1944 Springfield Armory Garand

This is the Garand I was asking advice about in the "Looking at" thread.

It is an April/May 1944 SA production receiver with a 7-51 SA barrel. Internals of the trigger assembly all appear to be SA production but I did not fully take it apart. Bore is bright with no blemishes. Bullet shows an 8th inch. Postwar or late war rear sight, very faint import mark on barrel ARL ORD ARLINGTON VA. Some light surface rust on receiver and exposed barrel. Internals are clean.

Stock has no markings I can find. It has been sanded on the bottom of the grip and both sides of the butt, probably to remove Korean rack numbers. No cracks, grain is VERY nice, looks to be leaning toward tiger stripes in a few areas. Sights turn with solid clicks and movement. Hook on trigger guard is firm. Small oilier in butt. Operating rod marked NM, no other National Match markings that I can find although bolt is stamped M on the bottom. I did not tear down the barrel coverings other than the rear hand guard. The metal clip on that should probably be replaced as it is pitted badly.

Price was $680 out the door, seemed fair to me as I desired a WWII production rifle. Photos below. If you see any glaring deficiencies, let me know. I was told it was owned by the same individual for 25 years, purchased then at a local gunshop. He has shot it occasionally. Needed quick cash, had to sell in a week. First gunshop offered him $300 which is robbery in my opinion. Second gunshop told him he'd do his best.

I have done nothing to it since I brought it home last evening with the exception of running a bit of steel wool over the receiver markings. I did this just to ensure the rust would come off and did not fully clean it. It all pretty much looked like the edges where it is still showing spotty rust.

Stock I will probably clean as I doubt I can get the butt areas to match the color. Rust I obviously plan to remove. Don't intend to do anything more with the metal beside clean the dirt off.

I need to research more before I take it any further apart.

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From what I see it looks like a nice honest rebuild. The only thing that jumps out at me that may be a potential problem is the wear on the trigger guard trunnions and the wood looks worn/compressed where the receiver fits. How is the lock up? You should begin to feel resistance when the guard is about half way closed. If it closes with little or no resistance it will affect the accuracy big time. Put a dab of grease on each trunnion to reduce wear and don't disassemble any more than necessary.
Get hold of a copy of FM 23-5 and this will tell all you need to know about disassembly and maintenance.
If you plan on keeping it ''original'' use only M-2 ammo or commercial stuff loaded to M-2 spec. I've never tried any but the reviews on the PRVI Garand load says it's good stuff.
Stick with milsurp clips, some of the after market ones are junk.
Nice find at a good price, congratulations.

Lock up is very tight, can't get it open without putting something through the hole. It does not have a lot of resistance when closing. Should I build that up with something? I bought a bunch of USGI clips about three months ago. Figured I'd need them at some point.

I have been lirking waiting on the pictures. Glaring deficiencies? It is yours and not mine. Nice unmolested apperance save the sanding & good bore $680 is a good deal in my area. I would have paid it.Seen your magic, Ill bet that lumber will look great with a little love. There is so much to know about the Garand to keep from taking a beating when purchasing one I gave up & went the CMP route for my first before the stores are exausted. Most of the ones I have examined at shows seem to be either streight from CMP with a large markup or bitsters made up from from Garand collecters parts bins. Ill have to keep studing and keep eyes open for a WWII vintage rifle.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Should I build that up with something?

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I used two strips of cork gasket material "auto parts store" to tighten mine up. Another thing is to peen the splines if there's ANY movement, which I also had to do,huge improvement in accuracy after those two things. Welcome to the Garand owners club..:cheers:

Might I suggest an investment of $25 in a membership to the GCA (Garand Collectors Assn.) I recieved the latest issue of the GCA journal yesterday. The journal is worth the cost of membership and membership in GCA is one check off the list to meet the CMP requirements for firearms purchaces. I am using the GCA journal to educate/torment myself wile waiting on my Garand.

To me, one of the really informative things in this issue was the fact that an importer's stamp could deform the barrel and destroy accuracy. I've seen hundreds of them so stamped.

By lock up I was referring to the amount of force required to close the guard. It's normal for the guard to be somewhat difficult to open as there's a lip on the bow that locks the guard to the housing preventing it from opening under recoil.
As I said earlier you should begin to feel resistance when the guard is about half way closed and it should take a fair bit of force to close it all the way.
There's several ways to fix this, bed it, shim it or replace the trigger guard. Also, I've heard of building the trunnions up with a dab of weld and filing or milling them back round.
I've always used thin strips of walnut or white oak glued to the bottom of the stock where the trigger assembly mates up to shim mine. Pressed paper gasket stock of the type used in shim gaskets may also work but I'd think cork or other soft materials wouldn't last very long.
As to peening the gas cylinder splines goes I was told by a former USMC armourer friend to peen the top spline only. The reasoning behind this is that by doing the top one only it will pull the cylinder up tight against the gas port on the bottom of the barrel resulting in a better seal.

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Originally Posted by bob seijas

To me, one of the really informative things in this issue was the fact that an importer's stamp could deform the barrel and destroy accuracy. I've seen hundreds of them so stamped.

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Now that you are here thanks for your contribution to the GCA Journal.

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Originally Posted by bob seijas

To me, one of the really informative things in this issue was the fact that an importer's stamp could deform the barrel and destroy accuracy. I've seen hundreds of them so stamped.

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Seven photos up from the bottom is the import stamp. It's stamped so lightly I'm not too concerned with damage. Only the top third of the letters show. They are centered in the exposed barrel section just below the shine.

I spent the last three hours cleaning up the metal. Came out nice. No surprises, got all the major parts separated. Still not going to mess with the trigger assembly but did find another SA marked part in there. No NM star or wording on the barrel, had hopes but figured chances were near zero.

The wood will be my weekend project.

I like the idea of walnut shims, they should blend in nicely and I think I have a piece of it in the basement. Probably won't do anything like that until I shoot it however and see if it needs it.

What type sling should I get for it? Leather was used throughout the war I guess but canvas became more common toward the end?

I have the bayonet.

Cork gasket material is the ideal material to use IMO. It compresses only slightly and once compressed it's not compressing any more and conforms to any variations in the metal and the wood forming the closest thing to perfect contact, No glue. As for longevity, still going strong a year later. If for whatever reason it wears out I can cut two more strips out of the roll.

Good for bedding barrels too...

There are many videos on YouTube about the M1 Garand. Disassembly, cleaning, and loads of visual info. Peening as mentioned helps accuracy. Tony Ben has a YouTube peening the splines on an M1A that works very well for the Garand.
Privi Partisan has 150gr Garand ammo that works well with reloadable brass. It's Serbian.

Started cleaning the stock. Main stock is much lighter than the fore end and rear hand guard. Fore end is nearly black and doesn't seem to want to get any lighter. Main stock is definitely showing indications of tiger striping but not the normal kind. Not sure what it's going to look like when it's done. The grain is all over the place and has a lot of swirls. Will try steaming it this evening and possibly do some light sanding in two spots that are scratched badly. These two areas don't match the condition of the rest of the wood or I'd let them alone.

Cleaned the stock and put one coating of BLO on it. Handguards are walnut. Main stock may be birch. Definite tiger striping and it really shows depending on the light. Rust all gone. Managed to get it back together with no leftover parts and it appears to be working.

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Yep, birch stock. Nice job on the clean up. Looks a whole lot better.

Looks great. I hope it shoots at least as good as it looks.

Sadly, I think I'll start looking for a walnut stock. I really like this one and I didn't do that much to it. I could sand all the dings out of it and it would really look sharp. But, as they weren't made until the late 50's, not really appropriate for WWII displays. I'm not going to get rid of this one though. It can be my range stock or the other one just for my presentations. I may try to locate birch handguards. Always something.

Don't sand it too much though. They can come up smooth and they'll never take a stain again. The stuff is like glass after for turning stain.