The hardest part of assembly is over and now it is time to replace the Operating Rod Spring. As noted before always wear some sort of eye protection when working on an M1.

Before putting the Operating Spring in reattach the Follower Rod. Many of the M1 Springs the springs are 'necked down' on one end. This is the end that we thread the Follower Rod into.

Push the spring up as far as it will go - to the raised nubs on the follower rod.

Take a few minutes to very lightly oil the spring to help keep corrosion down. Also oil the Follower Rod Except for the 'fork' end.

When the parts are lubricated insert the spring into the Operating Rod. The end of the spring without the Follower Rod goes in first of course.

When the spring is in as far as it will go easily, grab hold of the Follower Rod and compress the spring as far as it needs to be so that you can thread the Follower Rod through the front of the Operating Rod Catch and the Bullet Guide.

In order to hook the Follower Rod to the Follower Arm, lift the tail end of the Follower Arm with one hand while guiding the Follower Rod with the other until you can fasten the 'forks' of the follower rod around the posts on the Follower Arm.

When you have everything hooked up slowly release pressure on the Follower Rod and make sure that everything remains stable.

That completes the assembly of the Feed Assembly, but since this is usually the last assembly that needs to be put together before we reassemble the rifle in total, take a few moments to grease the trigger group. Any surface that cams or comes into contact with any other sliding metal surface gets a little coating (with the absolute exception of the trigger and sear which never get any lubrication whatsoever).