Looking for an M1 gunsmith

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Hey guys, I'm looking for a gunsmith that's familiar with the M1 Garand in or near VT. I purchased a 1943 Springfield with all SA parts and barrel this past February. The rifle appeared to be in spec and was told its previous owner got it from CMP years earlier. Its been out to the range 4-5 times without issue until the last outing. Noticed the op rod was binding and some accuracy issues. Long story short, was cleaning years of carbon from around the gas hole in the barrel this week when I noticed the barrel had come loose from the receiver. It appears the front sight will be canted left after hand tightening too. Its my understanding the M1 shouldn't do this and if it does it needs gunsmith attention. Any recommendations? Thanks.
 
Hey guys, I'm looking for a gunsmith that's familiar with the M1 Garand in or near VT. I purchased a 1943 Springfield with all SA parts and barrel this past February. The rifle appeared to be in spec and was told its previous owner got it from CMP years earlier. Its been out to the range 4-5 times without issue until the last outing. Noticed the op rod was binding and some accuracy issues. Long story short, was cleaning years of carbon from around the gas hole in the barrel this week when I noticed the barrel had come loose from the receiver. It appears the front sight will be canted left after hand tightening too. Its my understanding the M1 shouldn't do this and if it does it needs gunsmith attention. Any recommendations? Thanks.
Thats not good. Sounds like previous owner corrected a few rifles spinning on a SA barrel of the correct year maybe.
Look closely at the reciever make sure its not cracked. Bare minimum you will need a barrel shim.
Depending on how far past "center" your barrel torque to. Might be easier to install a new barrel if the receiver face is good.
So basically your barrel is over indexing. Sorry dont know anyone up that way.
 
To the naked eye my receiver looks good. I'm trying to figure out why the rifle shot well until the barrel came loose and now won't seat correctly. I'll see if I can get a couple pictures on here. I'll ask around the local shops if they have any suggestions.
 
To the naked eye my receiver looks good. I'm trying to figure out why the rifle shot well until the barrel came loose and now won't seat correctly. I'll see if I can get a couple pictures on here. I'll ask around the local shops if they have any suggestions.
well it was just snug enough to work for a bit, any loctite on the threads.
My buddy was shooting some great groups with his AR barrel loose? Strange things happen.
 
Ended up bringing it to a local shop. Looks like the barrel threads are out of tolerance. So the question is, new Criterion barrel or it keep it "original" with a several hundred dollar GI barrel off of GunBroker, or a ratty GI barrel for $50 from one of the surplus parts shops? The rest of the rifle is all 1940's SA parts, with non-original wood. In other words the rifle is a shooter, not a safe queen.
 
Ended up bringing it to a local shop. Looks like the barrel threads are out of tolerance. So the question is, new Criterion barrel or it keep it "original" with a several hundred dollar GI barrel off of GunBroker, or a ratty GI barrel for $50 from one of the surplus parts shops? The rest of the rifle is all 1940's SA parts, with non-original wood. In other words the rifle is a shooter, not a safe queen.
spin on a criterion , finish ream to nice close specs and enjoy.
Messing around with used barrels you can end up with same problem not indexing correctly, plus poor or out of spec headspace.
New barrel will index correctly and you finish ream for headspace to your bolt.
This is the time to go through the rifle and fix what needs fixing. Fresh springs through out and let it shoot!
 
spin on a criterion , finish ream to nice close specs and enjoy.
Messing around with used barrels you can end up with same problem not indexing correctly, plus poor or out of spec headspace.
New barrel will index correctly and you finish ream for headspace to your bolt.
This is the time to go through the rifle and fix what needs fixing. Fresh springs through out and let it shoot!

Ordered a Criterion and Wolff spring kit last night. Managed to find the barrel in stock surprisingly, got worried when I saw they were out of stock at Criterion.
 
Been awhile and I've got a lot to catch up on. Barrel was installed and it exposed some other issues my rifle had, mainly some cycling issues. Did some research and measuring to find my op rod was out of spec in almost every way possible. Several M1 groups recommend Columbus Machine in Columbus, OH for op rod repairs. Got in contact with them and sent my op rod to them. They did the full monty to my op rod replacing the piston tip, touching up the camming surfaces and even rebuilding a guide lug. All in all excellent work and well worth the money. Turn around was longer than they were expecting at about a month and a half but they were swamped with work. What better does everyone have to do right now than finish projects that have been sitting in the back of the closet you know? Any way, put some PPU M2 spec, Greek and Ethiopian ammo through it with zero issues. Before I'd have failures to extract and short stroking. I'm attaching several before and after pics.
 

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Been awhile and I've got a lot to catch up on. Barrel was installed and it exposed some other issues my rifle had, mainly some cycling issues. Did some research and measuring to find my op rod was out of spec in almost every way possible. Several M1 groups recommend Columbus Machine in Columbus, OH for op rod repairs. Got in contact with them and sent my op rod to them. They did the full monty to my op rod replacing the piston tip, touching up the camming surfaces and even rebuilding a guide lug. All in all excellent work and well worth the money. Turn around was longer than they were expecting at about a month and a half but they were swamped with work. What better does everyone have to do right now than finish projects that have been sitting in the back of the closet you know? Any way, put some PPU M2 spec, Greek and Ethiopian ammo through it with zero issues. Before I'd have failures to extract and short stroking. I'm attaching several before and after pics.

I'm curious why you'd get the op rod repaired vs buying a replacement? I'm guessing it was more expensive than a replacement.
 
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