M1 garand duds.

[popeye4]

I took the bolt apart when I got home from the range and it did not look dirty. I gave it a good cleaning anyway. I might be able to post some pictures of the primers this weekend. I'm almost positive that the problem is a combination of old springs and primers that are a lot less sensitive than the Federal primers that were used in the factory ammo.

Federals are quite sensitive, on a relative scale. It will be interesting to see if the new spring fixes the issue.

[MRG2680]

Got out of work early today so I took my garand to get it checked out. Headspace is fine and firing pin is within specs. The gun smith took a recoil spring out of a garand that was in the shop. It was almost 3" longer than the one in my gun. Not sure that this is the problem but a weak recoil spring might not have enough force to close the bolt completely.

[EricClay]

If the bolt isn't in battery then it will take a fair amount of energy from the hammer to try and cam it shut. That being said the bolt should go into battery even with a weak operating rod spring.

Make sure the firing pin and the inside of the bolt isn't caked full of cosmoline or grease and verify that the hammer spring is in spec. I have a part inspection article that might be useful to you. [M1 Garand inspection]

The hammer spring should be ~2.15" in length.

The firing pin can break inside the bolt. You should not be able to grab the firing pin tang and extract the pin from the bolt.

You might want to check the rounds that didn't fire in another firearm. Verify the primers have anvils.. etc.


Eric