Yet another thread about op rod springs or....?

[paid4c4]

I thought the current discussion regarding op rod springs was interesting. Other than terse words there is something to be learned. Tim brings up good points about rifle failures are often because several parts are out of spec and I think that op rod springs can't fix everything. So which does come first the chicken or the egg=before we look at the op rod spring I guess we should also look at the piston, gas cylinder, turns on the gas cylinder lock, ect. I was wondering how the rest of you piece rifles together. I generally inspect all the parts, mic the piston and cylinder and install a new spring and on old parts I use a complete spring set. I recently had a rifle failure after doing all of the above only to find the culprit to be a little rub between the op-rod and the bottom of the barrel. What's your findings.
Bill

[timshufflin]

Bill, I roll just like you sir.

[Schriv]

That's pretty much my mode of operation as well.
I just assume all springs to be bad/worn and replace them with new ones. I gauge the piston and cylinder, check head-space with the 'correct' bolt and go from there.
So far, I've only had one build that wouldn't head-space on the correct series bolt and I needed to put an NOS -2 in her to get it to run.

[jak]

When I get a rifle I completely disassemble, inspect, lube and reassemble the rifle without replacing any parts. Now if something is obviously worn or broken I will fix or replace that part. Then I will test fire the rifle and check for problems. The reason I don't replace springs right at the beginning is that I want to see how the rifle functions before I replace anything. This way I have a starting reference point. If I replace parts and spring even before I test fire the rifle and it has as issue then I don't know if I caused the problem or if the rifle came with the problem.

If it ain't broke........don't fix it.

[Orlando]

Every Garand gets a complete tear down clean, inspection, lube and new Op Rod spring then test fire

[timshufflin]

I need to recant on the spring bit. I rarely put in new springs on rifles unless the original is plainly out of spec. If a spring is in spec, it's used. On my own rifles, I only replace springs on my G's. When I replace springs on my shooter standard Garands I use Orion and Wolff. I have never found a difference between the way the two work,,, yet.

[timshufflin]

Oh, and on .308's I go for weak extractor springs rather then cutting them off.