DCM M1 with 1947 barrel...Help

I am new to M1 collecting, but was inspired at the local gunshow when a man had a nice 1.8 SA M1. He told me he bought the gun from the DCM in 1977. The morning of the gunshow an "expert" told him he had a post WWII arsenal rebuilt Garand with a 1947 stamped barrel with an early type rear sight. Stock cartouches were stamped again after the rebuild, so they look double stamped. Until he learned this from the expert, his price was $1400 now it is $2200. Can anyone tell me about this variant and its value? If a decide to buy it, what should I look for?

I am not an expert as others on this site are. I think thats high for an M1 that is not totally original. The only reason for the price increase is if it has a flush nut rear sight, which alone can fetch a hefty price.

$2200 is nuts. So was $1400. Go to CMP.

A nice post war arsenal rebuild with a nice stock and correct cartouches would be worth about $ 750.00 to me. I would forget the gun shows for now and, as Bob said, go with a CMP correct grade. Not saying some good buys don't turn up at gun shows from time to time but you need to gain a bit more knowledge so that you will know the good from the bad. About a year ago I was able to pick up a nice IHC gap logo rifle at a gun show. Other than the stock and the HRA trigger group it was correct. The dealer said it "was all IHC". I pointed out the HRA trigger group so he took off $ 50.00. They are out there but you need to be lucky and know what you are looking at. At the same show a dealer had a 4.3 SA import. The good news was that it was sporting a very nice EMcF stock, the bad news was after buying the IHC I had no more money to spend. That rifle, with the import markings, was not worth the $ 750.00 the dealer was asking but the stock brought into the ball park. That dealer didn't have a clue as to the value of the stock. To him, a stock was a stock.

that arsenal rebuilds had the cartouches re-stamped.
Just a re-build stamp on the body of the stock.

That seems like a lot to do to an M1 to make it combat-ready. :ugh:

~Matt

Could still show the original production cartouche plus the rebuild stamp. In fact you could see more than one rebuild stamp on the same rifle. Just like you can see the original "P" proof mark in circle plus a boxed or plain "P" from the proof firing after rebuild. I just went back and looked at the original post. I think the op may just be confusing the original cartouche with the rebuild stamp.

I wasn't even trying to sell my all correct 12-43 S/A for $1400.00. One man's junk as they say.

I appreciate all the feedback. The owner of the rifle made it sound like the 47' dated barrel, the rebuild cartouches and the lock bar rear sight put the rifle in some special rebuild category. What I have learned over the past couple of days would suggest that even if the rifle was all original minus the rebarrel, the rifle is only worth about 1/3 of what he is asking. Sound about right?

Sounds right to me.

Why are you bothering with this rifle? You are going back to him to offer him 1/3 of his asking price? This guy is going to pop you in the nose. Simply order a SA FG Garand from the CMP and start having fun. Lots of dealers are looking for that one "certain" guy. Avoid being that guy. Good luck.

I am not going back to him for the rifle. I still have much to learn about these rifles before I am ready to buy. Thanks to all.

We shoot at Richmond Rod and Gun Club all the time. Drive up to Richmond, Ca for a match. Lots of Garands and AR guys. First Sat and Sun of each month. Call Ed at 510-620-9519 for more info. Hope to see you.

CMP is a good answer. Get started and learn all the parts in hand, and have fun shooting them. I order the field grade Winchesters ($200 more) but guaranteed a WWII rifle. I ask for USGI wood, it's a little dinged up but I got some service grade Wins with new wood and use those with my competition rifles. The FG's I've received came with USGI wood with out asking. the service grade M1's I got from CMP have been near new to very nice. Since these are mostly arsenal rebuilds (more than once?) I find a WRA part on a SA and SA parts on a WIN and for instance My 42 Win now has a WRA bolt, hammer, trig housing where as these were out of place on the SA or HRA they came on. I'm glade they are mixed up cause I can use this to my advantage. I don't pretend they are anything other then Mixed Rebuilds but it's fun to put them through my rebuild program and make them as correct as I can.

The last Service Grade HRA I received came with a bad bore. Full of grease, so no one knew. Mostly SA parts, I am not so sure it was a nice Service Grade.

What you need to know is this: At the end of WW2, there were huge numbers of M1 rifles that needed arsenal rebuild, more than the US arsenals could handle in a reasonable time. So, the US Government contracted with Fabrique Nationale in Herstal, Belgium, to rebuild a couple of hundred thousand rifles from 1947-1949.

Replacement parts were provided by Springfield Armory. Most barrels had dates in the 1947-1949 range. Many of the new small parts had post-WW2 drawing numbers. FN's procedure was to strip every rifle, throwing usable parts in bins & scrapping bad parts. They then rebuilt complete rifles using new & used parts. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these with lock bars, but a flush nut is unlikely.

These FN rebuilds are worth no more or less than any other CMP rifle in the same grade & condition.

Interesting. Can you tell me where I might be able to read up on these M1 rifles rebuilt be FN ? Thanks

CMP like new HRA $995/ HRA Service grade $695. Best rifles I've seen there in a long time. Used to be called DCM

I picked up a 5.6 Mil HRA last summer during the matyches from the CMP North store. It has a 1 muzzle and 2 throat and was in excellent condition with new CMP wood. The only thing I didn't like was the milled trigger housing but I picked up a stamped one in case I have trouble with the milled.
$700