Calling M-1 Garand Experts!

[richyoung]

Long story short - I shot some Korean surplus ammo I had been assured was non-corrosive, ("Nobody made corrosive primers after WWII" - gun show seller), that turned out to have corrosive primers - head stamp "K A 7 3" in 8 round Garand clips. I did flush the barrel with aerosol "gun blast", ran a bronze brush up and down the bore twenty times with conventional gun cleaning solvent - (had some ammonia in it, I think), and then sprayed down the bore with Rem Oil. This was on the 4th of July - I didn't find out the ammo was corrrosive until today at noon, when I went home and frantically tore the arm down and started the deep cleaning process. (The barrel is being soaked with Sweet's 7.62 even as wwe speak...) I'll finish cleaning it when I get home - what I thought was rust in the bore grooves seems to have just been jacket fouling.

1. Hae I screwed up by not cleaning right away...or did my limited flush ans scrub + oil do enough to save my Garand?

2. The very outer perimeter of the tappet on the end of the op rod has a "frosted" look for a couple of 64ths. Is this anything to be conserned about?

Thanks in advance for the info...

 

[ocabj]

I hope you didn't put Sweets through the bore and left it in the barrel to soak while you're at work. You are not supposed to leave Sweets in a barrel for longer than 20 or so minutes because it will pit metal.

You should simply flush water warm water through the bore. Corrosive primers are corrosive because of the salts in the primer cup. Water will eliminate salt.

Remove the gas cylinder and wash it with warm water. Wipe down the gas port on barrel.

Dry up the parts completely. Then clean the barrel normally using your preferred solvent of choice (ie: Hoppes, Butch's, Montana Gold).

As far as the piston on the oprod, assuming the metal wasn't in that condition before, it's possible the corrosive salts have pitted the stainless steel. I'd clean the oprod, too.

 

[MechAg94]

Isn't what you described cleaning? Maybe not as thorough as some would like, but you did do some cleaning.

 

[jefnvk]

Chances are, unless this was a newly manufactured gun, it had seen corrosive ammo before in its life, and you didn't do much (if any) damage.

BTW, Korean KA is corrosive, PS is non-corrosive.

 

[George S.]

Some people use Windex with ammonia to do a quick cleaning after shooting corrosive ammo. I use it with the corrosive ammo when I shoot my Mosin-Nagants (91/30 and M38). Just shoot a strealof it down the bore and soak the face of the bolt. It would be a good idea to pull the trigger group and remove the metal from the stock as the ammonia could cause harm to the wood finish.

Using this or even hot water will break down the salts present from the primer (which is where the corrosive stuff really is) and that will work until you get home to do a "proper" cleaning. Outside of the Wolf 7.62x54R ammo, pretty much all milsurp stuff in that caliber is corrosive.

 

[Onmilo]

Windex or plain old dishsoap and water carried in a spray bottle does a fine job of cleaning the corosive salts from the bore.
Use a conventional bore cleaner with copper solvent and rewash the bore with the Windex or dishsoap/water to remove all the salts then lightly oil with Breakfree or any good oil.

I agree that Sweets can be far more destructive to rifling that corrosive salts if left in the bore for any length of time.

 

[Ed]

Couple of years ago I went to visit my inlaws in Memphis in the summer. Took my M1 and lots of KA ammo. I didn't realize it was corosive. We shot about 200 rnds that saturday and I put off cleaning until I got home monday. It was fine and the only reason I knew it was corrosive was I read about it 2 months later.

 

[richyoung]

1. Yes I left the Sweet's in the bore - directions on the label say to wet down the bore after shooting before driving home, and that it won't harm steel. (Perhaps my bore is chrome lined?) As it was, even the four hour soak didn't remove ALL of the copper fouling at the muzzle, but the rest of the bore cleaned up nice and shiny - no pits or corrosion observable.

2, I think my paranoid shot of "barrel blast" and quick brushing with hopps when I got in from the range that day may have saved my gun - other than a dark ring aoung the firing pin (sealant residue?) everything cleaned up fine, although the carbon on the gas cylinder plug and tappet was hard to remove.

3. Anybody have a diagram of how you are supposed to stow grease pots, cleaning rod, combo tool, chamber brush and patches in the butt?

4. Barrel date is in 1952 - I think I am the first person to shoot it after rebuild, and until now, I have only shot commercial ammo - usually Federal generic 150 gr. AFAIK, this is its first exposure to corrosive ammo.

 

[Commissar Gribb]

they fit in the buttstock like a puzzle- you gotta mess around with it to figure it out.

 

[Crosshair]

I just wet a wool brush with water, run it down the bore, pull it back up, wet it again, run it down again, repeat a few times, then dry the brush, then pass it down the bore again. Then I use a bore snake to clean the barrel.

 

[Onmilo]

Rods, loop, brush and pouch go in the top hole with the tab of the pouch extending out of the hole.
Short oiler/grease pot goes in lower hole first, then M1 combo tool M12, then the chamber brush.
Put folded patches on top of both holes to keep the stuff from from rattling and then fold the cleaning rod pouch tab over the hole..

M14 cleaning kit is basically the same in the top hole.

Bottom hole,
Long M14 combo tool goes in first with the chamber brush shoved into the back, then the short oiler/grease pot goes in and seal with a couple of patches.
I always put the oiler in with the grease facing the back of the trigger. HTH