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My M1 Garand.

5K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  paulwv 
#1 ·
I brought my M1 Garand home today. It's a CMP rifle. Hasn't been shot since leaving CMP. It's still a little cruddy and needs cleaning.
It has a 3.7 serial, about 1945 I believe. The barrel is stamped 9 -43 with muzzle and chamber measured at 1+. Its all SA, except for the trigger guard. The stock is new from CMP, and it fits very good.
Anywho, heres a pic.
Wood Hardwood Floor Table Room


On to the cleaning.....
 
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#2 ·
I field stripped the rifle and found more crud than I care for. So I removed all the wood also. The trigger group isn't bad, some soaking and scrubbing and it seems ready. The bolt is pretty bad, gummed up. It's still soaking, till tomorrow. Then i think I'll need to disassemble it and scrub. I got thru all the small parts and the op rod cleaning.
An fyi, a 50 caliber muzzle loader cleaning jag and patch fits thru the gas chamber very nicely. That needed a good scrubbing with them to.
Another fyi, a 36 caliber muzzle loader cleaning jag and patch cleans the bore in the OP rod. That op rod bore was filthy down near the end.
Scrubbed up the other pieces and put them out to drain off.
I still have the barrel and reciever to clean and scrub tomorrow.
Heres a pic of my M1 in its current condition, small parts.
Bicycle part


Then the other pieces,
Bumper
 
#11 ·
Thanks Carl, it is a new stock, dated 2017.
I'm considering doing some whiskering on it. It's a little rough in spots. I'm also leaning towards sealing it and a coat or 2 of oil finish. That would weatherproof it.
As I understand, these stocks are only done with linseed oil.
I think I'd like it better, and hopefully bring the grain out more. We'll see.
 
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#6 ·
Hey Skwirl,

Swell looking Garand!!

Good for you!!

Dang! Too Late!! (would advise against cleaning the gas system...... may cause the rifle to not "work")

Can be easily "fixed".... simply put a bit of grease in the gas system (piston/cylinder) and fire until enough "crud" is generated to resume function...

Keep us posted....

Later, Mark
 
#7 ·
Congrats on the new rifle. Looks to be in better shape than many and the furniture sets it off nicely.
 
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#9 · (Edited)
#15 ·
Cleaning done!

Cleaned almost everything today. The only thing I didnt disassemble was the trigger group. It does need it though, I saw a little rust underneath the safety lever.
But it functions ok for now, and my eyes and back hurt, lol.
The bolt had to be disassembled and scrubbed. After soaking all night, the firing pin was still sticky. Now it's like new.
It's back together, oiled and greased where needed and ready to roar again.
View attachment 339223

When I put it together, everything works like trying to grab a greased pig. The op rod and bolt cycle fully by tilting the rifle up and down. Theres a definite plus to 60 year old parts.

My opinion of a M1 Garand is, what an engineering marvel. Its somewhat complicated operation, is far behind it's simple disassembly. You dont need any special tools for anything short of barrel replacement.
It's an impressive assembly of parts, and every gun person should have one.
 
#16 ·
Congratulations on the acquisition I have but one, and I'm sure you'll like yours as much as we like ours. Mine is a CMP Special Grade, and it's gorgeous!
I had a Gunnery Sargent show me how to shoot mine. I was hitting a 6" target at 300 yds consistently once I knew how to get properly positioned.
Here are a couple of photos of mine. It's a March 1941 Receiver with a new Criterion barrel. It shoots like a dream!
Gun Rifle Shotgun Air gun Wood


This is Gunny shooting it.
Shooting sport Benchrest shooting Shooting Recreation Shooting range


And me, taking my turn at the trigger.
Gun Shooting range Sport venue Shooting sport Shooting
 
#18 ·
Congratulations on the acquisition I have but one, and I'm sure you'll like yours as much as we like ours. Mine is a CMP Special Grade, and it's gorgeous!
I had a Gunnery Sargent show me how to shoot mine. I was hitting a 6" target at 300 yds consistently once I knew how to get properly positioned.
Here are a couple of photos of mine. It's a March 1941 Receiver with a new Criterion barrel. It shoots like a dream!
View attachment 339231

This is Gunny shooting it.
View attachment 339233

And me, taking my turn at the trigger.
View attachment 339235
That's is a great looking rifle, GC.
The grain on the stock looks great.
I'll get to the range at somepoint with this one.
The 1 club has a 200 yard range. I've havent shot that far. Itll be interesting to see how I do with it.
I may need to figure out how to take the rear sight apart yet, though. It's very stiff, almost need pliers to turn them. I think its gunked up, like the firing pin was.
 
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#21 ·
Ya done good Skwirl..Cleaning them up can be a real chore. Your serial number would be 1945.
The stock on mine is not nearly as nice as yours..when I got mine you just got what they sent , no hand
select option. A friend of mine ordered one when I did from the DCM and received a M1 D sniper
minus the scope..go figure:confused:. I had some good pics but lost them when my computer crashed
several years ago. Here's one of me shooting my Garand. Stay safe my friends. Dick

Recreation Shooting sport Benchrest shooting Room Tree
 
#23 ·
Ya done good Skwirl..Cleaning them up can be a real chore. Your serial number would be 1945.
The stock on mine is not nearly as nice as yours..when I got mine you just got what they sent , no hand
select option. A friend of mine ordered one when I did from the DCM and received a M1 D sniper
minus the scope..go figure:confused:. I had some good pics but lost them when my computer crashed
several years ago. Here's one of me shooting my Garand. Stay safe my friends. Dick

View attachment 339325
Your stock looks very good to me, I like that reddish/brown color.
 
#24 ·
I shot my first Garand when I was 10. By the way, never got "M1 Thumb". Dad showed me how to avoid that.:cool:
I have one in the safe that is GORGEOUS. It's a National Match. After Dad died I took his best friend to the range and we shot it. Later he told me it was unfired.:eek:
I took it and several other guns to my daughter's school to show them to the history class. Quoted Patton with the "best battle rifle ever produced".
Jim
 
#25 ·
Congrats, P&R on the match rifle.
As for the m1 thumb, not yet.
I've been practicing a lot to. Rather simple to avoid really.
It's not plastic, its steel and built to take a beating.
Handle it as such, and it functions great.
 
#26 · (Edited)
From the pictures, someone here REALLY likes M1 Garand rifles!

It will take some work, but when you apply BLO, you hand rub it in. The heat generated by the friction is what melts it into the wood grain. This is a slow, but rewarding process.

On old stocks that I chose to refinish, I steamed out any dents, melted away the old BLO finish and redid them with new BLO cut 2 parts BLO to one part mineral spirits. I used several hand applied coats.

Study how to properly lubricate your M1 Garand. They came with little cups of grease for use on sliding surfaces. After lightly greasing the appropriate surfaces (bolt sliding lugs, op rod contact point with barrel, internal action and trigger group areas) the grease that is left all goes into the op rod spring liberally. This is important for correct operation, especially on a rifle that is close to new.

You never completely tighten down the gas cylinder against forward handguard. The handguard should be loose, and able to move forward and back about a 64th of an inch or so. If you tighten it down all the way you'll mess up the barrel harmonics and drive it off accuracy, especially as the barrel heats up in usage.

Your gas cylinder should fit reasonably snugly onto the barrel splines. If it's loose the point of aim of the front sight will shift. The barrel splines can be peened to tighten things up if needed.

I've taught the CMP course on the Garand and help host competitions at our club. They are remarkable battle rifles.

As powerful as they are, they escape the ire of the gun grabbers because of their wood (instead of evil black plastic) furniture... I'm sure their heads would spin if they figured out we can even buy them surplus from our government!

Gun Rifle Trigger Benchrest shooting Air gun


(This one had a grenade launcher attached, and I filled the threaded holes with stainless set screws...)
 
#28 ·
Range day, woohoo!

I got done yesterday with the work.
Packed up and headed to the gun club today.
Here we are, ready to roar,
Gun Shooting sport Shooting Recreation Air gun


I started at 50 and it shot high and a little right.
I cranked the rear sight some, and it got closer.
Moved to 100 and it shot 6 to 8 inches high and slightly right. Moved the rear sight 2 more clicks over and that brought it to center. I forgot my Allen wrenches, so I couldn't adjust the front sight. Next time I'll make sure to have them.
The m1 functioned perfectly also. I started by loading 1 round in the chamber at a time. Just to check the operation of it. No problem there. Then I dropped a clip in and load 3 rounds. With no m1 thumb, lol. The ding of the clip ejecting did get a few heads to turn and look. Which inspired a few questions, and lead to a great afternoon of chit chat.
Then I decided to see if I could ring a steel plate at 200.
I havent shot that far with a scoped rifle, so I didnt expect to much ringing. To my surprise, I hit that steel 8 out of 12 shots. I was very pleased with that.
Overall, what a great rifle. Functioned perfectly, recoil is moderate, and its accurate. I fired 60 rounds in all today, and dont feel anything in my shoulder.
I'll be taking my m1 to range some more after our deer gun season. I want to get it dailed in on those steel plates.
Sorry for the lack of pics of targets, it was busy at the club.
 
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#30 ·
You arent kidding.
I never had a reason to shoot 200 yds with a scoped rifle.
Now with a 73 year old, open sight battle rifle, I WANT to ring that steel every time.
I think I'm going to need more ammo, lol.
I feel the need to really learn the sights and get the elevation set to the dial.
Oh boy, here we go.
 
#32 ·
#33 ·
I brought my M1 Garand home today. It's a CMP rifle. Hasn't been shot since leaving CMP. It's still a little cruddy and needs cleaning.
It has a 3.7 serial, about 1945 I believe. The barrel is stamped 9 -43 with muzzle and chamber measured at 1+. Its all SA, except for the trigger guard. The stock is new from CMP, and it fits very good.
Anywho, heres a pic.
View attachment 339113

On to the cleaning.....
Whew! Beautiful
 
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