View Full Version : Could cry a river. When guns go boom.
Limited GM
07-17-2011, 16:52
My son has shown an interst lately in some WW2 stuff I have. He wanted to try out my Garand so we headed to the range. Everyone has that one favorite rifle they have, for me its the Garand. Lotta history on how I got it and it would never have been for sale.
Well we get to the range and I shoot two clips through it getting the sights perfect at 100yds. I was getting 1.5-2" groups and was feeling pretty peachy. I met another shooter there and he wanted to shoot it off hand. No worries, I've never been a greedy owner and let him bang away. About the 7th rd I thought I saw some smoke. He fired the 8th and I was sure of it. He hands it to me, not realizing anything had happened. I wanted to puke, but was glad no one got hurt. I've shot probably 600-800 rds and never had a problem.
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SA Friday
07-17-2011, 17:01
Case head separation and obvious damage to the stock and bolt lever, but did it do anything else? Is it parts replacement to get it to shoot again, or is it toast?
Limited GM
07-17-2011, 17:41
Nah, its fixable best I can tell. Just was really pleased with the wood that was on it. It all matched real well and wasn't dinged to death. A buddy swears it had to of been fielded by a gay cook.
sneakerd
07-17-2011, 19:20
Obviously have it checked out by a smith, but the rec'r is prob fine.
Ouch!
Garands are tough,I had that happen with greek ammo
nearly shat myself!!(piddled a bit though!)
Had it checked out by a reputable smith who was a Garand armorer back in the day-headspace was ok,receiver was fine,op rod was tweaked up a bit-replaced that ,and the stock cracked,sadly it was a nice cartouched one but i found a replacement at Numrich arms for a decent price that was nicer
The sad part was i just bought the greek ammo,after that i gave the ammo to a freind who pulled the bullets,kept the powder and trashed the cases-he said they were out of spec,skinny in spots were others were thicker
I vowed never to get greek ammo again-oh and they were dated 58
Im glad nobody got hurt,stocks can be replaced,faces are kinda harder to fix
Was this Greek ammo HXP from the CMP? If so, did you post over there to let people know or get their thoughts?
Is Greek and HXP the same stuff?
That's concerning as I've bought a fair amount of HXP and I'd sure hate to have that happen to my Springfield '44, my son is it's primary shooter.
I don't get to the CMP site often but I've never read about other issues/dangerous conditions with HXP on their forum.
Robb
Was this Greek ammo HXP from the CMP? If so, did you post over there to let people know or get their thoughts?
Is Greek and HXP the same stuff?
That's concerning as I've bought a fair amount of HXP and I'd sure hate to have that happen to my Springfield '44, my son is it's primary shooter.
I don't get to the CMP site often but I've never read about other issues/dangerous conditions with HXP on their forum.
Robb
No Robb it wasnt from the CMP,but I allways thought the headstamp was OJP? I diddn't think at the time to post,well at that time there was realy no internet per say.
I picked up a can from one of the gunshows around here,so its hard to say where it actualy came from-distributor wise.
Now that i think about it it could have been poorly reloaded ammo just stuffed back in the original box and can.I never realy looked to see if the primers were crimped military style.
I do know for a fact that they were Greek by what my buddy was telling me.
I'd have to check my ammo box of shame to see what the headstamp is
(I keep a box with all the odd failures and such as reference)
Hey GM, I have stock seating in my garage, people say it's Garand, but I'm not sure though. I can snap a few pics, and if you want it - you can have it for free. Lmk.
You should probably have the headspace checked. I have some GO and NOGO gauges. You could swing by and check her out and make sure she is good to go. I live in Windsor so I'm not to far.....
Was this Greek ammo HXP from the CMP? If so, did you post over there to let people know or get their thoughts?
Is Greek and HXP the same stuff?
That's concerning as I've bought a fair amount of HXP and I'd sure hate to have that happen to my Springfield '44, my son is it's primary shooter.
I don't get to the CMP site often but I've never read about other issues/dangerous conditions with HXP on their forum.
Robb
Greek has the HXP headstamp and it is excellent ammo. I haven't heard any problems with the Greek. In fact garand matches still issue out the Greek ammo.
Good to know, and thanks for clearing that up.
Also, hit the CMP forum for a stock, you'll either find one there or find a lead for one. Look long enough and you'll find a correct one for your rifle. Probably a little pricy but always a nice thing to have IMO.
Robb
Greek has the HXP headstamp and it is excellent ammo. I haven't heard any problems with the Greek. In fact garand matches still issue out the Greek ammo.
I still haven't poked thru my box of saved ammo to confirm the headstamp
But after reading and doing some research i realy think the lot i had was poorly realoaded ammo-I've yet come across any bad reports about the Greek ammo
Thanks for the info bryjcom-it reinstalls some faith in the Greek ammo and i wont shy away from it the next time i see some
Oh and if your looking for a stock-try pming jreifsch80,I gave him a decent garand stock (i think it had the metal as well) last year when I was out there on my vacation-You might be able to trade him something for it
Shes no prize winner but its a decent stock
Limited GM
07-20-2011, 21:14
UPDATED INFO: You guys may find some valuable info here. I'd hate to see this happen to anyone else.
http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=49913
Just an update guys
I finaly found a round that I saved from my bad batch-I guess I tossed the one that fubared my rifle.
Anyways after cleaning it up some and reinspecting the headstamp its OJP 57.
And after some search I found it to be Austrian.Lots of complaints about it on the boards.
So my guess is that somebody repacked it in Greek boxes just to pass it off,and I was a sucker to get some[Bang]
Lesson learned and mystery solved
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