M1 Garand.... PHEW!

[FCOD]

I just discovered today that my very good condition H&R Garand had some slight signs of rust in the bore. I always clean it after shooting it, or at least run a CLP boresnake through it. This seemed odd to me, so I pulled out the ammo can and inspected the head stamp and to my dismay noticed that it was KA head stamp which means its Korean and it's corrosive . I went to town with a bronze brush, some Hoppes elite and some regular Hoppes and did quite a few passes with my brush while letting it sit in between.

Luckily I got about 90% of the rust of the rust out and the tiny bit left really isn't that noticeable and it wasn't throughout the entire bore nor is it apparent on the rifling at all, but only a little bit in the lands. I'm assuming it's going to shoot fine, but I feel like such a tool for not checking my ammo last time.

Just to be safe I pulled the gas block off as well and cleaned it, but it had no sign of corrosion or rust. Anyone else made one of these mistakes, or am I the only one?

Guess the purpose of this was moreso so vent and share my dumbassery.

[Rosereader]

Well, it's not quite the same but my first time with surplus 7.62x54r went much the same when I failed to clean it that day (late shooting session, was tired and lazy). I Personally now find the look of a rusty bore to be a mentally scarring picture, but if you cleaned it nice and left a pretty film of oil it should be all good. Sorry to hear that happened to you, but everyone makes mistakes and everything still works, eh?

[Enfield47]

Did you run some hot water or wet patches down the barrel when you cleaned it? If not, you need to do it or else the rust will return because you aren't getting rid of the corrosive salts that caused it originally.

[Armistice]

I've gone a few days before cleaning the bore and haven't had any problems

All my ammo is corrosive, so I wig out when my ammo is non-corrosive. I just don't know what to do

My only non-corrosive ammo is my 9mm for my Beretta M9. I will not let corrosive touch that baby

[pro-nra]

Just to be safe I pulled the gas block off as well and cleaned it, but it had no sign of corrosion or rust.

I never heard of a "gas block" on a Garand. If you are referring to the gas cylinder, it will not rust as it is made of stainless steel along with the gas lock and plug. You will also need to clean the op rod as salt will do damage there too.

[smle-man]

I just discovered today that my very good condition H&R Garand had some slight signs of rust in the bore. I always clean it after shooting it, or at least run a CLP boresnake through it. This seemed odd to me, so I pulled out the ammo can and inspected the head stamp and to my dismay noticed that it was KA head stamp which means its Korean and it's corrosive . I went to town with a bronze brush, some Hoppes elite and some regular Hoppes and did quite a few passes with my brush while letting it sit in between.

Luckily I got about 90% of the rust of the rust out and the tiny bit left really isn't that noticeable and it wasn't throughout the entire bore nor is it apparent on the rifling at all, but only a little bit in the lands. I'm assuming it's going to shoot fine, but I feel like such a tool for not checking my ammo last time.

Just to be safe I pulled the gas block off as well and cleaned it, but it had no sign of corrosion or rust. Anyone else made one of these mistakes, or am I the only one?

Guess the purpose of this was moreso so vent and share my dumbassery.

If there is a 'little bit' of rust left in the bore, it will continue to rust until the metal pits. You don't want that. Be sure to clean the end of the oprod that extends into the gas cylinder as it will rust also. Clean the pad with the gas port on it, that will also rust. The gas cylinder and the tip of the oprod are both stainless steel so they are unlikely to rust.

Yes, I did the same thing. When the Korean ball first came into the U.S. I bought a can of the KA73 stuff labeled non corrosive. I shot it through my Danish Navy M1 rifle, did a cursory clean and let it sit for a couple weeks. Found the bore brown with rust when I next looked at it. Cleaned it and ended up with a pitted bore but fortunately not a rusty oprod. When I spoke with the online seller they told me that Century told them it was non corrosive so take it up with them. Nice!

[Orlando]

Yes you need to clean under the gas cylinder ,bolt face end of op rod along with bore and chamber.

[FCOD]

Gas cylinder...excuse me. Haha. So I should go back and run a couple of wet patches through it even now? Glad you mentioned that. I'll do that this morning. So water whether hot, or cold will neutralize the salts?

[Manolito]

I am a hot soapy water guy myself. Not a wet patch but copious quantities of hot soapy water followed by a good cleaning. Then oiling and putting away.

To give you an idea I go to the back porch with a large bucket of hot soapy water and clean it just like I do my black powder rifles.

Bill

[Badmusic]

Gas cylinder...excuse me. Haha. So I should go back and run a couple of wet patches through it even now? Glad you mentioned that. I'll do that this morning. So water whether hot, or cold will neutralize the salts?

My understanding...I own two Garands...is hot water is best. Just make sure to dry thoroughly. Boiling water (or as close as you can get it) is supposed to 'flash dry" off the vulnerable metal parts better, therefore not causing rust itself. According to my ancient grizzled old WWII and Korean war veteran gunsmith, they used to try to boil the parts in the field whenever possible.

[FCOD]

Well I just went and threw some water in a mug in the microwave for a few minutes then dipped a bore mop in it and made a few passes. Dried it and re-oiled the bore.

[Father Ted]

Always check those head stamps, even the loose hxp from cmp will have a couple oddballs thrown in. Garands are too complicated to do corrosive ammo clean up and you want to remove your gas cylinder as little as possible to keep a decent fit on barrel, just as you don't want to remove action from stock every time you clean. I have a can of that KA stuff that I won't even put in my bolt gun due to all the case separations and splitting I've seen let alone being corrosive.
I've also heard alot of people clean up corrosive with windex, I believe the ammonia does the same to the salts as the hot soapy water.
Cheers

[smle-man]

Water dissolves the corrosive salts so that they may be wiped or flushed out of the bore. The ammonia takes care of the copper deposits from the bullet jacket. A water based cleaning solvent is what is needed for corrosive ammo. The WW2 GI white color bore cleaner is the absolute best stuff for this duty. It doesn't stink like the brown bore cleaner from the same era and takes care of the cleaning duty easily. The chemicals are probably lethal in it so wear gloves while using it. I bought a couple cases of the stuff off of Shotgun News several years ago so there is a lot of it floating around.

If you use water, make sure it is boiling hot so that the metal dries almost immediately. Best thing is not to use corrosive ammo in an M1. The typical M1 in combat lasted a matter of months before being exchanged when the soldiers came off the line so that it could be detail cleaned and the pitted and rusted components replaced. The damp conditions and corrosive ammunition took a toll very quickly. There is a famous picture of some Ordnance guys in the ETO in the winter of '44 surrounded by piles of M1s that they are breaking down to clean and repair.

[SMarquez]

I use windex too but follow up with WD40 to displace the windex. I'm only going by theory. I don't go more than a couple days before I do a deep clean on it. My M1 and Mosin are the only rifles I clean every time I shoot.

[3006Garand]

Don't worry. This is a good reason to get a new barrel. They have great new barrels at C.M.P for good prices.