So, I came across this beautifully preserved 1943 M1 Garand a while back. Has it's original barrel in Immaculate condition and everything else is pretty much the same. If the other parts are not original, they are at least very correct. As with everything I collect, I feel that shooting it a little, once in a while won't hurt it. So here's what happened... I went to a public outdoor range for the first time with a friend that goes there often. I wanted to take my shooter Garand and shoot on the 100 yd range. I brought 3 boxes of M2 ball to put through it. As I was packing my stuff for the trip out, I picked up this Garand and figured I would take it and run one full en-bloc through it to see how it does. All I've ever done with it before was run 3 rds. through it to make sure it functioned, and then it just sat in the safe until now. I can usually pick off a clay pigeon at a 100 yards with about 3 rds. average with my shooter. They are pretty hard to see with these old eyes now. I set out about 20 of them and walk back and pull my shooter out of my rifle bag and oops.. that's not the shooter. Oh well, I can get this out of the way and get on with the fun afterwards. I loaded her up and settled in on the bench and squeezed the triggBOOM. WOW, that pull was short compared to my shooter. My buddy exclaims "You dusted that one!" What? I hadn't even fine tuned the sights yet. Gotta be a fluke. I settled in for the next shot, ready for the trigger this time, BOOM - dusted again. 6 more booms and 6 more busted clays. I was not ready for that, but without thinking, the next, and the next clips went in, and out of the first 20 shots,19 resulted in a break. I wound up putting all of that M2 ball through this rifle and none through the shooter. Should I use this as my new shooter, or put it back in the safe and keep it tucked away? Either way I will continually second guess myself if I don't receive clear direction one way or another.
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