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Contributing Member
21 Jan 2024 Garand Picture of the Day - Cuban Army
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
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01-21-2024 08:50 PM
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Advisory Panel
Looks like a well travelled M1
, dark wood... Wonder what maker?
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Legacy Member
In the mid-late 1950's, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista's government awarded a contract to Beretta. the author, Ruggero Pettinelli started in his book on Italian M1's, "Il Garand in Italia, 1951-1996," production was just over 5,000 rifles, but he clarified the serial number sequence began with 1000 and ended somewhere shy of 6000. This was a departure from other contracts that typically started at serial number "1." He could not determine in his research the reason behind this deviation.
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Originally Posted by
FlightRN
a contract to Beretta.
That would be a neat one to find standing in a corner.
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Contributing Member
Pretty casual affair by the look of it relaxed plus his ammo belt does not appear to be holding any loaded enblocs.
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He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
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Legacy Member
always stated that lend lease M1 rifles went to Cuba too, may still be there along with some Johnson rifles
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Legacy Member
Cuban , possibly Libyian contract Beretta M1 Garand rifles
Good Day,
Thanks to "Mark in Rochester" for posting his pictures. Other contracted rifles made by Beretta and Breda include Demark, Indonesia, Libya and Italy. It's been posit that only Cuban rifles had an "E" above the serial number which likely stood for "esportazione", or "export" in Italian. Although, those purchased by Yemen have a "E" preceding their serial numbers, those numbers are on the left side of the receiver. With the influx of rifles from Ethiopia, some M1s came in that have the same Beretta /E bannerstamp. Since Pettinelli, or other authors, can't describe with certainty what the banner area on the Libiyan contract rifles were like, they might have been similar. Further archival research and verified (i.e. country of origin) examples will hopefully help peel back the history of Beretta and Breda rifles.
Regards,
Michael
https://imgur.com/a/vbdrsct
Last edited by FlightRN; 01-23-2024 at 07:37 PM.
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