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M1A1 stock help
I'm new here but need some help. I am an 03 collector but I have an M1A1 I took as payment about 15 years ago that sat in my safe for quite a while. I recently decided to sell it to make room for another toy and I had a potential buyer claim it's a fake. I'm pretty sure it is a put together but I believe the stock is real. The stock has an 'OI' stamped inside the channel and the bottom of the grip. No P in a circle that I can tell. All that should point to it be real. The problem comes from no casting number on the butt of the stock. I've handled a reproduction stock and the look & feel is completely different.
Do I have a real M1A1 stock or a well marked early reproduction? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Pictures would help for sure. If it's an original stock and not an Inland replacement there should be a circle P on the back of the stock above the grip. The butt plate should have the part number, a wheel with spokes and a casting mold number between 1 and 12. If none of these are on it then it's a reproduction butt plate. The leather cheek piece should have rivets that are flush with the leather and should be brass or steel and hollow as a rule. No chrome plating on the rivets.
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Hi and welcome to the forum. Down the page is a thread about M1A1's that contains pictures. The circled P should be on the very back of the stock above the grip. They can be very faint and you may need to clean it up some to see it. The but plate should have numbers cast in it. Is it cleaned or could it have some crud in it?
Posting pics of what you have will help.
Regards.....Frank
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Okay, I've finally had a chance to look closely for the P in circle. It's very faint but there. There's also a faint circle on the side of the grip. Crossed cannon stamp? There definitely isn't a number on the butt-plate. The weird part is that it appears to be similar color to the parkerized wire. Looking a a buddy's repro, his butt-plate has a copper color.
Looking through other posts, the stock looks like other originals except for the lack of butt-plate markings.
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Pokey, I'm starting to think you have an original M1A1 wood stock with a reproduction wire assembly. Better pics of the cheek piece front and back would help. There was just an e-bay auction for an M1A1 stock less metal, so it happens. get us close ups of the wire and butt plate and lets see whare it goes.....Frank
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I think you may be right about some of it being replacement parts. Here are the closeups of the wire, cheekpad and butt-plate. The rivets don't look quite right after staring at pictures of known originals and the butt-plate fit to the wire stock seems off.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5x425Q85-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5x425Q85-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5x425Q85-1.jpg
It's a bummer that it's not all original but it's been a good learning lesson. Thank you for all the help!
Edit: It's amazing what I keep learning! I found on another forum that back in 1976 reproductions were built from original wood, exported and then came back in the 1991-1994 time-frame (about when I got mine) http://www.jouster.com/forums/showthread.php?18805-Original-or-repro-M1A1-stock
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Pokey, I think there was an e-bay auction in the last couple of weeks for an M1A1 stock, less metal. I believe it sold for over $400. You might want to watch for the metal to come up for sale. You see differant parts come up from time to time.
Good luck.....Frank
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Thank you for all the help! I'm a little smarter about what to look for now. I really appreciate the education.
Carl
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The rivets do like right as well as the leather cheek piece but the butt plate is not an original. Your stock is so clean inside that it would appear to be a new old stock Inland replacement. Those were made during to war to fix stocks that had broken. Many found their way to the surplus market post war and can still be found today.
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Thank you! That Will certainly help narrow my search to just finding a butt-plate.
