rare m1 garand - international springfield

[xroads]

i need to share this with you. several months ago, a member of our gun club asked me to look at his garand, as he had just purchased it and wanted me to chk it out. this garand looked really nice at first glance. i asked to take it apart, and he said "sure". while taking it out of the stock, i noticed that the legs on the reciever were marked "ihc", while the back of the receiver was marked "springfield". looking closer revealed a really nice "rewelded", demilled receiver. he was advised to get a new receiver. a couple of weeks ago, he returned to have his "new" receiver put on. when i chk'd the bbl, (throat and muzzle good, but no notch for the pin holding the bbl band),i noticed that it had only two grooves. this rifle had the stub end of springfield m1 bbl mated to a two groove 1903a3 bbl. again, a really nice job, with almost all the cuts in the proper place, except for the cross hole that locates the bbl band (which was missing). further inspection revealed that the trigger hsg had no mfg id or nunbers on it. it was a casting, and a very good one at that, as everything worked as it should. i have now replaced the rec, bbl, and trigger hsg. all is well that ends well, i guess. anyone out there had any garands like this show up?

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[Charlie59]

Not yet-are you a gunsmith? I wouldn't mess with something like this as I don't do all that much of my own work.

C.

[Rick B]

And another quick note. How can something be a "Reweld" if it was never "Welded" in the first place? Their just called "Welded" receivers.

Rick B

[lyman1903]

its been years since I've seen a welded receiver, however I sold a barrel such as yours to a gentleman a year or so ago,

it was a garand barrel stub, from the receiver end, and the rest was an 03A3 barrel, machined to fit the rest of the garand parts,

can't remember the TE, but it was serviceable,

and it was a take off from back in the 80's (took off a garand in the 80's no idea when it was originally done, but guessing 50's or 60's)

several gunsmiths/collectors told me at the time (this was pre internet, but at a gunshow, so I'm still cautious about the validity of the info) they were made from unservicable garand barrels, (the stub) and surplus 03 barrels, since serviceable garand barrels were hard to come by

[Rick Cummelin]

In the 1950s, when these M1s were originally found to be overly worn and demilled by torching them in half, most of the barrels were shot-out too. The guys who bought all this surplus "steel" needed a source for barrels to put on the receivers they welded together.

At that time, Springfield '03-A3 barrels could be bought new for less than $3.00 per barrel. Since these guys seem to have had much more time than money, they "built" new 2-groove barrels like the one you described. Interesting to note that the '03-A3 barrels were silver-soldered to the garand chamber stubs they had drilled out.

What's amazing is that aside from some cracked receivers, most of this cobbled together junk (that was never re-heat treated after welding) has not failed and is still functional today, although I personally would not risk shooting one.

BTW- no one actually knows how many welded M1s are out there. Obviously thousands. I have sure seen quite a few, at least a hundred or more over the years. They just keep turning up, and most have the wierd, stubbed 2-groove barrel.

[John R.]

All of those POS were done for or by BAD BOB at FEDORD.No decent Garands were available but the 'scrap steel' was and 03-A3 barrels were accessible at not much more than the price of scrap steel TOO if you bought a few K.(Bob DID).
As noted however,nobody seems to have EVER heard of one going KABOOM and the quality of the welds on some was truly atrocious.

I was even offerred one while down in Mexico on a consulting job about 20 years ago.The years south of the border hadn't been kind to that poor "resurrected" Garand either.

I don't know how many of us have seen the "ULTRA RARE" 2 groove Garand barrels up for sale over the last 25 plus years either.Thankfully nobody seems to have gotten hurt(yet?)

[Rick Cummelin]

Hahaha! I have met lots of bad people in my day, but I've never heard of Bad Bob. I have always heard that the welded M1s came from Southern California, long the HQ of FedOrd.

My very first M1 was a welded rifle, s/n 1165621, should you ever come across it. My dad bought it in San Diego in about 1963 for $85. I remember the wood was all new and smelled great! The finish on the metal was black, done to hide the welding I suppose. It looked new, but the barrel was worn out, as it was never too accurate. I eventually replaced the barrel in about 1971 or 1972. I must have fired over 1000 rounds through it in total, and decided to have it refinished in about 1976 or 1977, which is when I found out that it was a welded up receiver. Oops! The gunsmith doing the refinish wound up doing a black-blued finish, but I never fired it again and sold it soon after at a gun show for about $200. It's probably still in northern California somewhere.

Over the years, I have owned many M1s, and worked on many others for friends. But, I have never again owned or worked on a welded receiver. Simply not worth the potential risk of a failure. Now, I don't really believe the old wive's tale that they blow up or explode, but I do know they will crack, and who knows what that may lead to. I don't wish to find out.

[Bob Seijas]

Never heard the term Bad Bob, but did hear of a Bad Penny

[xroads]

And another quick note. How can something be a "Reweld" if it was never "Welded" in the first place? Their just called "Welded" receivers.

Rick B

rick,
you are correct, as usual. it can't be rewelded if it wasn't welded to begin with. my bad.

really nice job though!

[Joe W]

rick,
you are correct, as usual. it can't be rewelded if it wasn't welded to begin with. my bad.

really nice job though!

While you are correct in what you say, "reweld" is a term used by collectors.
See the GCA " Glossary of Terms" page 10 of 12.
http://www.thegca.org/glossary-terms2.pdf

"Reweld" is described as a "common collector term"

While I agree the term may not be "correct" it is used and understood.