Help! M1 carbine failure to eject

[Irish Gunner]

I bought a M1 carbine from another calgunner and had problems the first range day with 3-4 (of 20) failures to eject. Didn't think to take pics. I took it down except for bolt, safety and mag release and cleaned the hell out of everything.

Took it to the range today and had similar failure rate and appearance. I am thinking extractor/ejector springs but would like second, third and fourth opinions. Below are pics of three failures. The first two are representative of 6 total failures and the third (stove pipe) only happened the one time.

Don't know if it matters, but the floor plate of two of the mags worked lose while firing as well.

[JAGGUY]

What kind of ammo, reloads?

[Irish Gunner]

What kind of ammo, reloads?

Remington UMC Green box, got it with rifle (since I can't find more) so I don't know how old or how stored.

More than once the ones that did eject, hit me square in the forehead. Not coming out high and right.

I already ordered spring kit, bolt tool, ejector and extractor for replacement. Hope one of those will fix it. I am thinking extractor personally.

[Emdawg]

Is it just my bad eyesight, the pictures or just me, but is there something wrong with the headspacing with the shells?

[Irish Gunner]

Is it just my bad eyesight, the pictures or just me, but is there something wrong with the headspacing with the shells?

The pictures are poor sorry, limitation of the damn phone. Not sure what you mean by headspacing with shells. I don't have a no-go .30 carbine gauge to test the chamber. The base of the shells are not expanded and I have no other indication that headspace is an issue.

[Emdawg]

In the first picture they just looked really discolored. Whoopsie me!

[Irish Gunner]

In the first picture they just looked really discolored. Whoopsie me!

Yeah, tried to trade off proximity and clarity. iPhone and bad lighting. If I ever get more ammo, which will be after complete spring job, I will be bringing my digital camera just for this. Which means all will be fine.

[GeeDog]

I've only had that problem with gummy surplus ammo, and that was only two stove-pipes in 100 rounds. I'd really consider running some known good ammo through it before replacing the springs.

[Irish Gunner]

I didn't think UMC was gummy. It is a little dirty. 10-12 failures with 50 rounds is dismal. Right now springs are easier to get than ammo!

[smoothy8500]

I had similar issues with a CMP Inland that I bought a while back, jams, and ejected rounds hitting my forehead. Replaced extractor, ejector and their springs. Eliminated the problems.

[TANK1135]

Did you lubr bolt rails or is it dry?

[Sailormilan2]

Lube the rails, slide, hammer face, etc. Make sure the gas piston is moving freely, but do not put lube on it, and the nut tight. Take a thin drill bit and make sure the gas port in clear all the way into the barrel. Someone may have shot lead bullets through the thing and plug the port. Measure the slide/recoil spring. It should not be shorter than 10 1/4", though a short spring will not cause the problems that you are having.
Hopefully someone didn't put a Wolf sping kit in it. Wolfe spring kits are over powered and can cause the problems you are having. I replaced a hammer spring once with a Wolfe spring, and it was almost 1/4" too long. The gun went from having Failure To Fires, to Failure To Eject.
If you choose to check the hammer spring, it almost akes 3 hands and a vise to get it back together. Hammer spring should be 2 1/2" long, IIRC,

[MG34]

Worn extractor,ejector

[Irish Gunner]

Did you lubr bolt rails or is it dry?

Lubed and moving freely

Lube the rails, slide, hammer face, etc. Make sure the gas piston is moving freely, but do not put lube on it, and the nut tight. Take a thin drill bit and make sure the gas port in clear all the way into the barrel. Someone may have shot lead bullets through the thing and plug the port. Measure the slide/recoil spring. It should not be shorter than 10 1/4", though a short spring will not cause the problems that you are having.
Hopefully someone didn't put a Wolf sping kit in it. Wolfe spring kits are over powered and can cause the problems you are having. I replaced a hammer spring once with a Wolfe spring, and it was almost 1/4" too long. The gun went from having Failure To Fires, to Failure To Eject.
If you choose to check the hammer spring, it almost akes 3 hands and a vise to get it back together. Hammer spring should be 2 1/2" long, IIRC,

That is a lot of good info. I have all new springs (buymilsurp.com), extractor and ejector coming. I did not put any lube on the hammer face.

I have no point of reference, how much should the piston move?

I stripped the trigger group last time to clean/lube so yeah I know how hard that hammer spring is. Struggled for two hours, then watched a youtube video and took me about 5 minutes after that.

Thanks for all the tips, will strip it down when parts arrive. Then wait for ammo availability.....

[big103]

Looks like either a worn extractor or it is the spring for it. I keep alot of the smaller springs and parts handy.

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/carbine.aspx