Need some input as to what is going on here.

I have a 1943 Springfield Armory M1 Garand that was rebarreled in the early 90s to a 7.62x51 NATO marked barrel from Fulton Armory.  Haven't shot it much until the last year or so when I decided to seriously zero this gun.   I have a small stockpile of Malaysian and Portuguese Surplus from the glory days.  Even with a Schuster adjustable gas plug, its like shooting a "semi auto bolt gun".  The recoil is horrendous.  At one time I had it running smoothly as I dialed in the gas plug.  Next range session back to square one with the horrible recoil.  Same ammo and no adjustments.  Tried current production Federal Lake City ball ammo and still the same.  I was so close to changing it back to .30-06. 

Decided to try Wolf steel case .308 and what a joy it is to shoot......but.......this ammo consistently FTF on the 2nd round of a full 8 round clip.  It ejects but closes on an empty chamber.  Oh well, I can live with this as its not my TEOTWAWKI gun and more a novelty.  When I went to the LGS to replenish shooting ammo, I bought what I thought was Wolf .308 (bin was marked that) but it had a brighter and more polished case.  Now this ammo works 100% with no FTF.  Go back to the same LGS and showed them a round I had leftover and they told me this was Hungarian MFS .308 WIN with 145 gr FMJ.  Never heard of this stuff before and they had more in stock.  No boxes, just loose pack of 50 for $30 in a heavy sealed clear bag.  So for now I can enjoy the Garand.  Stuff shoots 6" to 8" groups on a steel plate at 200 yards.  Not bad by my standards.

So what can I do when the time will come when no more MFS is available?  What causes the 2nd round to FTF everytime?  I've heard of issues with every 7th round.  Why is 7.62 NATO so punishing when the barrel is clearly marked 7.62 NATO and not .308 WIN?   

Maybe a new recoil spring ?

I installed the Wolff Rifle Service Spring Pack from Midway.  did not cure the problem as I hoped.

Something is very wrong because a .308 Garand is usually a soft shooter.

I would install a new Orion 7 operating rod spring and I would check the gas port diameter with a set of numbered drill bits.   Off the top of my head the gas port should measure 0.096" or so.

I would also check the headspace while I was at it.  You may have too little headspace.  This could increase the pressure and create excessive recoil.

The problem with the short stroking second round seems like a timing problem.


Google "Gus Fisher Garand timing problems"

Something isnt adding up. Malaysian is alittle weak so I can see rifle possibly short stroking but excessive recoil doesnt make sense
Get rid of the Wolff op rod spring, they are extra power and can cause short stroking( again doesnt make sense on excessive recoil) Get a Op Rod spring form Orion 7 or Garand Gear.
Why are you running a adjustable gas screw?? It is not needed. Install a USGI gas screw, a new op rod spring, take to the range and report back.

Not noticeably (less than a different primer). Even the harder extraction shouldn't be noticeable during firing.

Did the plug open up?


Wolf steel is lower power than 5.56 NATO, I imagine it's the same in .30 caliber. The burn rate might not work well with the long gas port location.

The .308 Garand should have less recoil than a 30-06 Garand.  I would certainly check the headspace to make sure it is correct.  Use .308Win gauges, which are actually a little tighter than 7.62NATO gauges.  Even though your barrel is marked 7.62, it is more than likely cut to .308 specs.  Also, check the gas port size.  While an improperly drilled gas port(read that as too large) may not affect the recoil that much, if there is too much pressure an oversized gas port may cause battering.  Proper .308 gas port size is  .089" (#43 drill bit size), though I have seen specs listed for ports at .093"-.096".  For comparison, stock 30-06 port size is .079".  
While it is commonly accepted that commercial .308 ammo is loaded to higher pressures than military 7.62 ammo, The American Rifleman magazine had a short note a few years back that they had found military 7.62 ammo with higher pressures than commercially made .308 ammo.

Totally agree.

Get rid of the adj. plug screw and install a USGI plug. Then install a USGI-spec op rod spring from Orion 7 (You can get a 5-pack on Amazon).  

Adjustable plugs, such as the ones Schuster Mfg. sells, work perfectly on Shuff's 16" Mini-Gs, and some folks run them on 18" "Tankers" too. But those are special types of M1 variants, not "full-size" '06 or 7.62/.308 M1s.

That said,  I've also seen Match shooters using an adj. plug on their Nat'l Match-spec M1s, but they were shooting a specific handload using Varget and 168gn Match HPs bullets.