"Loose" / Easy to Remove Op Rod

All - As I was cleaning one of my M1s I noticed something odd. When I began to remove the Op Rod, and raised it to lift and rotate over the receiver "legs" (not sure if that is the correct term) so I could slide it out, it seemed very, very easy to do so: much easier to do so than any of my other M1s. This is a rifle I have not had out in 10 years or more, so if I noticed it before or if there was a problem in operation (such as the I had forgotten by now. I don't remember if there was any problem when I shot it last with function and/or with the Op Rod dismounting from the rails / bolt.

Questions:

(1) Is this "normal" or is it indicative of a possible problem?

(2) If indicative of a possible problem, what would that be? Worn tab? slight bent Op Rod? Gas Cylinder out of spec? Other?

Thanks for your help.

JGW

If it stays in the track when firing I wouldn't worry about it. Most often the culprit is a worn tab. If need be Tim can rebuild it. An easy test that can be done at home is to pull back on the charging handle while lifting it slightly. If the tab is really worn the rod will dismount.

Punch, thank you. I'll try that this evening. I'll take my calibers and measure the tab also to see it is in spec.

JGW

I buy a lot of oprods and used to buy a bunch of CMP rifles. I think I may have received one rifle that had an oprod in actual spec, MAYBE. They all ran though.

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Originally Posted by JGW

I'll take my calibers and measure the tab

JGW

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What caliber is the tab?? Just curious.
Jon

Don't worry about the tab measurements, if it cycles and does not dismount you are good to go

Musketjohn - Don't get jealous, but its in the now nationally popular (among "journalists") .9mm, or possibly .45mm? I'll have to double check. I should probably get it re-chambered to 30=06, as it is really hard to see those .9mm and .45mm bullet holes at 100 yards! (tongue in cheek).

I would normally want to fix the typo, but then your post and this post would not make sense, and it's a good lesson for me to proof read!

JGW

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JGW

Musketjohn - Don't get jealous, but its in the now nationally popular (among "journalists") .9mm, or possibly .45mm?

JGW

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Wow. That 45 mm bore is some hole.
Jon

If the problem with this op rod is that it is bent a little (so that it comes out of its channel easily), and/or that the tab is worn, are both of these things that Tim can fix for less than just buying a new op rod? It seems a good op rod runs in the $140-$180 range.

JGW

Tim does that repair all the time. Contact him.