FWIW: When loading singly (M1) I release the bolt from the half-closed position. (M1A - always from the magazine)
I agree 100% with this. I don't remember the Army manual, but it had a section on how to single load the Garand, and the Army must have had enough slamfires in the things, even after the firing pin had been lightened, that the guidance was to lower the bolt to about here, and then let go.
Incidentally, that was the first 100-9X I shot in small bore prone competition at 100 yards. Now I have a couple fo 100-10X's, just bragging.
Based on posts I have read, it is important to get your hand out of the way when the bolt goes into battery. More than one person has had the operating rod slice through their palm when a Garand discharged. My recollection is that I have read posts where the mechanism fired when someone bumped the operating rod closed. It is better and safer to lower the Garand bolt about half away and get the hand out of there as the bolt closes.
Primers are not 100% predictable. You should not trust primers fully as the things may go off. Yes, it is rare, but you don't want to be the one in 100 million who had one go off, either in battery, or out of battery, as the bolt closed.
I would never have thought these incidents could have happened, but they did:
Primer goes off in a Purse!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...ide-woman-purse-shoots-her-leg-232052308.html
By Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News | The Sideshow – Tue, Jun 12, 2012
A Pennsylvania woman was shot in the leg while shopping at a local department store on Tuesday. But in a nearly unbelievable twist, no gun was involved. Apparently, the woman was carrying the bullet in her purse, when it mysteriously exploded.
"She did not have a gun in her purse or on her," Montoursville Deputy Police Chief Jason Bentley told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Bentley said the woman, whose name has not been released to the public, "was not aware" she was carrying two or three bullets inside her purse at the time of the accident.
The 56-year-old woman was taken to a local hospital and was eventually discharged. In fact, the woman initially declined medical treatment, only heading to the Williamsport Regional Medical Center after her son reportedly encouraged her to do so.
"Something must of hit the primer of one of the bullets," Bentley said. "The bullet stayed in the purse, but its casing put a hole in the purse and caused a minor leg wound."
Bullets exploding outside of a gun are a rare occurrence but are not entirely unprecedented. In March, a bullet being used as evidence in a court case exploded in a bag and shot 20 feet across a courtroom. No one was hurt in the incident. It was surmised that the bullet exploded after its tip bounced against another bullet tip in the same evidence bag, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
Mil spec primers are on the average, less sensitive, but primers vary in sensitivity by the lot. They vary considerably. So while the average mil spec primer is less sensitive, that does not mean there is not some super sensitive primer in the batch. You should not fully trust them. This is an example. This shooter used CCI #34's, wrote that he individually examined each primer to verify that they were below the case head, but the rifle slamfired out of battery when he put a round in the chamber and dropped the bolt. Later he wrote the cases had been improperly sized.
Just two weeks ago I was sizing LC 308 brass I had fired in my M1a. I took the ole thunderstick to a local 100 yard match. The weather was 65 F, couldn't stay home when the weather in Dec is 65 F. I was sizing my brass and as I checked the first couple out of the die, I noticed the shoulder was not being set back. It turned out the turret screw on my Redding T-7 had backed out a turn or two, raising the turret up. So things like this happen, being careful and using gages revealed that something anomalous had happened. Maybe the guy whose M1a slamfired out of battery had the sizing die unscrew a turn or two and did not notice. You have to pay attention to these things when loading for these gas guns. At best, all you get is a mal function, at worst, the receiver heel comes off in your fore head.
It is my opinion that these extra considerations are not written about in the popular print press is due to several factors. The first, and primary, is that gun writers are shills for the industry. They don't want to scare anyone away from any manufacturer's product. So how do you warn of a inherent design flaw in Garand actions without scaring everyone? And, how do they warn reloaders about primer sensitivity compatibility without "un friending" the brands that are most sensitive. Truth has both winners and losers, but in their game, it has to be "win-win".
Another reason is that gunwriters are no longer competitive shooters. At least one is, he shoots BPCR. Anyone shooting NRA highpower long enough will hear, if not see slamfires and learn in time about the peculiarities about reloading for these rifles. There was a time when gunwriters regularly went to Camp Perry and shot in the matches, but now, these guys are primarily desk jockies, ex Cops, or game hunters.
