I was shooting handloads in my M-1 a few years ago. When I stripped it to clean it I noticed that the operating rod was bent. I made a comment in my reloading notebook saying that such and such load bent the operating rod.
They are supposed to be bent.
Glad I didn't try to straighten it. I actually did think about trying to do it. It would have broken.
That operating rod is bent just a little bit. It must have been hard to figure out just how much it should be bent to make the gun function correctly.
Garand parts don't wear much and they are reliable. I guess they can break here and there but mine hasn't. They are a kick in the pants to shoot. Reload with a 150 grain bullet at about 2800 fps. That will mimic the military round, which is what it's made for. I've read that it's not right to shoot modern +P rounds and I don't do it. But a 150 grain 30 caliber bullet clipping along at 2800 fps or so is no toy.
Get some old boots that don't fit, put a tin pot on your head and a 65 lb pack on your back, tie a shovel to your hip and walk around the hills with your Garand and you'll experience what our GI's did. Then sleep in a hole in the ground and have someone wake you up every four hours. If it rains, stay out there. Eat crackers smeared with Devil's Ham for a few days. Don't bathe. Ah, yes, the life of an infantryman. It's a holliday.
