What might $6500 look like?

Well, I think I officially went off the deep end. I went over to a friend's house and four hours and $6500 later, this is a quick look at what followed me home:

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1. A couple of what I would call SL3 complete cleaning kits with slings from the Letterkenny depot bagged in 1955
2. An M2 aiming device for checking recruits' sight pictures with original carton.
3. Ubiquitous grenade launcher sight.
4. -12 M1 bolt in it's wrapper
5. Some sectioned cleaning rods and oilers.
6. 5 NIW M1 Carbine magazines.
7. 2 M1 receivers, the top is a -1, the bottom a -2. Ser Nos 36,6xx and 64,7xx respectively. Perhaps a Gas Trap repro is in the future?
8. A 1916 dated No1 Mk3 manufactured at Enfield. Some replacement parts, some matching numbers.
9. A "gap letter" IHC. All IHC parts, overhauled at MCLB Albany in 1966. Awarded as a Navy trophy rifle for the Pac Fleet or SecNav matches.

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The stock on it isn't marked at all, and that was how it was awarded. I did however get two IHC stocks. One is an early stock with the factory repairs on the butt, the other was hacked on a bit by somebody in the early 90s forward of the floor plate, but is mostly repaired.

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https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...j86afpk6-1.jpg

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10. A CMP correct (some handwritten notes by the owner say collector grade) grade 6 million SA M1.

11. A Danish Navy Garand. 2 million WWII SA receiver, Winchester stock, some Italian parts, and a 1960 VAR barrel

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...uzcgisel-1.jpg

12. Some short and long pinion rear sights, and some checkered windage and elevation knobs, and knurled windage and elevation knobs.

13. Russian capture, import marked P38. Early Spreewerk mfg, low two digit serial number.

14. A Sep 1918 marked canvas rifle case.

15. An abused SPG cartouched stock. Looks like a modified long channel, but I haven't inspected it closely. I suspect it's a post WWII clean and repair era cartouche.

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16. A practically pristine GAW cartouched stock. Really, it's gorgeous.

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17. An SHM cartouched stock.

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18. The two IHC stocks.

19. Two random 1/2" DAS marked stock.

20. A unmarked stock that could also be the stock originally awarded with the trophy rifle.

Well, that pretty much finishes my Garand collecting. I started with a corrected 11/44 with an NFR cartouched stock in February of 2013, and the list now stands at:
10/41 Lend lease Springfield, correct/original? minus stock that was missing when originally purchased in the early 90s by the previous owner.
9/42 Springfield with a GHS stock that I have discussed elsewhere, and I believe to be original to it's wartime service.
10/43 Springfield with a GAW stock, corrected.
Summer 1944 Winchester, corrected, with a GHD stock.
11/44 Springfield NFR mentioned above, corrected.
1952 barreled M1D on a late WWII receiver with NFR stock.
Gap Letter IHC with a 6/53 LMR barrel.
11/53 Harrington and Richardson with 3/8" DAS.
The 6 million SerNo Springfield.
The Danish Navy Garand.

I thought this "Garanditis" thing was a joke! There are plenty of other variations out there, but my safe is full.

Friend indeed. Nice group.

Cheap!

Little bit of everything in there...nice.

Nice buy :) and the SPG is a rebuild from later when they modified it. Seems when SPG came back they set up a line just for the modifications of rifles and stocks to which this stamp shows up. The only SPG's found in all of the Barn Wood were the skinny letter ones.

Billy Pyle's "The Gas Trap Garand" has the period of 1947 to 1951 for the rebuild SPG period. I have seen M1 carbine stocks with the rebuild SA SPG stamp too

Here's one I found at Numrich MANY years ago.
Attachment 64044Attachment 64043

That's very interesting about the post-war SPG stocks, particularly (if I read it correctly) that "the barn" only had the post-war SPG stocks. Out of curiosity, do the SPG cartouched stocks seem to be less prevalent than other post-war cartouches?

I went back over today to just chat with the gentleman I bought the stuff in the original post from. He gave me two more GAW stocks (good condition, but not pristine like the first one, naturally) and two boxes of parts. One labeled "Winchester Parts" and one labeled "Early SA Parts". I opened up the "Early SA Parts", and the top part was a C46025 Trigger Guard with concentric rings, and a very clean, deep black finish. Just going through that box is going to be an adventure in itself.

Buy him dinner with a good bottle of wine!

Makes me wonder if these were his cast-offs what does the rest of the sellers collection look like:)

The Wisconsin barn did not have any of the rebuild SA SPG stocks (1947-1951) with the "fat" letters.

He started collecting in the late 80's or early 90's, I believe, and got very active in building M1s for quite a while. I was out shooting my 11/44 SA (reparked, definitely the bottom feeder of my collection) and he mentioned that he was paring down his collection, but that people had already bought all of the lower-end rifles.

Three rifles that he sold that I wish I had gotten (but hey, I overspent as it is) were a late 6 million type 2 NM, a Type 1 transitional NM, and a 1946 arsenal overhaul that had a '46 barrel, and a double stamped stock SHM and DAS cartouches.

Other than that, I helped him sell a 4/45 NFR. The rest, I purchased. He acquired a lot of good metal over the years, but never seemed to have as much luck with stocks. A lot of the interesting rifles were Navy trophy rifles that had what appeared to be all original parts, but replaced stocks. I have a 6/41 SA that is sitting in a box with all the right parts, but no stock or stock metal. It was one of the aforementioned trophy rifles. There were a lot of active Navy shooters at this base, and a lot of their trophy rifles ended getting sold to the gentleman who has ben so generous to me. I paid $1200 for an M1D that included an original M84 that he paid $1100 for in 1996.

I frequently pointed out that he was giving me great deals on everything, but he stated that he didn't want to bother shipping anything, and would rather sell it to somebody who appreciates the history. It's basically the only way I could afford the collection I've acquired over the last 2 years, which basically amounts to 30 years of his efforts.

It is always good to find a seller who sees the value beyond $ in placing a good milsurp in the hands of someone who will appreciate/preserve it and do the same when they pay it forward.
I have been the benifactor of this a few times when someone realizes my motive is not "buy low & sell high".

Yes, it's been good to me. To hold and fire the rifle is to experience, just a little bit, what our predecessors experienced. I find it magically illuminating. The value goes so far beyond dollar amounts.

Very nicely put. You always hear "if they could only speek" . They speek to me. Glad you hear it also.

FWIW, "Buy low, sell high" is very old fashioned. Now it's "Buy High, Sell Higher." :)

You helped sell a 6/45 SA/NFR.And I still have it. Nice haul Chris.