How to Evaluate an M1 Garand Rifle?

[Badger]

With all of these imported Garands from dealers about to flood the market, I thought that this was an excellent article for new prospective Garand buyers, published at Culver's Shooting Page:

How to Evaluate an M1 Garand Rifle (By Dick Culver)

Regards,
Badger

[sdh1911]

Dick Culver is the god father of the M1 Garand, bar none-SDH

[Badger]

Although posted in another thread about Garands, here's some things that may help any of you who decide to buy one of these newly imported M1 Garands.

M1 Garand Rifle

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY FIELD MANUAL
FM 23-5 for the U.S. Rifle, CALIBER .30, M1 (click here)

Short video on reloading M1 Garand (click here)

Also, posted in The Screening Room (click here).

M1 Garand (Stripping & Assembling) ... click here

Or... play it here now if you want.......

Mouse Click on the film strip thumbnail.



Regards,
Badger

[Westicle]

now just a question on these, I see elwwod epps has them listed but can;t find any info on marstar.

all the ellwood epps ones seem to be mismatched wood and or parts, how can a guy go about about and ensuring he gets a complete rifle with matching parts... and/or stock ?

[stoggie]

I'd say good luck finding a "matching" one. Matching original Garands are as common as matching original Nagants (IMO).

All of these imports are US refurbished garands in the 40's and 50's. Some even had birtch stocks from the 60's. All of them however, are proper USGI.

Only the receiver has a serial number, and only the barrel has a date. The other parts only had heat (factory batch) numbers on them. The receivers can be dated by serial number. Of all the ones I looked at, not even the barrel matched the receiver.

If you did find a "matching" barrel and receiver, you would need to strip the entire rifle and referance the heat numbers on the remaining parts to see if it is factory and date correct. The stock is a whole other deal, as you would need the proper stampings and variant to date them. (BTW, the US never serial numbered the stocks)

Matching Garands run about $2000+ in the us, and there are a lot of guys buying parts and making them matching. I even came across a site where a guy will add the proper markings to a stock to help you match a Garand. You really gotta know your stuff to make sure you're getting what you pay for. There are some great books out there that can help you with your quest.

[stoggie]

I thought I would post some links to help out, as these helped me:

Serial dates: M1 Garand Serial Numbers
All about stocks: http://www.trfindley.com/pgstkrest.html
Collecting: http://www.northcapepubs.com/m1gar.htm
FAQ's and How to's: How-To Guides for the M1 Garand

[Badger]

now just a question on these, I see elwwod epps has them listed but can;t find any info on marstar.

all the ellwood epps ones seem to be mismatched wood and or parts, how can a guy go about about and ensuring he gets a complete rifle with matching parts... and/or stock ?

Here's a lengthy previous thread on these imports that might help answer some of your questions.....

Personally, I think these rifles are over valued for their condition. I wouldn't buy one unless I could handle it, by either going to the dealer and doing a "hand select", or requesting a "return if not satisfied" inspection period.

Regards,
Badger

[sdh1911]

Back in the 1980's I was collecting U.S. Martial arms in a very big way (No kids, lots of money). I always bought my M1's under the assumption there is no such thing as a correct "issued, non-rebuilt" M1 Garand. I was and still do build them on occasion for collectors or shooters. As a matter of practice I mark them either on the left side or under the butt plate with my initials. This holds true with everything I build. In the Mid 1990's I started to number them with or without the date.

Back to the Garands, Un-less you personally took the gun home from the battlefield, consider them to at very best been back to the armory for a once over or at worse complete re-build. That being said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it dates the rifle to the point at which it was re-built, i.e. its part of the history of that specific rifle. I.M.H.O.-SDH