Went shooting yesterday with my future father-in-law, broke out that Garand to fire a few rounds off at a stubborn old Singer sewing machine (They sure built those things strong). Anyhow when I got home and took it apart for cleaning, I noticed an obvious bend to the operating rod.

Quick history: The gun had several boxes of commercial ammo fired through it before I found out on these boards that it was a no-no. At the time i inspected it and noticed no damage/obvious bending. I fired probably 160 rounds of Lake City through it after that, no malfunctions, although I would have to help the bolt forward a bit on the first round. I put three clips of ammo through it yesterday (surplus ammo) that I figured as having corrosive primers so I pulled it apart right away to clean thoroughly and low and behold the rod is bent.

My question is can it be straightened and still function until I can get a new one this fall (money is real tight right now). It probably wouldn't get any more than 6-8 more clips through it till then, I have a couple of people coming up for a vacation that I would like to give a chance to shoot it but I'm not going too if it could lead to further damage. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

If the rifle functions properly, you may be seeing a bend that is supposed to be there. Can you post a picture?

If you look at the oprod from the side, it's supposed to have a little bit of an S to it.  From the top, it should appear straight.  It wouldn't cycle if there was something grossly wrong with it.

Leave the slight curve alone...................it's DESIGNED like that.

Now, the responses you have received up to now may be correct for your situation.  But to determine that, you need to do the "tilt test" to see if your op rod is moving freely as it ought to.  Here's a thread from the CMP forum that explains this issue:  http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=69967&SearchTerms=tilt+test

If this test shows your op rod is not moving freely, check out this post:  http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=66819&SearchTerms=jim+swartz

It has the email address of Jim Swartz,  the op rod whisperer.  He has the equipment, and more importantly, the know-how, to put your op rod back into spec.  His fee is reasonable, and he is reliable and trustworthy.  Good luck––a binding op rod is a hindrance to M1 accuracy.


Edited to add:  sorry, links are not hot, but they are correct.

Which milsurp ammo were you shooting?

There is suppose to be a bend in it. Leave it be. Shoot correct ammo for it. Congrads on getting to shoot a great rifle. WarDawg

I would like to thank all of you for your responses, they have been very helpful and relieving. I really thought I had messed it up, glad to hear it's not. Just remembered hearing about bent op rods, commercial ammo and I assumed the worse.

The ammo headstamp says: TH     4.54     s     7.62    : box is made of stapled together cardboard that is taped shut at the top with white tape. The label has the following info on it:

20 cartouches de 7.62 mm MLE 1949
Libres
etuis laitin        T.H. 4-54
amorces          S.F.M. 16-54
balles o mle 1949     T. H. 4-54
poudre B.P  (0.3)   dl-c       11-52    r.p.
charge          3g10
t.h. lot 70-54

Once again thanks to everyone for their info

Yeah, I'd consider that to be corrosive ammo.  Handloading is the way to go.