Garand Receiver Servicable Life

[Shug]

I know my Garands will far outlast me, but I'm curious what on a receiver could be measured to determine what percent of serviceable life is left in it? Barrels have TE & ME measurements; is there something similar for receivers, like measuring how much hardened surface is left on the locking lugs?

Have any of you ever even seen a Garand receiver that was worn beyond economical repair?

Allen

[Orlando]

There was a actual arsenal tool to measure this but its rare and I have never seen one
You measure receiver stretch form the safety brigde to the face of the receiver, I dont know what those measuremenst are.
Tim would know better than me

[buckshot85]

I think I have read also that the op-rod track can get bagged out too.

[53M1Grnd]

A great question...I have been thinking about this as well. How would you determin the receiver was in spec when buying just a receiver?

[cuppednlocked]

I bought a SA racker several years ago that had to go back to the CMP. Among the problems, I was told the receiver was almost out of spec.

Canes checked the barrel index for me and when he put everything back together there was an obvious problem with the follower arm pin holes. The holes were off just enough that the pin needed some "help".

[jak]

I had one of the Danish rack grades. The op rod would come out of the track easily. A different op rod worked fine in the dane. The op rod from the dane worked fine in another rifle. I guess both the op rod tab and the receiver track were just worn enough that those two parts just couldn't work together.

[timshufflin]

There is a bridge tool but I would guess there might be one or two people who have one in the entire country. If you don't have one, you could simply get a caliper and measure but it is a semi complicated ordeal because of getting on the datum points.

After the stretch measurements, I'd shoot them till they don't shoot. As long as my oprod stays in the track and the heel isn't cracked, I'd shoot it. The follower pin holes not lining up I've seen a few times but is that due to wear? I sure wouldn't think so.

[Shug]

I wonder why the Army would measure receiver "stretch" using a bridge surface or edge as a datum rather than lug faces and some breech feature? When the rifle fires, wouldn't the vast majority of the tensile force on the receiver be between the breech threads and the locking lug area?

The reason I'm asking the question, as 53M1Grnd mentioned above, is to figure out a way to judge the value of a plain receiver to build a shooting rifle out of, rather than value as a collector piece. I'm thinking there is a point in a receiver's wear, fatigue, and material creep life where most stock bolts won't headspace, and most stock oprods will constantly leave the track. It's probably well over 100k rounds, but I'm just looking for datum points and the final no-go dimensions to measure that "life". I have the set of machine drawings put out by Nicholaus but those are for manufacturing, not measuring service exposure.

[Eli]

IIRC rated life of a USGI receiver was north of 400,000 rounds - that's over a quarter milion dollars in 7.62 at today's prices so replacing a $200 receiver, even if cut to a BM59 receiver for $500, isn't that big of a deal.
Replace the recoil springs regularly!

Eli

[MH53GUNNER]

The CMP has crates marked "Bad Receivers". I looked at several and other than some with heavy finish wear could not see why the unit was bad.
The next time I visit the CMP South I really need to get some detailed pictures of the issues. Never really gave this much thought.

Will not be making any visits until the current sales situation settles down and Field Grade rifles return to the stores.

Here is a picture of one of the crates mentioned.

866

[53M1Grnd]

It's like one giant puzzle. After seeing crates of receivers like this we are doing the same thing that happened during WWII. Rebuilding M1 Garands.
We are undoing what was done...We are putting them back together, matching parts and pieces to bring that M1 back to it's original state. You gotta love it...I'm hooked!