clearing a jam in M1 Garand

[atr]

any general or even specific tips about clearing a jam in a 30-06 M1 Garand...possibly due to a misfire.....
helpful suggestions would be appreciated?
thanks
atr

[supersniper]

need a little better description of the "jam"

is the round still in the chamber and you cannot retract the bolt?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

What is the nature of the jam? Can you open the bolt? Is a fired case stuck in the receiver? Is a bullet lodged in the bore? If the bolt is stuck in the forward position and you have a dud in the chamber that did not fire you have a tricky situation, as there's a chance the it might decide to fire when you force the bolt open. Still, if that is the situation, there is no other answer, the bolt will have to be opened. When I was a G.I. M1s would sometimes freeze up from extensive firing and getting very hot. Our answer was to put the butt on the ground and stomp on the operating rod handle with a boot heel. Not the best procedure. I think if I had the problem I would follow one of two courses of action. (1) Set the butt against a solid object like a tree trunk, point the muzzle in a safe direction with a good backstop, and sharply smack the operating rod handle with a heavy rubber mallet. It probably won't open entirely, but will jump back and then forward again, in which case you should then be able to retract the bolt fully by hand. If it didn't release after several smacks I 'd (2) completely and carefully disassemble the rifle down to nothing but the barreled receiver and bolt, clamp the barrel in a heavily padded vise just forward of the receiver, and try the rubber mallet again observing the safe direction and backstop precautions. With no resistance from the recoil spring and hammer the bolt should open. Assuming the hammer is in the fired position it will be difficult to remove the trigger group, but if you pull up and toward the front hard enough you should be able to cock the hammer and remove the group. When you get the bolt open it is possible that the case will remain in the receiver, and we'll address that problem at that time depending on if the head came off the case.

[atr]

guys.......the cartridge was unfired...just jammed in the chamber....I got the cartridge out successfully,,just a stuck case...the case was not properly sized so it jammed .....a rubber mallet and a hardwood block did the trick....

I was helping a friend and had to explain to him how important it was to correctly size the cases,,,especially with a semi-auto...
I too the offending cartridge, broke it down and dumped the powder etc. then resized the case....showed him how to check it in the chamber....after resizing the case we had no problems.....

thanks for your thoughts
atr
ps....been a long time since I handled a Garand....brings back some memories

[Dale in Louisiana]

First off, let's assume you pulled the trigger and heard no 'click'. Chances are that if the bolt failed to completely close, possible causes being dirty ammo or chamber or bent/oversized/badly handloaded round. if this is the case, keeping the muzzle towards the target and finger off the trigger, cycle the operating handle. Make sure you pull the handle ALL the way to the rear. If you eject the chambered round, that's a good thing. Examine it for defects.

Release the handle and let it go forward at full speed. Don't 'ride' it forward. The gun is made to have the bolt slam forward. If the next round chambers, good! Watch the operating handle. Did it go all the way forward? Yes? Good. Shoot. If rod stopped short of full forward, BEFORE you pull the trigger, give the handle a bump with the heel of your hand. Did it go forward? Yes? Good. Shoot. If the next round does the same thing, then investigate your rifle and/or your ammo. If you suspect ammo problems, beg/borrow a clip of factory ball ammo and check the action again.

Other problem: Doesn't go into battery with factory ammo. Clean, clean clean! Use that silly chamber brush, old patches, etc. and make the chamber CLEAN. Clean the rest of the rifle too while you're at it. Relube upon reassembly, using GREASE per the old military tech manual. Garands are notorious 'grease guns'. Grease the lump of the bolt and the notch in the operating rod. Grease the ear on the left side of the bolt and the track in the receiver where the bolt rides. Grease the bottom of the bolt where it overrides the hammer. Grease the rear of the operating rod where it rides the bottom of the chamber lump of the barrel.

Make sure everything's okay. Assemble the action without the operating spring. Hold the muzzle up. The operating rod should slide back and the action open purely from the activity of gravity. Point the muzzle down. The action should close into full battery, again from pure gravity. It doesn't? Pay close attention to where it's hanging up. Fix it. Might mean a little grease, might mean a replacement part.

Make sure your operating spring is in good shape. They get kinked. They wear out. A new spring fixes a lot of sluggish rifles.

Make sure your ammo is good with YOUR rifle. Factory (arsenal) stuff should be a gimme. Handloads? Some bullet noses will slow the feeding down to lead to problems. Neck-sized cases might not work, nor might boolits loaded a little too long.

Remember, that spring has to strip the cartridge from the clip and push it into the chamber and then close the bolt. That means that everything has to be working right, including having enough gas pressure to shove the action all the way to the rear after firing. Some handloads might be marginal in doing this, leaving you with 'it' only does this every now and then' failures.

And all this time we're hoping that your gas cylinder and piston are in good shape.

dale in Louisiana