Garand bolt fell apart while shooting

[1990Husky]

Wanted to find out if anybody can tell me what happened to my Garand bolt.

I was shooting one of my Garands over the weekend and after a couple of shots the bolt would not cycle. When I removed the stock, I saw the firing pin lodged between the back of the bolt and the back of the receiver. It had popped out. When I removed the firing pin, the rest of the bolt parts came out also. None were missing. I was shooting HXP M2 ball ammo. Same ammo shot ok out of the other Garand I was shooting that day.

All bolt parts look fine when compared to other parts I have. I have not reassembled the bolt.

Any idea what could cause this?

[seabee1]

none were missing, were any parts damaged? the extractor has to come out before the firing pin. was the bolt lug still in the op rod?

[1990Husky]

No parts missing. On visual comparison to other bolts and parts I own, all of the bolt parts look normal. The bolt lug is still in the op rod and it cycles just fine.

[seabee1]

did you have a slam fire? I read somewhere else once that someone had a similar malfunction while single loading a round with a high primer. bolt wasn't fully locked when the slam fire happened. the extractor popped out

[1990Husky]

No slam fire.

[Orlando]

I can happen, did you recently take bolt apart?

[not-fishing]

Overpressure due to non-spec ammo? I'm extremely particular and I reload for my M1 Garands. I don't trust most production ammo

Not cleaning would make it under-pressure so that's out

[bigbossman]

Overpressure due to non-spec ammo? I'm extremely particular and I reload for my M1 Garands. I don't trust most production ammo

Not cleaning would make it under-pressure so that's out

HXP is pretty good stuff for the Garand. I'd be surprised if the ammo was to blame, unless it had deteriorated somehow.

[not-fishing]

HXP is pretty good stuff for the Garand. I'd be surprised if the ammo was to blame, unless it had deteriorated somehow.

HPX (Greek but I can't seem to remember) is good ammo. I've shot a lot of it myself. So I have no idea what to do other than a real good cleaning. It's probably been a decade since I've taken a Garand Bolt apart.

[bigbossman]

HPX (Greek but I can't seem to remember) is good ammo. I've shot a lot of it myself. So I have no idea what to do other than a real good cleaning. It's probably been a decade since I've taken a Garand Bolt apart.

I'd love to see pics of all the OP's bolt parts. Bolts just don't "come apart" without something breaking.

[stevie]

Extractor may have popped loose.

[smle-man]

Extractor may have popped loose.

My CMP M1 did that (extractor backed out) 2x. I replaced the ectractor spring. No more issues. My first M1A did the same thing when firing blanks, a rim pulled pulled the extractor out and the bolt self disassembled. I learned later that early M14 extractors had this problem with blanks.

[Vinnie Boombatz]

https://tenor.com/bHRTo.gif

[1990Husky]

Thanks for the comments/info.

The bolt had not been taken apart recently. I have owned this Garand for about 8 years and have put about 300 rounds though it. All HXP or M72 Match ammo. I do a basic cleaning after each range session and the rifle was greased about 100 rounds ago. I am going to just chalk it up to bad luck and replace all of the bolt parts (except the bolt body).