Welcome to CSP GUN TALK
Welcome to CSP GUN TALK
The Question of the Stainless Steel Gas Cylinders by Dick Culver You may well ask, why is my M1 gas cylinder shiny? Well, that’s a good question. In large part (in my opinion), it depends on the vintage of the rifle. I’m treading on treacherous ground here so stick with me for a bit. Different experts have different opinions on this one, but here’s the way it shakes out for me. My first introduction to the blackened gas cylinder question came from reading Julian S. Hatcher’s "Book of the Garand" many years ago. Maj. Gen. Hatcher was intimately familiar with the production of the M1 Rifle, having been stationed at Springfield Armory at the onset of the design of our first semi-automatic rifle. He was closely associated with its development, production and testing from the onset. Both he and his brother (also an Army officer and a rifle designer) were stationed at Springfield Armory several times in their careers, and had many friends among both the workers and the hierarchy of those who ran the Armory. It was in fact, General Hatcher’s brother, Col. James L. Hatcher, who finally identified and solved the problem with the early M1 rear sight and designed the improved rear sight that finally became the T105E1 sight found on the M1, M14 and the M1A today. General Hatcher stated that aside from the illusive problems with the early version of the M1 rear sight, the biggest headache was blackening (and keeping black) the gas cylinder. While stainless steel rifles are all the rage in this day and time on the sporting fields, having your service rifle attract undue attention in combat (with bright shiny parts) is (and was) not conducive to your longevity. Since all U.S. service ammunition (with the sole exception of the .30 M1 Carbine) was of the corrosive type in the days prior to the early 1950s, it was decided to fabricate the M1 Gas Cylinder from stainless steel to prevent rusting and corrosion problems. The big question remained; what to do about the pesky, shiny gas cylinder? Today, there is a myriad of ways of chemically or mechanical "blacking" of stainless steel, but alas, ‘twas not so in the 1930s or mid-1940s. By the 1970s we were blacking the M40A1 Sniper Rifle with a steel receiver and a stainless barrel in the same chemical bath which produced a very serviceable (if somewhat washed out and ugly) finish. Springfield too, was to solve the finish for the gas cylinders during the post WWII production of the M1 (more on that later), but no true fix for the problem occurred during the war. How did they fix the problem? I will quote General Hatcher from his book, "Hatcher’s Book of the Garand" (as published in 1948): "The Gas Cylinder is made of stainless steel to prevent corrosion from the gases. It will therefore not take the usual Parkerizing, Penetrate, or other black finish generally used on gun parts. It is given a black color by painting it with a mixture of flat black paint and synthetic enamel thinner in the ratio of two ounces of thinner to one quart of paint. After the paint is applied, it is baked on at a temperature of from 300 to 350 degrees F. Other sources have reported (no doubt quite correctly) that they have run into possible experimental fixes to the problem. Scott Duff, one of the true authorities in the field, states in "The M1 Garand: World War II": "The gas cylinder, gas cylinder lock, and gas cylinder lock screw were manufactured from stainless steel, therefore it was not possible to apply a parkerized finish to these components. Gas Trap and early Gas Port type cylinders are often seen devoid of finish. From a combat perspective this is obviously unacceptable. Many methods of blackening stainless steel components were tried during the production history of the M1. A molten dichromate black coating was eventually found to be most durable. Winchester gas cylinders have been observed which were iron plated and blued. In addition, Winchester gas cylinders have been observed which appear to have been copper vapor plated and blackened." There were no doubt many "fixes" tried in an attempt to cure the problem including those listed in Scott’s great book on the M1. A personal analysis of the two Winchester fixes is as follows:
In my opinion, the first solution would not have worked well (yes, I know you can mask off portions of a part to be plated like the inside of the gas cylinder), but it would have been a relatively time consuming process in a day and time when the mass production of M1s was considered a driving necessity. The second solution would have worked (I think), but then I’ve never tried to copper plate stainless steel. I DO know that I had my bars copper plated and turned black (the Marines didn’t have the "subdued" bars available to the Army), but the extremely slick finish of the bars caused the finish to start to wear off in short order in Vietnam… perhaps if I had "bead blasted" the bars first, it might well have worked better? An article by Walt Kuleck and Clint McKee (both of whom I have the utmost respect for) in Fulton Armory’s "Frequently Asked Questions" URL: http://www.fulton-armory.com/CylCoat.htm is an interesting discourse on the blackening of the gas cylinders, locks and plugs using a liquid Sodium Dichromate (preferred) or Potassium Dichromate dip to produce a durable finish for the pesky stainless steel parts. If you go to the site, you will find the date under the photographs is 11 June 1957 (the M1 production ceased in May of that year). I have spoken to Walt, and he feels that the photographs date well prior to the date in the publication from which they were extracted, and he may well be correct. I do know that virtually none of the Post WWII gas cylinders had the finish problem(s) common to their WWII brothers. Based on my personal experiences, observations and, the timing of the articles chronicling the production and finishing of the M1 Garand, my opinion is as follows. I feel that the mil-spec finish for the gas cylinder, lock and plug during WWII was simply black paint! I base this on personal examination of original issue M1s (not having gone through the overhaul/rebuild process), and the fact that General Hatcher who was intimately involved with the M1 Rifle from its inception would almost certainly have been made aware of any fix to the finishing process for the stainless parts. He was a man concerned with meticulous details, and since he makes a point of the finish used on the M1 gas cylinders, he most surely would have checked his facts when preparing to write his book. I will list his ordnance assignments at the end of the article to establish his credentials as one intimately involved with the Garand throughout its design, fabrication, testing, production and deployment during WWII. Production essentially ceased on the M1 after October 1945 until the resumption of manufacture in 1952 for the Korean War. During this period, the Armory reverted to one of its primary peacetime functions, that of R&D. We know that General Hatcher retired after WWII, and wrote his book in 1948. It’s almost a certainty that the dichromate fix was in place by 1952. I was issued my first M1 in 1953 and virtually all of the rifles in my outfit had "bright" gas cylinders, but then most (if not all) of our rifles were of WWII vintage. Any rifles being "eyeballed" by Drill Instructors, tend to be scoured, disassembled, cleaned (constantly), taken to the showers for degreasing, "steel-wooled" and subjected to all sorts of other outrages to the finish, all in the name of personal survival by the individual Marine. Rifles issued at the Virginia Military Institute suffered a similar fate, but then they too were of WWII vintage. OCS rifles in the late 1950s began to show more finish on the gas cylinders, but not all. By the early 1960s (just prior to the issue of the M14 Rifle) the problem had begun to go away. I’ll grant you that my opinions and observations are more subjective than objective, but in retrospect they make tend to make sense, at least to this old Marine. I would dearly love to know the absolute truth, but much like the "fat person" who asks an acquaintance how they look, I might not like the answer I get. Unfortunately, most of those who were involved in the manufacturing and R & D of the M1 are long since retired or have gone to Valhalla. If any of you folks out there know someone who has personal knowledge of the "gas cylinder finishing truth", I would surely like to know. So there you have it. Black paint, or potassium dichromate? Were all of the WWII gas cylinders simply painted black, or was there a gradual phase-in of the dichromate process during the war? Was the dichromate process "R&Ded" between WWII and Korea and utilized only on Post WWII rifles, and new dichromated cylinders substituted on rebuilt rifles after the war? Who knows for sure? You now have all the facts as I know them, what’s your opinion?
General Hatcher’s Assignments during the saga of the M1 Garand through WWII:
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