New to M1 Grands and forum

[USMCNewdog]

Folks,

I recently bought my first M1 grand, and now own 5. I have found two SA M1s which are completely SA parts, except the back sight. I was wondering if this was an oddity?
I also ran across an HRA which is completely HRA except the bolt which is SA and a Winchester trigger group. Would this be worth more if the bolt and trigger group were HRA too?

I was originally buying this to shoot, but became interested in some collecting and turning over some for a profit to search for new guns. I guess I am at a loss has to what make one worth more than another. These are all CMP rifles with good barrels and throats. I understand this is alot more to this, but I am just looking for alittle guidance to get started.
thanks, Mike

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[dryheat]

You probably have a couple of nice service grade rifles. Thise are great shooters and look good in themselves. Then as you read and SEE more garands and talk with the owners you find that there are rifles that are interesting just because they are unique in some way. I actually collect and study the serial numbers of rifles. I like early serial numbers, those are the five and six digit numbers that are larger and really banged into the receiver. I like having the next to last number in a sequence. I have a rifle that is consecutive to another collectors. We have exchanged photos and data sheets. I have one of the last SA barrels that was ever made. I have one of the first HRA barrels that was ever made. There's a whole world of things that are cool about the Garand. And I'm a lightweight, some of these guys know and have seen just about everything and know things unique aboout garands that some of us haven't even thought of. So sometimes it's not what makes one rifle more valuable, it's what makes it valuable and worth more to you.

[USMCNewdog]

Very true about what is interesting to someone, maybe has I look at more I will have a better idea what is interesting. I thought it was interesting to have rifles that were all SA or almost all HRA. I also have an SA with a 47 barrell that is showing no signs of a rebuilt except maybe late WW2 because of the 1947 barrel.

I also have a six digit SA (7,6) that is a mix match but it is a CMP special that I just had to have due to it being WW2 along with the six digit serial number! Not because I needed a like new Garand!

I guess my concern is to sell something off that was actually something worth something more!

[LS6bob]

Newdog..............I don't post here much but I've been into this hobby for 10 years. There is a lot to learn with Garands and while there are plenty of books on the subject, trying to determine what a particular gun is worth is determined by how rare it is.

Problem is that most of the guns have no written history to follow. Other than the serial number, which will tell you when it was made, however where it went and where it was used is mostly pure speculation.

The CMP has established some grades (primarily Correct Grade or collector grade) which were sold when they became available. Almost all of them were produced by SA or HRA during the production run from 1952-1956. These can be documented with CMP paperwork however where they went and how they were used is mostly speculation, but most were returned from The Greek govenment.

Sorry...............I got side tracked

Most of us have been "restoring" our CMP garands. We get a mostly correct Service Grade and replace incorrect parts with the correct era parts and hope that now the gun is worth more money........ but that is not always the case.(at least not now) If you hold onto the gun for say, another 5 years, when CMP runs out of them, then the value may go up.

Your SA with the 47 barrel could have been part of the Post War (WWII) rebuild program (1946-1948 i believe) but it's difficult to tell if the stock has since been replaced (which usually had Arsenal cartouches showing the rebuild location). If it can't be proved it is just another Garand.

Your CMP special.......It's too earily to tell if they will increase in value. My guess is "NOT"....Reason? Collectors are into "Original Production"....

I hope I didn't bore you too death I just "scratched the surface" but this is a fun hobby............