# Help M1A won't eject



## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Hello all,
I know some of you have M1A/M14 experience and might be able to offer some help/ideas!

Rifle will not eject! I took bolt apart didn't see anything that stood out put bolt and rifle back together
and fired the rifle but once again would not eject. I have 2 pics of bolt hopefully someone here might see something?

Thanks in advance!


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Is it trying to or is it still in battery after firing???

Did you turn the gas off by accident???

That firing pin looks like it needs replacement also.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

SOCOM42 said:


> Is it trying to or is it still in battery after firing???
> 
> Did you turn the gas off by accident???


Rifle cycled till next round jammed into the spent round in barrel.

I dropped mag and cleared it and spent round in barrel easily came out.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

You are saying the bolt came back and stripped off the next round and pushed it into the back of a stuck case?


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

SOCOM42 said:


> You are saying the bolt came back and stripped off the next round and pushed it into the back of a stuck case?


Afirm


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

I think I just lucked out! My neighbor's father is in for the week and he is a gunsmith and apparently
an M-14 guru so I'll take rifle over to him and see what he says.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

With the chamber clear, put one round in the mag and let it feed in,

then pull the oprod back until the round clears the receiver and see what happens.


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## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

Maybe an extractor problem?


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

SOCOM42 said:


> With the chamber clear, put one round in the mag and let it feed in,
> 
> then pull the oprod back until the round clears the receiver and see what happens.


It's not extracting, round stayed in place as I pulled oprod all the way back. Something is going on with extractor.
I'm going to have neighbor look at the bolt. 
Thanks SOCOM and Redlion!


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

Sounds like a bad extractor from this end.

If it fired, . . . the op rod pushed back the bolt, . . . then stripped off a new cartridge, . . . tried to load it, . . . just about the only thing I can think of would be the extractor itself.

Looks like in the picture that all is well, . . . but you can't tell for sure in just a picture.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## hardcore (Jan 13, 2013)

both my m1a's wont eject steel case surplus ammo i have. they eject fine in bolt guns. ammo maybe?


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Without seeing it I would say the extract is either stuck in open position or the spring is broken allowing an override.

Extractor face looks OK to me.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Do you own a GI chamber brush?
Do you use it to clean the chamber every time you clean the rest of the rifle?


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

20 yr veteran of repairing M14, If you took the bolt apart, and using the bolt tool and it was difficult as crap to take apart and ejector hit the tip of your thumb/nail making it smart, it is not the ejector/spring. Maybe the extractor or a thin case rim that extractor is slipping off of. I would try a different brand of ammo for starters before going all haywire on the bolt. You did not say how you extracted the spent casing from the champer? Presumably with a cleaning rod, but was a slight tap required, or a forceful rap???? Dirty chamber??? also I already seen someone ask about the gas port. Even if the gas port was open, do you clean your rifle gas port up? or gas port down??? If you invert your rifle, cleaning solvent/bore cleaner will stay in the gas port and plug up the gas port like it was closed, maybe another issue to look into. Making dig back through 17 yrs of memories here on trouble shooting that weapon.. Gas port should always be the 1st thing to check. Also a weak recoil spring may not be fully putting the gun back into battery thus the extractor will not engage on the cartridge rim. Maybe just enough to lock the roller bolt, but not enough to engage the rim of the cartridge. Take your spring off the rod, stretch it out 6 inches and put it back together and cycle a few rds see what happens. Not much more that can go wrong.

crap memory laps here, extractor spring itself, take the bolt back apart, you can stretch that dinky little spring a bit with a pen knife, insert between a couple of coils and roll the knife to the side to stretch a few coils out, reassembly and try cycling a few rds.... ok, done 
this time


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Do you own a GI chamber brush?
> Do you use it to clean the chamber every time you clean the rest of the rifle?


Somehow when I read this, RPD, I got this image in my head of a poor skinny little bald headed 19 yr old, . . . sitting on the floor, . . . and a gunny sgt with his hands in the air, . . . "explaining" this to the young fellow.

Thanks for the chuckle.....................

May God bless,
Dwight


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Thanks everyone! Neighbor still has rifle his dad is a gunsmith and an M-14 guy he says. 

I haven't really shot this rifle all that much and no issues until last two times out. I do clean it each time gas up and use
an M10 kit. I was using Winchester white box 7.62X51 when these issues happened and I tried some Federal after that and same thing.
The round that wouldn't eject easily came out with just using my fingernail. I just don't have much experience with this rifle and don't want
to monkey anything up further. Really nice design I'd love to shoot an M-1 someday as I've always admired that rifle! 
Hopefully I'll catch neighbor in the am and see if his dad has an answer.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Yooper brings up a good point - if you are bore brushing with solvent, it can crud up the gas system.
I always disassemble the gas system as a part of routine cleaning. (The US Army trained me well on all facets of rifle cleaning)
If you do not have a combo tool, I believe a 3/8" box end wrench will fit the gas plug just right.

I would suggest that before you start taking apart the bolt, try the easy things first. Clean the chamber. Thoroughly clean the gas system.
Numrich can provide you with a butt stock cleaning kit, and a chamber brush.

Cleaning kit w/combo tool https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/548610
Chamber brush https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/79700


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

dwight55 said:


> Somehow when I read this, RPD, I got this image in my head of a poor skinny little bald headed 19 yr old, . . . sitting on the floor, . . . and a gunny sgt with his hands in the air, . . . "explaining" this to the young fellow.
> 
> Thanks for the chuckle.....................
> 
> ...


Complete with the cloth mat with an outline of each part of the rifle printed on it, and your rifle parts all in the correct place.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Complete with the cloth mat with an outline of each part of the rifle printed on it, and your rifle parts all in the correct place.


 I have one of those for the AR platform it comes in handy now and then. It nothing more than the correct parts name.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Smitty901 said:


> I have one of those for the AR platform it comes in handy now and then. It nothing more than the correct parts name.


Ohhhh, yeah! 
If you did not know the correct nomenclature of any part when asked by the Drill Sergeant, that was good for 20 pushups.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Ohhhh, yeah!
> If you did not know the correct nomenclature of any part when asked by the Drill Sergeant, that was good for 20 pushups.


 Yep and latter in life i dished out a fair number. It works.


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

ok, hows about an update on the rifle???? kinda wondering where the problem had arisen at. I know in my long winded response for trouble shooting the problem, I covered every option there was lol


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Nothing yet! I wasn't home yesterday and don't want to bother neighbors on Thanksgiving. Hopefully can catch them outside sometime today
if not will check with them tomorrow.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Neighbor put rifle in my garage he has access and note said all is well with it, yea! 
They took off hunting downstate. I probably did something bass ackward at some point?
One thing is certain I'm not taking that bolt apart again as it was a bugger to get back together
it took me 10 attempts and every ounce of my old finger strength. Gotta a good couple cases minimum payment
waiting. Thanks all!!!


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## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

Underwhelmed. Would really like to know what the problem was.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Don't forget to buy several ratcheting GI chamber brushes and use them.


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

SDF880 said:


> Neighbor put rifle in my garage he has access and note said all is well with it, yea!
> They took off hunting downstate. I probably did something bass ackward at some point?
> One thing is certain I'm not taking that bolt apart again as it was a bugger to get back together
> it took me 10 attempts and every ounce of my old finger strength. Gotta a good couple cases minimum payment
> waiting. Thanks all!!!


there is a small armorers vice to compressing that damb little spring so you can insert the extractor that hold the ejector spring in. The little cleaning kit tool works good for taking it apart and that is it.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Have you tried squirting it down with WD 40?


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

yooper_sjd said:


> there is a small armorers vice to compressing that damb little spring so you can insert the extractor that hold the ejector spring in. The little cleaning kit tool works good for taking it apart and that is it.


I think it is Midway that also sells an aluminum tool for working on the extractor on the M1A and the M1 Garand, . . . about 50 bucks.

If you have to do this a couple of times, . . . that 50 bucks seems like a REALLY good investment.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

bigwheel said:


> Have you tried squirting it down with WD 40?


I keep WD-40 a minimum of 75 feet from my firearms!


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

SDF880 said:


> I keep WD-40 a minimum of 75 feet from my firearms!


Absolutely.
WD-40 should never, ever be used on a firearm.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

You can chamber a spent 30-06 case and slide the bolt forward to compress the ejector/spring, then you can pop the extractor in/out.

This is a great video that show assembly/disassembly


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

The handle of the M10 cleaning rod is made to do the job.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

SOCOM42 said:


> The handle of the M10 cleaning rod is made to do the job.


Why did they change design on M14 tool so you have to remove the bolt to use the tool for extractor removal?


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Mad Trapper said:


> Why did they change design on M14 tool so you have to remove the bolt to use the tool for extractor removal?


They added two other functions to it which forced configuration change.

The ones added were,

ability to remove the gas plug and to use as a loading tool by pushing down on rounds in stripper clip.

It was used both with mag in rifle and with stripper adapter.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Bolt disassembly tools bottom three are USGI, can be used on both an M1 and M14.









Bottom one is for an M14, next up is for an M1 called an M!0 tool.

Third up is an armorer's tool, next is homemade for the same purpose

I just took these and the following ones to give you an idea of their usage,

they are in use here all the time while working on rifles.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Tools set up to remove extractor.

On the armorer's tool there is a button on the underside to push out the extractor once the ejector is set back..

Less than a minute in either direction.









Best to use the M10 with oprod installed to use it to depress the ejector.

Once extractor is depressed, just rotate the M10 to remove the extractor.

Oh yes the tool's blade needs to be inserted under the extractor.









The above tool is set up for and with an M14 bolt.

Once the ejector is depressed, it and the bolt are locked in place on the tool,

rotate tool and push button on bottom tool, ejector will come right out.

Same operation for either bolt, Piece of cake.

The lever has two pivot pin position for the difference in bolt length.

I keep them set different that I just pick one for bolt I am working on.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

SDF880 said:


> I keep WD-40 a minimum of 75 feet from my firearms!


Cant believe somebody has unkind words for the National Lubricant of Texas. How do you stand on duct tape for making stuff hold still? What about Velvetter cheese on a sandwich?


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I use WD-40 all the time for loosening rusted parts.

Great stuff for that.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

I use it for my hair clipper..poodle groomers and fans..hinges..guns..door locks etc. Hey I bought some silicone spray a while back and found it eats rubber up alive. Anybody else ever have that happen? Seems like it used to not do that.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I use and just did 5 minutes ago for cleaning a bore, quickie job.

The solvents in it do a good job within certain parameters,

fantastic for dissolving rust in joints like pliers, hindges and screw threads.

Using it on threaded pieces with an oxy/ acetylene torch works in half the time, even if it is burning in the process.

Works good after using Windex for displacing remaining moisture after washing out corrosive residue from AK's

I use it on the surface grinder's magnetic chuck and other surfaces,

don't really use it as a lube but as a machined surface preservative.

Have heavy duty lubes for machine ways, and special oils for spindles.

There are about 20 cans in storage for SHTF.

@bigwheel, was that the WD silicone spray?


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Yes..it was WD 40 brand. I use silicone grease on some swimming pool filter rubber o rings. Tried that stuff and seemed to work good till I figured out it was dissolving the things. Squirted it on the tracks of a sliding patio door and it started dissolving the rubber components in the track. Nasty stuff. Not a very good lubricant either. They should be sued.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I have a can of the WD silicone spray, have not used it, came with a regular can as a PROMO, 

have had no use for it, I will try on some latex sheeting.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Neighbor had the M1A for awhile and gave it back to me told me it now cycles just fine! He wouldn't tell me
what was done nor take any payment. He did tell me he put several mags thru it and showed me a video of it.
I finally got the rifle out a few weeks ago and put 4 mags thru it no problems what so ever! Happy camper again!


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## The Resister (Jul 24, 2013)

SOCOM42 said:


> I have a can of the WD silicone spray, have not used it, came with a regular can as a PROMO,
> 
> have had no use for it, I will try on some latex sheeting.


Not only is WD40 bad due to the fact that the residue gums up, but it kills primers too. Your weapon will work but when the firing pin strikes the primer - nothing. It happens.


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## The Resister (Jul 24, 2013)

SDF880 said:


> Neighbor had the M1A for awhile and gave it back to me told me it now cycles just fine! He wouldn't tell me
> what was done nor take any payment. He did tell me he put several mags thru it and showed me a video of it.
> I finally got the rifle out a few weeks ago and put 4 mags thru it no problems what so ever! Happy camper again!


If you are going to own an M1A, you *NEED* the following manual:

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Caliber-Operated-Service-Rifles/dp/B0006F5XOW?ref_=nav_signin&

When your rifle malfunctions, it has detailed steps to take, starting from the most likely cause all the way down to the least thing to look for and try. It's pricey, but if you're a prepper, you want to be able to do your own firearm repairs. This book is the best in my library on the M1 Garand, M14 and M1a rifles.


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

The Resister said:


> If you are going to own an M1A, you *NEED* the following manual:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Caliber-Operated-Service-Rifles/dp/B0006F5XOW?ref_=nav_signin&
> 
> When your rifle malfunctions, it has detailed steps to take, starting from the most likely cause all the way down to the least thing to look for and try. It's pricey, but if you're a prepper, you want to be able to do your own firearm repairs. This book is the best in my library on the M1 Garand, M14 and M1a rifles.


LMAO why buy it, I got it in a PDF file for free


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## The Resister (Jul 24, 2013)

yooper_sjd said:


> LMAO why buy it, I got it in a PDF file for free


I don't carry a computer into the field or leave laptops in the vehicle. Carry spare parts and fix firearms in the field. This prepper is a Luddite that don't trust technology.


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

The Resister said:


> I don't carry a computer into the field or leave laptops in the vehicle. Carry spare parts and fix firearms in the field. This prepper is a Luddite that don't trust technology.


it can also be printed out. but then again as mentioned in this old thread, I worked on, repaired, fired an M-14 for 20 yrs in the navy. Not just one each ship or command I was at had 30+ of them of which the gunners were responsible for. I really don't need a manual on this because more or less it is printed into my biological memory, as well as having it on digital.


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## The Resister (Jul 24, 2013)

yooper_sjd said:


> it can also be printed out. but then again as mentioned in this old thread, I worked on, repaired, fired an M-14 for 20 yrs in the navy. Not just one each ship or command I was at had 30+ of them of which the gunners were responsible for. I really don't need a manual on this because more or less it is printed into my biological memory, as well as having it on digital.


I never had such a luxury as being surrounded by that many of them at a time. The most I ever owned at once were three. Keep the maintenance up on the M1a, feed it good ammo, and it will hardly ever break down on you. The manual I've recommended is probably around 500 pages long with a lot of decent pictures.


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