Early '42 Winchester

I will try to post a few pictures of an early Winchester Garand that I just bought. Comments are welcome.Attachment 109388Attachment 109387Attachment 109389Attachment 109390Attachment 109391Attachment 109392Attachment 109393

Attachment 109397Attachment 109396Attachment 109398Attachment 109399Attachment 109400Attachment 109401Attachment 109402Attachment 109403More pictures of the '42 Winchester

Attachment 109409Attachment 109410Attachment 109411Attachment 109412Attachment 109413More '42 Winchester pictures

Attachment 109415Attachment 109414Attachment 109416Last pictures of the '42 Winchester

Nice...could you show us a couple of the whole rifle?

Did the seller tell you it was all original or had been restored ?

I was with the seller 40 years ago when he bought it. I thought it was original then and I still do. Scott Duffs WW2 Garand book doesn't have many around this serial number, but of the ones that he has, everything checks out.

I have also been collecting Winchester rifles for quite awhile too

Your example looks very good, what caught my attention was the darker color on the rear of the receiver, sometimes just discoloration or sometimes anneal from rebuild.Attachment 109434Attachment 109435Attachment 109436Attachment 109437

That's one nice rifle. I have no doubt it's original, just has that look...and a hard SN range WRA to find intact. Would very much like to know the serial number. Thanks for sharing. You can omit the last 2 or 3 numbers. My son hopefully still has it's twin he acquired from me which I acquired from an estate. Had to deal with a greedy lawyer who tried to squeeze every penny out of everything the lady had. He pushed for 4 and I negotiated him down to 3750 when I showed him the cash. I had to buy the bayonet, ammo can, other accessories, and M1907 that I knew should of came with the rifle in a separate deal. I generally do not dislike people in a profession, but lawyers come close...at least the ones I have dealt with. M

Nice looking rifle. Would love to have one like that in my collection. Thanks for sharing.

Really nice! I hope to find one some day:)

Your Winchester looks nice and with the proper parts - but can you explain the darker color at the rear or tang section ? Most of my Winchesters still have the dulite color so it is difficult to notice. I have to take photos in sunlight to really notice the anneal.

From any information known, Winchester did not anneal their production receivers in 1941. It
would appear that the anneal took place at the factory in the 1.2 million serial range. Sometimes, I have noticed a discolored area under the elevation knob on the dulite receivers - but could not reall identify this as anneal color.

Another question, if a Winchester rifle was annealed, would any early parts be changed-out for newer parts (example lock bar rear sight, trap door butt plate)

My photos show two early 1941 receivers with the top having been annealedAttachment 109520Attachment 109521

My Winchester is in the 141 thousand range, and from the only picture that I took of the top of the receiver, I can't see any color difference. I will get it out of the safe and take it out in the sunlight to see if there is any difference.

Sometimes complete rifles were annealed by taking the fully-assembled barrel and receiver group out of the stock, dipping the heel in lead, and reassembling the rifle. All the parts remained unchanged.
On the subject rifle, the color change area looks fuzzy, most annealing has a more distinct change line. Could be that the lighter area is where it was handled a lot and the area under the sight knobs and back not as often.