I have a slight problem…

[Rapidray]

My new M1 Garand has the following issue…it will fire the round and eject the spent round but isn’t picking up the next round and chambering it. It is setting the hammer as when I pull the trigger it falls onto a empty chamber and I’m having to pull the charging rod back and then let it fly forward on its own. Then it will chamber the round ready to fire.
Is this something I can fix or should I send it back to the CMP???
thanks in advance!

[Smokey]

Your short-cycling. This is a result of some combination of the following:
1 Inadequate lubrication. The rifle must be greased, here's a good reference: Greasing the M1 Garand - GarandGear
2 Wimpy ammunition. Late "60s M2 Ball is notoriously less powerful than the ammo used during WWII
3 Extra drag from the Parkerizing on a newly refinished reciever. I had this issue on a refurbished rifle some five years ago. After a few hundred rounds the roughness was smoothed out.

There have been other problems such as a blocked gas port, dragging, bent op rod etc.

[Rapidray]

I have oiled it up and will check the other items when I get home…thanks 😀

[jak]

Use grease, not oil. Also check the op rod spring for broken pieces or kinks. The op rod spring length should 19.5" to 20.5"
Make sure the gas cylinder lock screw is tight.

[Beltfed]

Having the same problem with a nephew M1. Added a few extra gains of powder to reloads and problem went away.

[lapriester]

Oil won't cut it with a Garand. Look to the link someone else posted and follow the instructions. What grade of CMP rifle are we talking about here? Freshly refinished? If so it may take 100 rounds or so to smooth the operating surfaces. Also make sure the gas plug is good and tight. What ammo are you shooting? Some of the foreign made stuff is so whimpy it might not even even cycle a 22LR.

[MRusan]

This will help find some of the cleaning kit stuff faster.
For grease, you have two types to play with. Lubriplate (Contains Lubriplate 130-A. https://www.sarcoinc.com/m1-garand-grease-pot/) or PlastiLube (https://www.northridgeinc.com/product-p/x-173pw.htm). Those little tubs are made to fit in the butt hole with the oiler and cleaning kit. (You can find those too. Libertytreecollectors.com has some of the cleaning kits, but others have them as well for possibly better prices.) Either grease will work. The Plastilube handles really cold weather better. I tend to swear by Lubriplate myself and it isn't tough to find a big tub of it. A little goes a long way.

Chapter 5 of this field manual shows you all of the lube points lapriester alluded to and specifies the oil types recommended.

https://mtwashingtonrg.org/manuals/M1_Garand_US_Rifle_FM_23-5_1985.pdf

It also shows the cleaning kits and how the collapsible ones fit in the butt hole (pg 22, figure 35), but the oiler image where it's all laid out is wrong (pg 22 figure 34). That is the M14 stubby one. You want one like they have at libertytreecollectors. If you grab the older combo tool, you'll end up with a chamber brush or swab holder and a case extraction tool. The older type combo tool stowed in the upper hole with a grease tub and some cleaning patches, and a thong pull through and bore brush went into the oiler compartment the later combo tool was stowed in with more patches as illustrated. The later kit with the rods (M10) has a different combo tool that goes into the one end of the oiler that acts as a handle for the rod and usually has a separate chamber brush as shown in the illustration. You can find a pouch for web gear that can hold the extra stuff that doesn't fit in the trap should you grab the extras.

I always found it odd they never had a bore cleaner holding compartment in the kit, unless the other side of the oiler was originally supposed to hold that. Most Euro type systems had a double can for cleaner and oil that was separate (like the Nagant rifle). I suppose if you weren't worried about authenticity, you could grab one of those or something similar. The side marked like an "H" is the oil side. You can find them round or square. https://m1-garand-rifle.com/vintovka...eaning-kit.php

[Smokey]

While Plastilube and Lubriplate were issued by the military for greasing up the Garand, any decent automotive chassis grease will do a fine job. I now use Mobil 1 Synthetic grease on mine.

[TJT]

An M1 rifle doesn't have a "charging handle". It has an "operating rod handle". It's not brain surgery to learn the proper nomenclature.

[lapriester]

An M1 rifle doesn't have a "charging handle". It has an "operating rod handle". It's not brain surgery to learn the proper nomenclature.

Having a bad day are we? Best to just answer the question. Fact is it could very easily be defined as a charging handle. It does in fact "charge" the rifle for firing in the very same manner as an AR charging handle does. Yes, learning proper nomenclature is important but, in this case it's pretty much irrelevant since anyone, with any brain power at all, could figure it out.

[David Milisock]

Having a bad day are we? Best to just answer the question. Fact is it could very easily be defined as a charging handle. It does in fact "charge" the rifle for firing in the very same manner as an AR charging handle does. Yes, learning proper nomenclature is important but, in this case it's pretty much irrelevant since anyone, with any brain power at all, could figure it out.

If you think about it the Garand also has a forward assist. So does the M1 Carbine. Then you can get into using moly lube on both of them instead of grease.