Attachment 110442Attachment 110443
About 25 years ago a fairly regular customer came into my gunsmithing shop with his M1 Carbine complaining that something was broken. It wasn't too hard to see that one of the locking lugs had separated from the bolt body. Kind of unusual, so I asked what had happened. The customer said nothing unusual had occurred, he was just shooting and the gun quit working. The following conversation ensued: "O.K., what kind of ammunition were you shooting?" "Same as always. My reloads using a 110 bullet over 14 gr. of H-110."
"Got one with you?" "Yeah--right here in my pocket." "But this is a cast lead bullet!" "Yeah--I picked up a box at the gun show 'cause they were cheaper than the jacketed bullets." "Did you change the load?" "Nope, same load, 14 gr. of H-110." So we had a further discussion about how jacketed and lead loads aren't the same, and how you need to significantly reduce the powder charge when switching over to lead, because the lead is softer and more difficult to push through the bore which raises pressures. The customer
learned the lesson, but was a bit miffed at why the replacement bolt and labor cost $65.00. The lesson was reinforced in my mind as well, and very recently bubbled to the surface again in another incident which I shall describe in Part 2.