Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17
  1. #11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by togor View Post
    Lead edge of cam slot can chip off.
    I've seen a few OP rods with a chip off the bottom of the cam. These chips are miniscule and have no effect on functioning in my experience. I have never seen a bent rod or even a photo of one.

  2. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rock View Post
    I've seen a few OP rods with a chip off the bottom of the cam. These chips are miniscule and have no effect on functioning in my experience. I have never seen a bent rod or even a photo of one.
    I'm sitting on one that has more than a miniscule chip on it. Columbus Machine must see enough of them to quote a price for repair. The "effect on functioning" is in how you look at it. By reducing the bearing surface, an increase in wear occurs on the surrounding contact area. Does it matter? My answer is that if they would have wanted them that way they would have made them that way in the first place.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Houston, Texas
    Posts
    9,250

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by togor View Post
    I'm sitting on one that has more than a miniscule chip on it. Columbus Machine must see enough of them to quote a price for repair. The "effect on functioning" is in how you look at it. By reducing the bearing surface, an increase in wear occurs on the surrounding contact area. Does it matter? My answer is that if they would have wanted them that way they would have made them that way in the first place.
    My usual disclaimer: What a person does with his/her own property is their own business.

    M1s are vintage rifles most of which have seen a lot of use, sometimes very hard use. At the very least any M1 that has been through a rebuild has a minimum of 10,000 rounds through it and probably a lot more. They are not indestructible and using ammunition in them that will work but is out of spec isn't a good idea, especially with a worn or weak op rod spring; just mho.

    That I have not seen something doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I had the op rod on an M1 jump the race while firing Remington .30-06 FMJ ammunition in it. The result - bent op rod that I sent off to a fellow named Schuff, I believe, who had a cottage business repairing op rods that were, among other things, bent out of spec. I later learned that Remington advised against the use of this ammunition in M1s. I baby my MilSurps. There will never be any more of them. I look on myself as a caretaker for these fine old weapons. Feeding them the ammunition in the spec they were specifically designed for is the least I can do.
    Last edited by Art; 12-07-2017 at 12:46.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Ypsilanti, MI
    Posts
    1,527

    Default

    Amen to that!

    By the way, Tim Schufflin of Schuff's Parkerizing is a great guy and an amazing gunsmith who specialises in M1s and their variants only. You could do a lot worse!
    "I was home... What happened? What the Hell Happened?" - MM1 Jacob Holman, USS San Pablo

  5. Default

    I don't know about the internet rumors, but the most authoritative and thoroughly researched book by Hackely, Wodin & Scranton, "History of U.S. Military Small Arms Ammunition" Volume 3 page 112 notes that some late lots of .30 Ball M2 being loaded for use in machine guns for South Vietnam under the Military Assistance program were loaded using WC-52 ball powder which had failed the M1 rifle gas port pressure test and was restricted for use in machine guns, linked 4 ball 1 tracer. Some of the remained in U.S inventory and in 1987 the CMP program requested that the ball ammo be repacked in 8 round clips.

    "Unfortunately it was not realized that this ammunition was loaded with restricted propellant that caused higher than normal gas port pressures in M1 rifles and which, after prolonged use, could distort the operating rod. Most if not all of the repack operation seems to have taken place as Red River Army Depot during 1988-1994, and was identified by the depot's RR prefix repack lot numbers."

    Use at your own risk, I guess, but I won't shoot it in my Garands, but will happily use in M1903s.

  6. #16
    danco101 Guest

    Default

    I have seen one early uncut op rod come apart and the back end swing past the shooters head. I believe that's why they put the relief cut on them.

  7. Default

    I just came back from the Advanced Maintenance Course at CMP.

    They told us op rod damage was common with the wrong ammo. But they said the damage was usually cumulative over time, not a catastrophic failure from firing 1 or 2 rounds.

    The op rod can bend (over time) and the machining of surfaces on the op rod can be damaged. Different parts of the linkage can be bent, too.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •