We were lucky to host a talented, young intern this summer named Timmy Regan. His business insights and intellect were greatly beyond his age. He is also the owner of a truly beautiful M1 Garand that was a gift from his grandfather. In his last week with us, he mentioned the rifle and asked if we could help him field strip it. He was also curious about the condition of the bore. It was our pleasure to help.
Pulling up on the trigger guard frees the trigger assembly from the receiver.
The the trigger assembly removed, the stock can be separated from the barreled receiver.
Pulling against the operating spring, disconnect the follower rod and then slowly decompress the spring.
Remove the follower rod and spring.
Remove the follower arm pin. Very little force is needed, but is can only be driven out from the left side of the receiver.
Removing the pin frees both the operating rod catch and the follower arm.
Removing the follower arm.
Remove the bullet guide.
The follower with lift out from its machined guides in the receiver.
Disconnecting the operating rod can be daunting at first. Pull it rearward until it under the rear sight and in alignment with a slight cutout on the guide raceway. When aligned,pulling out away from the receiver while slightly pushing up into the cutout will free the op-rod.
Remove the operating rod.
Removing the bolt can be tricky, too. They are carefully fitted to the action. Push the bolt back and then tip it up. It is a fiddly job, but keep at it and you will eventually hit the right angle to remove the bolt.
We put his rifle on our bores scope to look at the barrel’s condition.
It was heavily coppered, but, like the rest of the rifle, it was in good condition.
Montana X-Treme Copper Killer and clean patch.
That same patch two minutes later. This barrel has some scrubbing ahead of it.
The fouling was heavy enough that Copper Cream was used to speed up the job.
Using a tight patch, the Copper Cream broke up the copper fouling quickly. More Copper Killer finished the job.
Looking at the same point in the barrel that we studied initially. The cleaning process looks complete.
It took quite a handful of patches to do the job.
Reassembling a Garand is a snap after seeing how it came apart. Lower the bolt into the receiver and jiggle it back into place.
Insert the op-rod and align it with the raceway, capturing the bolt.
Return the op-rod to the cutaway on raceway and push down to re-engage it to the receiver.
Re-insert the follower and the bullet guide into the receiver. The follower arm should engage the lifter slots.
With the operating rod catch in place, the follower arm pin can be re-inserted.
The spring and is replaced and locked into the follower arm.
Mate the stock onto the receiver.
Align the trigger assembly and push it into position.
A firm push will lock it into place.
Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge with us, Timmy. We enjoyed working with you.