So.....What have I actually got here with this Pre-War Springfield M-1 ??

I am aware this M1 was a competition rifle for many years.

It is in the 170,xxx range and that apparently asks questions right away.
The messed up serial number range from December 1940-January 1941 is interesting.

The rifle has been built by an armorer or two....or three over the years who really knew what they were doing!!
The rifle has it's interesting production date serial number as well as a second rifle/rack number assigned that is marked on a number of the parts as " 203 ".

The April 1947 ( S-A- 4-47 ) barrel is stunning....very tight at both points, and super bright.

The bolt is WRA and marked with the "rifle number" and the serial number.
The SA trigger group and the H+R op rod are also numbered.
I am aware the op rod was added at least 40 years ago and the NM front sight was added about 10 years ago.
The rear sight appears to be a stock unit by DRC but is very snug and crisp with a finer aperture opening than a regular stock battle sight.

The stock set is sealed with varnish and the front is unitized to the mid-band. There is bedding present.

Yes....it shoots awesome!!

So....here are the questions.

1/ More than one person suggested that a number of the rifles from this production time period were released to units for "familiarization" with the M1 Garand prior to the general deployment of the rifles and to have these units show the rank and file that the rifles were well made, accurate, easy to use, offered a lot more firepower than the '03, and was not a POS as a number of groups apparently maintained. ( who likes change? )
Is this story for real?

2/ It has also been put forward and I believe this myself from what I have read, that a group of 1947 SA service barrels were likely produced to what we could call match tolerances prior to the actual Factory NM program for the Garand which was 52/53?
I am not sure who they were made for, if in fact some of them were produced for a "program" in 1947?

It would be cool to speculate or confirm that this rifle could have been a quasi "trials" program rifle early in the receivers life.
It could also have been a Match, Competition Rifle for most of it's life?

Why would anyone keep a pre-war Garand in match service until the late '60's or early '70's with all the selection of "seasoned" receivers available post war and later in to the '50's?

Anyway...it's a very cool piece, shoots awesome, and it's a real testament to Mr. Garand!

Any comments are welcome.....positive, or negative!
Cheers Paul

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Nice low number, put together at some point unknown for match use or target. Could as easily been half military and then later touched up by civilian. All that is lost in time. Nice rifle...

It's a very nice looking rifle with a real mix history. It has been re-barreled at twice probably three times if it was an original gas trap receiver. The 1947 barrel is not unusual in that the US Ordnance rebuilt many M1 from WWII by replacing the barrel (corrosive priming of WWII ammo) and a newer designed rear sight. In these rebuild program little or attention paid to keeping the original parts together. If a Winchester bolt headspaced OK it works. At some point probably very much later the rifle looks to be stainless steel glass bedded which is Brownells product and assembled to later National Match standards. There are folks here that are better experts than I that can provide better details. I do know that the Air Guard members of my state marksmanship team had used M1 rifles in .30-06 that was upgraded from regular M1 by the State Armorer which looks very similiar to the M1 rifle pictured. Why no NM barrel, you ask? Very simple if the rifle shoot accurately with a regular barrel why change it?
Enjoy your M1 rifle that are great shooters!

Cheers
--fjruple

Nice looking rifle and not common to find in that serial number range. Post WW2 rebuild and maybe more during the years.

I have a pre war Springfield s/n 168576 which is very close to your serial number, mine still has the S-A 12-40 barrel. I bought this rifle many years ago and it still had the early single keystone spring on the round body follower rod. There were others from this time period that were also found with the single keystone spring too. Some restoration was done like finding a SA GHS stock and a few small parts but this rifle is still early. I have another in the 216K serial tooAttachment 97192Attachment 97193Attachment 97194Attachment 97195

Thanks Gents
It would appear that the blending of parts to achieve a recipe for success was the motivator here.
I can shoot decent triangles at 100m with my eyes, so kudos to the builders.