Guys, I received the rifle today, and spent hours cleaning all the cosmoline out of it. I completely stripped the rifle to the smallest part and used boiling water to remove all the cosmoline - I did that to a rifle once many years ago, and it was just as painstaking and dirty a process as I remember!

BUT - I am well pleased. I really think I have gotten ahold of a 5.4M Springfield that went somewhere and sat in storage for years, never fired outside of Springfield proof firing. There was cosmoline everywhere, including saturating the operating rod and spring. Moreover, the breech looks pristine, as do the bolt face and op rod piston. I tend to believe this rifle probably went to Greece and was never used. Whatever the story, the lockup pressure from the trigger guard is good, and I have every hope she will be a good shooter. I do, indeed, plan to shoot her. She's got enough minor stock scrapes and dings to not be a museum piece, so I figure she will be a great "one gun Garand collection" for me. I've had several over the years, but this is the only one I own currently, and don't plan on buying any more.

Anyway, here are the pics I took during the cleaning ordeal!

DeWayne


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