rifle won't reassemble, please advise

[cloud]

I'm pretty new to the world of the m1 garand, but I love this thing! I'm not trained professionally, but I shoot beautifully with this rifle.

My rifle is in excellent shape, works well and is currently very clean. Summer of 2019 I took it to the range and dumped a full can through it. I then proceeded to snake the bore, oil it a few times, and keep it in my vehicle while I trekked all over the country through the mountains, mud, desserts coast to coast.

Then I get home, disassemble it, clean it very well over the course of about two weeks in a slightly humid basement workshop and discover that everything fits nicely except the trigger group. If I remove the stock the trigger group assembles nicely and the firearm is once again in working order.

Logic states that the gun got too hot and the fiberglass bedding applied by the previous owner expanded and now the stock is out of spec.

I can close the trigger guard to within 1/2" of fully closed at which point the mating surface of the stock, and the bottom magazine cover on the trigger group are completely plumb. Logic states that I must file out the fiberglass at this very spot to allow the trigger group to descend further.

I've sanded a significant portion of the fiberglass and not seen any improvement in closing distance of the trigger guard. I have mistakenly been sanding flat and after further inspection have discovered that there is a slight bevel that should be there so I will begin sanding the outer edges at an appropriate angle. Hopefully this works.

Is there something I'm missing?

Thank you for reading

[jak]

STOP SANDING !!!! You are ruining the lockup of your rifle. 1/2" is normal and ensures a good lockup. Don't be afraid to force it closed, you won't break anything.

https://www.m1garandforum.com/forum/...-trigger-guard
Check out post #7

[cloud]

I'm only sanding fiberglass, not wood. Should I hit it with a hammer? That's about the amount of force required. Even if I did get force it, the trigger guard is deflecting so much that it won't go into the slot on the back of the trigger group. The bottom magazine cover needs to get closer to the receiver so that the two guide posts on the trigger group that move with the trigger guard can slide into place the rest of the way. It's about a millimeter away by the looks of it.

I saw that the link at the bottom wasn't some kind of signature, so I clicked it. I'll go get the mallet. New trigger group probably isn't terribly expensive...

[m14brian]

Yes Sir, as jak stated above see the picture in post #7 of the link given, the armorer is using a mallet to close the trigger guard, it can be very tight, it shouldn't hurt the trigger group. That is the advice generally given to try. Let us know it worked out Ok.
m14brian

[cloud]

So I gave it a good whack and it just bounced back. I can see where there trigger guard made contact. I'm thinking this rifle was bedded and then never fired so when I cycled 500 rounds through it in about two hours the fiberglass resin deformed.

• I then filed the resin pile down even more until I discovered what appears to be a socket has been carved and filled with resin. The sockets appear on either side of the magazine and appear to have been drilled on some machine. Is this normal? Anyway, I filed it down a bit more and the trigger guard locks with about the same force it used to.
• Sorry for the weird formatting, this forum is cancer on mobile

[m14brian]

I cycled 500 rounds through it in about two hours

Holy string of fire, Batman!!

With reloading 62 times that would be roughly 5 rounds/minute, right? Well, she proved herself worthy lol. That's awesome.
m14brian

[AJ Brink]

Hey Pvt Cloud, I live in Texas it gets hot your bedding in my way of thinking the wood would dry, in that hot car environment , my bedded guns get so hot you can’t touch the metal, I kinda understand what you did about sanding, now you commented it’s working okay, my last Garand I had to sell just got a notification on my new Garand It should be here by the 14th, it was Bedded, just one question, is your trigger guard stamped? Or the early cast model?

[AJ Brink]

Hello PVT Cloud, I decided to inquire, I got my new Garand CMP tire it down and did a little inspection, missed a few important things, my trigger guard is not stamped, it’s milled type low serial Garand, really shoots nice, my barrel must have been pretty bad, they replaced it with a standard GI barrel, with a 2019 date. They really did a nice job on the stock really fits tight, almost like its bedded. When I went to the range I only shot a Clip and 1/2 had an issue, mostly my Ammo situation, but I got that resolved A friend sold some rounds to me, he had plenty of extra 30/06 his Garand was a Navy 308, kinda lucky on that one. Anyway this ammo situation is crazy. AJ