Gents,

So I took my "new" CMP Service Grade Garand to the range this weekend with a couple hundred rounds of the CMP Lake City ammo. The ammo came loose in a can so I bought a few packs of clips at the local gun store, no brand name, just sort of home packed, but they all looked new.

So we're firing away,the first couple of clips are no problem. Then I try to load one and it is unbelievably stiff, so stiff I couldn't get it into the action all the way. I unloaded it and tossed it. From then on we started getting failures to feed about halfway through the every other clip, got one stove pipe, and a couple of the clips failed to eject (the loading tray just popped up in the middle of the clip, which stayed in the action instead of ejecting).

At first I thought the malfunctions may have been induced because the weapon was getting really hot, but then I started thinking it may have been the clips. I got home and compared them to some old clips I had laying around, the finish on the new ones looks different then the old ones and the old ones seem to have a kind of head stamp, nothing on the new ones.

Any one have any thoughts, are there certain clips that I should stick to, if so is there any reputable place I can order them from? It was just a little frustrating, beautiful clean rifle, all the ammo went bang, and I'm getting malfunctions the first real range trip. Any help would be appreciated!

Regards,

LABlackRifle

Clips are really all about the same.  There's really no good or bad makers, some just don't work.  Just toss them.

The problems you are having sound like what I had when first got mine.  I didn't grease it enough.  Garands need a lot of grease.  If they don't have it, they don't work.  Try any gun grease or Lubraplate and your problems might go away.

Firct do a complete etar down clean, grease and reassemble. Did the rifle function OK with the clip that CMP sent with the rifle?

I've heard reports of M1 problems with "no name" clips and some genuine USGI.
These are often foreign made clips or heavily used and abused clips that have been refinished to look new.

When in doubt, pick up some genuine USGI clips in good, original condition.
You can buy clips from the better surplus sources like Fulton Armory, Amherst Depot,  and Orion-7.

Also, as above, the M1 needs GREASE.  Oil is used to prevent rust.  Grease is the lubricant.  Read a GI manual or look online.

Roger on the grease, I had torn down the rifle all the way, incuding the bolt (which was a PITA to get back together) and stripped off all the gunk/cosmoline. I've relubed after this last trip, maybe I didn't use enough grease, I originally had just put a light coat on. I went heavier this time, we'll see how she likes that. Thanks for the replies, I'll probably just order some new clip from Fulton just to be safe.

Thanks again for the replies, you guys rock.

Regards,

LABlackRifle

I bought a M1 just over a year ago.

The Greek clipped ammo I bought worked fine, the Greek clips loaded with PMC ball worked fine, some Taiwanese spammed/clipped ammo corrosive crap was less forgiving!

Had some issues with it. I could unload the clips, reload the same ammo in the clips and the Garand would take it then. It's like the Taiwan made ammo and clips had stuck together, or the clips were too tight. The rifle not wanting to take the cartridge into battery like it should. I also think the ammo is sort of weak, just on the edge of not functioning the rifle.

I cleaned and greased the musket which helped considerably, pretty much coaxing my Garand into eating this nasty corrosive ammo properly.

I think the cans of Taiwan ammo I got has been poorly handeled and stored. It smokes, leaves soot in the gun, and the rifle just grudgingly will eat it![>:/]