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Posted: 12/10/2015 10:19:08 AM EDT
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Ok. First of all I haven't had a chance to work on this rifle, and what I'm getting is from my dad. He used to be really sharp with this type of thing, but he's in the terminal end of esophageal cancer and after the cancer, 2 rounds of chemo, and 1 of radiation he's not tracking as well. He had a bow tag for a deer this year but didn't get one. He wants to try for a doe after the first of the year w/ a rifle and he's picky about what he uses since it may be his last chance.
He has an Underwood M1 carbine. From what I understand it's stripping the cartridge out of the mag but not going completely into battery. He says he's tried multiple mags, and both 15 and 30 round mags. I get the impression it could be a weak spring and have ordered a Wolff spring kit, but time is short and I don't have a lot of time to mess with it and am looking for suggestions. He doesn't want to use one of my black rifles. Said "I don't want to use an assault rifle to kill what may be my last deer," If this doesn't pan out he's got my Winchester 30/30, but I think he's got his heart set on his carbine. edited to add: I got my hands on it very briefly last night. (Translates to I had it in my hand for 2 or 3 minutes.) Without a magazine or or ammo I hand cycled it. It appears to cycle fully forward and back. The bolt appears to be lock up correctly all the way forward. |
| My experience may not be the same as yours, but mine failed to go into battery due to significant wearing on the lug (it would hang up right at the very end). My fix was just to keep it well lubricated. It still fails every once in a while, but not enough for me to change out the bolt. |
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Quoted:
My experience may not be the same as yours, but mine failed to go into battery due to significant wearing on the lug (it would hang up right at the very end). My fix was just to keep it well lubricated. It still fails every once in a while, but not enough for me to change out the bolt. Did it fail all the time, or only when it was feeding a cartridge? I'm not seeing any hangups cycling it back and forth by hand w/o any ammo or mags. |
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Quoted:
Did it fail all the time, or only when it was feeding a cartridge? I'm not seeing any hangups cycling it back and forth by hand w/o any ammo or mags. Quoted:
Quoted:
My experience may not be the same as yours, but mine failed to go into battery due to significant wearing on the lug (it would hang up right at the very end). My fix was just to keep it well lubricated. It still fails every once in a while, but not enough for me to change out the bolt. Did it fail all the time, or only when it was feeding a cartridge? I'm not seeing any hangups cycling it back and forth by hand w/o any ammo or mags. Only when fired. I could manually cycle it and feed an entire magazine with no ftfs. If it was relatively dry when fired, it would hang up a couple rounds out of ten. Fully lubed-no problems. When cycling it dry, I could feel the resistance when it was falling into battery. The problem was easy to see after I knew what the issue was. I didn't completely figure it out on my own; I posed the question on the M1 Carbine forum after I had a suspicion that it might be a worn bolt lug. I could replace the bolt now, but with lube, is now only a minor inconvenience. One of these days I'll put in the new(er) bolt I have. |
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Possible fixes:
Replace the recoil spring with a USGI SPEC spring. Never use any "extra-power" springs in the M1 Rifle or Carbine unless that's the correct answer. These USGI rifles were specifically engineered to operate correctly with the GI spec spring and with GI spec ammo. Installing stronger springs may make more trouble where there is none. ESPECIALLY in the M1 Rifle NEVER install non-spec springs. The M1 Rifle "recoil" spring is not just a recoil spring, it powers the entire action. Use a little good grease on the following Carbine areas: Bolt body. Bolt locking lugs. Inside the upper area of the receiver where the bolt slides back into. The grooves in the receiver where the op rod slides. The inside of the cam area of the op rod. The grooves on the barrel where the op rod "box" slides. The face of the hammer. Use a chamber brush to thoroughly scrub the chamber then inspect for bulges, rings, pitting, rust, chamber reamer marks. After trying everything else, buy a Carbine gas piston nut wrench, a new USGI piston, and a new USGI gas piston nut. CAREFULLY disassemble the gas piston assembly and clean the inside of the gas cylinder. Use the correct size drill bit to GENTLY clean the gas port. (Sorry I can't remember the drill size. You can find it in a GI Ordnance manual online). The idea is to remove carbon or debris from the port, not ream it out. Install the NEW gas piston and piston nut. Start the nut by HAND to prevent cross threading. Tighten the nut tightly, then stake in place using the staking technique shown in GI manuals. Use a punch with a rounded off point. The idea is to move a little metal, NOT make punch marks. Never use any steel object or any abrasive to clean the gas piston. Scratch it and it will foul faster and worse. It's just smarter to install a new USGI piston and nut. Try a different brand of ammo. NO steel cased ammo. The Carbine usually doesn't "like" steel cases. When cleaning the Carbine put it on the bench with the sights down. This will prevent lube or bore solvent from leaking into the gas system. Do not lubricate the gas piston. The system is designed to work dry. Anything you put in the system will just burn to a sticky tar-like substance and cause stoppages. Finally, if you ever watch some old film of GI's using the Carbine, when they load it they operated the op rod, then bump the rear of the bolt handle with the heel of their hand to make sure it's closed and locked. When firing it should lock on it's own. |
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What ammo is he using?
I accidentally picked up two boxes of soft points. This have the same round nosed profile with an exposed lead tip that hangs up at least 50% of the time. The fmjs feed flawlessly. These are made by Armscor. Is he using some of these? I believe Hornady is making some pointed hunting bullets for the carbine now that ought to feed better. |
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Quoted:
What ammo is he using? I accidentally picked up two boxes of soft points. This have the same round nosed profile with an exposed lead tip that hangs up at least 50% of the time. The fmjs feed flawlessly. These are made by Armscor. Is he using some of these? I believe Hornady is making some pointed hunting bullets for the carbine now that ought to feed better. I don't know. I've walked into this blind w/ a short time limit. Dad's memory isn't the greatest at this point so he can't help me much on it, and I haven't had a chance to take it out and shoot it. He functions fine for day to day stuff, but he doesn't track well enough for diagnostics anymore. I'll either get this working, or I'll loan him a rifle. I've got a Winchester 30/30 which is my backup plan. |
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