M1 Garand experts help needed

[Shooter1]

I have a 54 H&R Garand I bought from a gentleman up north, it is not 100% H&R but anyway came with CMP paper work, this gun looks visually great, shoots superb, but the clips are very hard to seat. I do not notice any wrong in the gun. It really takes force to seat them, then you have to really hit the bolt to close. My buddy's parts gun is very easy to seat. What should I look for? Is there anyone who knows their Stuff on the garand in Warrick co area or Evansville that could take a look at her?

 

[rob63]

Just a guess, but I would check to see if the clip ejector spring is bent.

 

[red_zr24x4]

^ this, also look at the bullet guide.
As for the bolt closing hard, on both of mine I have to give the OP rod handle a smack, if I just pull it back and release it will only strip the top round about half way out of the clip.

 

[Shooter1]

any more details as what to exactly look for on those two items? the clip will go all way in till 1/4 or 1/8 from bottom then needs the double thumb push to snap it in.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Maybe look over at the CMP forums. I'm sure they can explain it better / have a sticky about it
CMP Forums

 

[Farmritch]

Do your clips have heavy parkerizing? some greek clips have these issues.

 

[mattinindy]

make sure that your op rod handle is not being pushed back out of the locked position with your hand during insertion. try grease on the metal areas in the white

 

[karl77]

sounds like the wrong spring was used to replace the ejection one. a good rule of thumb is to replace ALL the springs.

 

[Shooter1]

I got a friend that has a m1 easy to load one thumb. Im going have to conpare them. I cant telll whats wrong. Clips are wra, s13

 

[sloughfoot]

Do your clips have heavy parkerizing? some greek clips have these issues.

I have experienced problems with Greek clips too.

OP, a complete disassembly and inspection of your rifle is warranted. No reason why you can't do this yourself. But I'm betting its your clip.

 

[DragonGunner]

Find some other en bloc's and try them to see if thats the problem, as for the bolt not wanting to go forward, make sure loaded en bloc top round is to the right, seems to load better this way on mine.

 

[ol' Huff]

OP-How much M1 experience do you have? On a freshly rebuilt garand the "ease" of clip insertion can be subjective and the ease of dropping the OP rod could be thought of similarly. Sometimes "easy" operation of a garand can be an indication of worn parts, improper part fit, or a rifle out of timing from all of the above. Thete area few places online with detailed descriptions of what should happen when and how much force it should take to do it. I'm 6' and over 210 and reasonably fit and I still have to give a garanda little bit of something to fully seat a clip. The garand was made so you kinda have to be rough with it. Is there any chance you ate babying ita little to much?

 

[2turbos]

Are you using reloaded ammo? If you are you need to get a "small base" sizing die set for your brass cases. That will get the brass closer to new unfired brass size. This is a common problem and 8 rounds of brass sized with a regular sizing die will hardly allow an enblock clip to load.