M1 question - extractor spring bent

[dwarven1]

I decided to strip my M1 down tonight to give her a good cleaning after the workout she got this weekend. When I pulled the extractor & spring assembly out, I noticed a decided kink in the spring about a centimeter from the end.

Should I be worried about this? I don't see anything like that in the picture in the CMP manual that I got with the rifle.

Certainly she shot perfectly this weekend - I think that the M1A guys were about to chew through the wooden shooting benches behind us, they had so many malfunctions. But my M1 just kept shooting away - I think I understand Patton's comment better now.

 

[Joe R.]

Get another spring and have it ready for when it decides to go. If the rifle was functioning fine, it should be okay. Replace it if you want to for piece of mind if you don't want to wait for breakage.

I don't know if you do but you should get a few spare parts for the workhorse.
Your list should be:

1) firing pins
2) op-rod spring
3) bolt parts - extractor, ejector and the springs ( some people have a spare bolt headspaced for this purpose.)
4) clip latch spring

This is the minimum and are still easy to get. There is a guy down on Long Island that has this stuff at decent prices. There are 2 guys that show up at our gunshows here and can help out too.

Joe R.