[winchester]

I just bought my first M1. A National Ordinance. Not a GI, I know, but I thought I was getting a good deal on a shooter.

I brought it home, and loaded the clip. Fired two times. The third round got jammed. Cleared it, tried to load the fourth, it jammed. So I'm thinking the chamber's fouled. If only it were that easy.

It appears that the cylinder portion of the brass from the second shot is jammed inside the chamber, and the end of it blew off. Either that, or there's a brass insert in there (don't think so).
See pic.

How do I get this out? What type of tool is needed?

I tried stripping down to get to the problem, but I got to the point where I couldn't figure out how to get the barrel off the receiver.

Why did this happen? Was it a problem with the gun? Or a problem with the ammo?

Any help, please.
John

[AJS]

I had the similar problem with an M-1 Winchester. The only difference was with mine more of the case was stuck in the chamber. I used a broken shell extractor from Brownell's to remove it. The problem was there was a new, aftermarket barrel on the carbine and there were burrs inside the chamber. I can't say if it was the proper solution (maybe it was a stupid thing to do) but I put some buffing compound on a chamber mop, dropped it into the chamber, screwed a cleaning rod onto it through the muzzle (bore guide used) and attached it to a drill. Ran it on low speed for a few minutes and then cleaned the chamber (and barrel throughly. Solved the problem in this case and it's now a very reliable and accurate shooter. All the best and good luck.

[jarcp]

Here's what may work, try very gently filing it with a needle file. I'd think a triangle shaped one would work best. If you'll cut a small slice out it should be enough for the brass to spring smaller than the chamber and you can remove it. I like AJS's idea of the drill thing, I'd use clover compound (you can find it at car parts places, it's used for refinishing cranks) I'd go with "A" or finer grit.

[winchester]

OK. I got the brass out. This was the hard part, and where I made my newbie mistake.

I did something that I later found out I shouldn't have - I removed the barrel from the receiver. Since then I have been told that was a big no-no (quote: "That was dumb.")

I understand the reasoning - that the threads on the barrel are "crush threads." What I'd like to know now is what exactly this is going to do to the gun. I have reassembled everything, ( and used rubbing compound as suggested above) and it seems to be functioning properly, although I haven't tried any targeting yet .

Is the gun going to explode on me or something? Does it throw the barrel or sights off? Everything seems lined up okay, but again, I haven't tried any targeting.

Thanks.

[AJS]

Winchester, I'd take it to a gunsmith you trust and have him/her check the headspace for starters. While if you were careful in removing the barrel you shouldn't have any problems, as you said the threads are crush threads and they may be damaged. I did the same thing and ended up having to buy a new barrel. Of course I wasn't all that careful removing the barrel. It's a learning process my good man and we all make mistakes. Hope it works out for you. All the best.

[ltcboy]

I would dump the gun. Sell it as is and get a new one.

[winchester]

Itcboy -

Why?

[ltcboy]

I would return it-- he bought it new and whomever sold it to him should stand behind they sell. They should be the ones to repair it or pay for the repairs. All he did was load a clip into a rifle that he bought, and the rifle was faulty. Thats what I mean by dumping the rifle. Dump it back on whoever he bought it from. It's their problem-- not his. Even though this is going to be difficult to do now that he took the barrel off. I would send the whole thing back.

[Calvin]

At this stage, it's Winchester who would have to prove the rifle was messed up when he bought it. After taking off the barrel, that will make it just that much harder. I would just keep it, and have it rebarreled. Chalk it up as a lesson learned, and keep on plugging along.

[winchester]

Another shell exploded as happened before - this time with brand new ammo.

I agree with you about returning the gun. The problem is, I bought it at a PRO show from another attendee. I don't have any way of finding him.

After the second shell blew up, I showed it to an M1 expert a friend knows. He wasn't concerned about the reassembly of the barrel. I'd been very careful when removing it. The root cause of all my problems is actually the receiver. There's been a bit of machining done to it, and even the expert didn't know why it would have been done. The bolt is loose because of these modifications, and causes an unusually high amount of head space. You can't see all of it in the picture, but notice the small groove cut near the back of the left side of where the bolt engages. It's even worse on the right side (not visible).

The expert told me that it was unlikely that even he would have noticed this if he had bought the gun (although he wouldn't have bought a Nat'l Ord.) He suggested I take it to another show and dump it off on somebody else. Unfortunately, my conscience won't let me do this - somebody could get hurt firing this gun. I will either have someone do some welding, and try to stone it down to the correct specs, or find a new receiver.

Speaking of receivers, anybody have one they want to sell? I'd prefer a GI this time, but the actual maker isn't that critical. There's an interesting medley of parts on this gun : Winchester barrel, Springfield armory M2 stock, an Inland barrel band and M2 slide, a Saginaw trigger group assembly, actual trigger is Rockola. All of these are in excellent condition (many compliments on the stock). There's some markings underneath the rear sight that may indicate that the receiver might have been made by someone else, and Nat'l Ordinance restamped it. I'll have to remove the sight to see what exactly it says (it this hard to do?). It has an M2 magazine catch, and I don't understand what the difference is.

The positive side to all this- I've learned alot about M1's that I wouldn't have learned if the thing worked right to begin with. Oh well - live and learn.

[LOBO]

Try Riverbank Armory. You will need a FFL to get it though but here is the link.


http://home.att.net/~ra-carbines/



Also the M2 magazine catch is needed to reliably use the 30 round magazines.