M1 garand op rod handle position?

[My Toy]

I have several service grade M1 rifles that I got from CMP in the early 2000's which I completely disassembled, cleaned, gauged many of their parts, checked headspace, refinished stocks, etc., etc. All are great shooters. I had one that sat in my safe for 15 years and I finally got around to "putting it in to service". It happens to be an IHC. Took it to the range and it's accuracy wasn't up to that of my other rifles. Two things I noticed that are different than on my other rifles: 1. The op rod handle (incidentally a IHC op rod) when in battery is canted slightly up (see attached pics). 2. The op rod actually rubs the cut out in the rear handguard. When the op rod is locked back it is pointed straight out from the receiver (see attached pic).
I have a SA op rod which gauges OK and tried it on this rifle. See attached pics.
The SA op rod on this rifle looks a little more normal.
I checked both rods for binding at the front handguard, lower band and stock ferrule. Both were OK. Both rods pasted the tilt test (even with the IHC op rod rubbing the rear handguard).
I haven't had a chance to get to the range to check the rifle's accuracy with the SA op rod.
In the experience of knowledgeable garand aficionados -Do you think the canted IHC op rod is an issue in itself? If not an issue I guess clearancing the cut out in the rear handguard would be in order. Or just go with the SA op rod although I'd really like to use the IHC op rod with the IHC receiver.
I know this is kind of long but any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Orlando]

I would guess Op rod is bent out of spec and maybe tab is undersized

 

[My Toy]

I would guess Op rod is bent out of spec and maybe tab is undersized

Actually the tabs on both op rod are within specs; I'm guess the rod may be bent out of spec but I have no way of measuring that. I guess my question is - if the IHC rod is "out of spec" is it enough to adversely effect the performance of a non-match grade rifle.

 

[ken792]

Op rods were bent by hand, so they can be in a wide range of bends. It's most apparent when fitting a stock to eliminate op rod drag. A stock fitted for one op rod might still have drag with another. A friend of mine noticed that with HRA op rods after fitting stocks with WRA and SA op rods. I wouldn't worry about it. If you're worried, you can always send them off to Columbia Machine Works to have them gauge and bend it.

Also, the barrels are not always timed perfectly, meaning they might be torqued a bit too far or too little. Because the gas tube sits on the barrel splines, a mis-torqued barrel will twist the op rod in the same direction too.

 

[good guy 176]

Not a factor. As long as the bolt goes into battery and the rifle fires and recycles as it should, I see no reason to fool with the op rod. Gun accuracy is affected by many other reasons. Safety has to be your major concern.

Lew--Ranger63

 

[Melnic]

When you close up the trigger group, are they both tight to latch and unlatch?
Tight is good I've been told. One of my Garand lacht up is not tight, not as good as the other but the barrel is older and so is the stock.
It is still a good shooter.

 

[dist1646]

You could take it to Charlie Maloney for inspection. He will be able to tell if there are any issues to be concerned with and can correct them if needed.

 

[Orlando]

Op rods were bent by hand, so they can be in a wide range of bends. .

Op Rods were put into a jig to check for specs

 

[ken792]

Op Rods were put into a jig to check for specs

But bent by hand and could be in a range within the spec.

 

[msinc]

....Also, the barrels are not always timed perfectly, meaning they might be torqued a bit too far or too little. Because the gas tube sits on the barrel splines, a miss-torqued barrel will twist the op rod in the same direction too.

This is a strong possibility...a simple way to check this is to have a buddy help you. Use two ordinary but straight along the edges yard sticks. Lay one across the rear sight wings {guards} and the other across the front sight guards, both stood up on edge. Have your buddy help hold/balance the one at the front sight and you hold the other at the rear. Now bend down and look across the edges of the yard sticks out near the ends. They may not be exactly on the same plane but they should both be level to each other. The length of the sticks help show up very slight miss alignment, which is all it takes to affect everything else.
There are a lot of things that will cause this issue...another is a gunched up op rod catch, or the part of the op rod that the catch grabs.