Need a little help/info

[Flamethrower]

I have an M1 Garand and I have little experience with them. The client that owns it is complaining that the bolt wont close when a clip is inserted. a little nudge is needed to close the bolt. I have been told by "Garand experts" that this is a non issue and that they do this, and does not inhibit proper loading of the rifle. The client is not satisfied with this answer, because he is sure it should close on it's own with no action from the shooter when the rifle is loaded.

So what is the real truth? Is there a problem with the rifle? If so what is the solution?

Thanks ahead of time.

[nbkky71]

It is quite normal for some M1's to require a little bump on the op-rod after inserting a loaded enbloc.

Why do some M1's need it and others don't? There may be many factors that can come into play: poor/insufficient lubrication, a weak op rod spring, excessive enbloc spring tension, op-rod rubbing against the stock, etc.

Even field manual FM23-5 mentions "the closing of the bolt may be assisted by a push forward on the operating rod handle with the heel of the right hand"

On thing you want to avoid is bumping the op rod to force the bolt to go into battery. Bumping the op rod to force the bolt closed may result in injury if the round fires.

[Bluto]

I agree 100%
This is not uncommon. Many Garands need a little bump including mine. It's important to remember these are not new weapons. The rounds are pretty tight in a full clip. There supposed to be so they do not shift around or fall out. Once the first round is chambered the rounds are not as tight in the clip, but can't move around because it's in the reciever and the spring loaded follower keeps them place. What he is thinking to be a problem is not a problem at all and has nothing to do the the operation of the weapon once the round is chambered. If you look at the spent round casings you'll see scratches in the casings do to the sharp edges on the clips. You might even see brass shavings in the bottom of the reciever/ trigger houseing. In my own Garand I have removed some of the sharp edges off the inside of the clips. This was not done for the rifles sake or it's operation but for the casings sake as I have a friend who reloads them for me and I want to keeps the casings in as good a shape as possible. He is worrying about nothing and should just go out and shoot the rifle till it goes ping, then reload and do it again and again till he runs out of ammo.

[johnrobe]

My M1's will sometimes need a little bump to the oprod handle, sometimes not. My only suggestion, and it may make no difference, is to replace the oprod spring with a new one. Many folks, myself included, consider the Orion 7 springs to be the best currently available.

G28a, Operating rod spring, Orion7, 17-7 S-S

[Maxter]

It's normal. go shoot.

[WantBigBoom]

So... the client is complaining that he's not getting "M1 thumb" from his rifle?

According to my Garand 'smith, Gus Fisher of Gus's Garands, a properly timed [that is to say, "correct"] M1 Garand won't have the bolt slamming home when you insert a fully loaded enbloc clip.

None of my 3 Garands, all tuned by Gus, ever attempt to give me M1 Thumb, and far be it for me to tell him how it should be [he's tuned more M1 National Match rifles than I even want to guess at]. There's a slight click when the clip is fully inserted, the bolt comes off the hold-back stop, and that's it [edit: at this point, the bolt head is resting on the base of the first case in the clip, all this means is that your clip has good spring tension, and you'll be able to re-use it, this is a good thing!]. To get a round chambered, the safest is to "pop" the op-rod handle with the palm of your hand in a glancing fashion. In the insanely unlikely chance the rifle bump or slam fires, you won't have a thumb wrapped around the handle in prime "ripping off" position.

So I would suggest you tell your client that the only way for him to get what he wants, is to take his in-spec rifle, and take it out of spec.