if it wouldn't go in. Finally, many curses later, my wife took a look at it and realized I was trying to put it in 90degrees wrong. Talk about feeling like a putz! Anyway, I think I did slightly bend the guide rod, but it seems to cycle ok, at least manually (haven't shot it yet). Oh, well, I just ordered almost $70 of carbine tools from Fulton Armory, a few more bucks for a guide rod won't hurt too much. Good to have anyway. Thanks for the responses. Am looking forward to "having a blast" with my latest toy.
 
Ha! Wait til you try to put the bolt back together. Trying to get the ejector, extractor, extractor spring and firing pin to go in all at once is a job better left to the four handed. AARRRRGGHHH!!@##%^#%$^&%!
 
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