Originally Posted by Whackywheels

Do you fire brand new ammo or older surplus? the Surp ammo is fine to shoot, I'm talking about firing new ammo. The modern smokeless powder just burns hotter than it used to and the older techniques for how the barrels were made just don't hold well to modern ammo chamber pressure. Personally I want my M1's to be handed down to the kids so I handload to ensure the rounds don't exceed chamber pressures. I also don't use surplus because I don't feel like dealing with the corrosive ammo every time I take it to the range. I also check headspace when I'm doing a deep clean/safety check as the older WW era M1's have an issue with headspace wear/throat erosion.

I will agree that an improperly reloaded round with improperly seated/budging primer will cause an out of battery explosion from the floating firing pin. It's far less likely if you know what you are doing that of an over-pressure round.

As I said before some people have the opinion that modern ammo is fine and I have my opinion. At the end of the day its your firearm so don't be surprised when you fire that 245th bullet that makes the chamber go crack from a 80+ year old gun.

I ended up getting a March 1943 Springfield. Original barrel, Re-armored once in May 1964. RWA Bolt is the only part that isn't matching but the WWII M1's it was common for them to change out parts in the field to make them more reliable.