So a question for you Garand guys.
After reading this topic, I took mine out today. I am having about 50 percent miss fires. These are my hand loads. Standard primers, 4895, Amax...the primers seem dented really well.
Maybe the primers where bad. Any ideas.
Numerous things.
How far are you setting the shoulder back when you size your cases? Do you know how much headspace you have? The reason I ask is that if you have a longish chamber and you set the shoulder back too far (I set a fired case back .002"), then you can have the case moving too far forward before it hits good solid metal and by then the firing pin has traveled as far as it's going to without enough inertia to get ignition.
Is the bolt clean? A Garand bolt is not hard to tear down and clean. Clean everything and light to no lube on the firing pin.
Are your primers fully seated? ESPECIALLY in an M1, you want flush primers for safety, and for consistent ignition reasons, firmly seated. Primers will show a small dent when the bolt slams home, that is a characteristic of a floating firing pin. ARs will do it, too.
The hammer spring could be weak.
Firing pin protrusion.
I would start by assuring I was not inducing too much room in the chamber by oversizing and that the primers were firmly seated in a clean primer pocket. Check headspace, measure fired cases and don't oversize. Then run mechanical possibilities down from there. You have the right idea with powder, etc, so it shouldn't be hard.
I hope you have good luck in running the problem down, those are very enjoyable rifles.
Edited to add:
Go to the CMP forum, and describe your issues. There are some really knowledgeable Garand mechanics on that site.
