Yemeni M1 Garand

I recently acquired this rifle and I am trying to figure out how many others are out there. From my understanding these came in with a shipment of Egyptian FN-49's through CAI in the 1980's and no one quite knew what to think of them at the time. Apparently the Egyptian Army must have captured them during the North Yemen Civil War (1962-1970) where they suffered over 26,000 casualties. From reading "Il garand in Italia 1951-1996" it came to my attention that only 1138 of these rifles were made for the North Yemen contract. All parts I can see are PB marked. Any further info or observations would be greatly appreciated.

What a nice rifle to catch...well done.

WWII weapons in Yemen wwiiafterwwii

Very good article..thanks!. Many years back there was a M1 with Arabic markings offered in the old ShotGun News by a private party. One of the twelve?

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Originally Posted by AJMBLAZER

WWII weapons in Yemen wwiiafterwwii

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Thanks for the link! Quite a variety of firearms there. Reminds me of my two trips to Afghanistan. Truly another dumping ground of the world's small arms.

If you have or know what Instagram is, there is a user by the name of mosingarandguy that has one of these same M1s. If you could contact him, he might have more information for you. It looks like he collects some foreign made Garands so he might have any knowledge you seek. What is mildly interesting is that I only discovered his account this morning and I just learned about these M1s myself.

Welcome. That’s a really good blog to follow. Not always about firearms but always interesting.

Very interesting rifle.
My understanding is that the Italians made M1s using Winchester tooling in the 1950s. As well as Berreta, they were made by Breda Meccanica Romana.
Looks in good nick considering where its been. Have you had it apart? Are all the components Italian? Tried it at the range?
Thanks.

The Italians produced ZERO M1 rifles using any Winchester tooling. Berettas engineers condemned the machinery abandoned by Winchester which was supplied to them, but used the gauges, fixtures, and production flowcharts that were provided wherever possible. Beretta decided to build their own production machinery in house instead, which they never had done before.

Thanks for the clarification LavaTech. Do you know if BMR did the same?

Have no knowledge of BMR or BMB, but taking into consideration that Winchester rode their machines hard and put them away wet ( stored outside after termination of production - they were US Gov NOT Winchester property ) I doubt it.

True, Lava, and not generally known. Beretta did, however, get WRA's complete set of drawings.

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Originally Posted by Charlie303

Very interesting rifle.
My understanding is that the Italians made M1s using Winchester tooling in the 1950s. As well as Berreta, they were made by Breda Meccanica Romana.
Looks in good nick considering where its been. Have you had it apart? Are all the components Italian? Tried it at the range?
Thanks.

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All parts were Italian when I took it apart. PB marked for Beretta. I don't think I will be shooting it anytime soon due to the rarity.

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Originally Posted by doublestacked

I don't think I will be shooting it anytime soon due to the rarity.

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I would do a clip of factory new ball...and then clean it forever. Just so one can say how it shoots. I don't think a clip or box of Federal ball would hurt it...but I hear you...

I remember missing out on a Yemeni M1 in 2011 when it was offered on GB. I'm a bit envious of the original poster's (OP's) great fortune. Congratulations on finding one. I hope to one day add an example to me collection of Italian M1's

The OP cites Ruggero Pettinelli's piece "Il Garand in Italia 1951-1996." It is a great book and is far better than anything out there on the subject of the Italian M1 development. He is also very approachable and has answered a number of my inquiries regarding the development/history of the Tipo II 7.62mm conversions.

Here is an additional webpage that provides a number of detailed pictures and history on the Yemeni M1 rifles: M1 GARAND YEMENITA

Best regards,
Mike

Picture of my Yemen M1 Beretta I bought from Bill Orin at the Monroeville Pa. Expo Center in the 80's.

Attachment 97136Attachment 97137Attachment 97138Attachment 97139

According to a translation done by a fellow worker at Ford Motor Company:

Receiver second seal translation: Allah victorious Sultan Ahmed Hamid Eidin Big Believer of God.

Stock marking translation: King of Yemen Kingdom God Believer who defends religion Eman Ahmed Hamid Eldin 1378

What is your serial number, I'm keeping track of them.

What are these selling for now? Hard to find but you never know.
Thanks
YooperJ