M1 Garand from Danmark: keep away from it ???

[blackcat_attilio]

Hi folks! I'm writing in the behalf of my buddy whom is looking for a couple of answers. On the last weeks at shooting range, while we picked-up our things before to come back home, we heared some riflemen talking together about the M1 Garand. All they said to keep away from the Garand from Danmark and it was like they were talking about a sort of devil. What we understood is the Garand has (???) troubles with the bore... Here, in Italy, on the market you can find only few Garands and all them are from Danmark and aren't cheaper (not less than 900.00Euro). My buddy desires to buy one but now he's afraid. His question is: WHY he must "keep away" from the Garand from Danmark? Really there is/are trouble/s with the bore? May anybody give an answer? Many thanks.

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[kar98k]

i've never heard anything bad about the Danish Garands. in my opinion, they appear to be some of the best conditioned M1's. the ones coming in from South America seem to be in god awful condition, but quite the opposite for the Danish ones. i own a Danish return M1 and it's in beautiful condition and so is the bore.

they may have been talking about one rifle in particular (perhaps with a lot of muzzle wear or a chewed up bore), but i don't think you need to stay away from the Danish M1's as a whole.

[Devil Dog]

The Danes were very good about replacing the barrels on their M1's. You will find many Danish M1's with VAR barrels installed as replacement barrels. The VAR barrels are well known for their quality and acuracy.

[Badger]

His question is: WHY he must "keep away" from the Garand from Danmark? Really there is/are trouble/s with the bore? May anybody give an answer? Many thanks.

Hi...

Never heard of problems with them. In fact, although I'm not a serious collectors of Garands, I always thought they were amongst the better nade ones.

A good start would be to check the 1955 Danish (Breda) Military Garand (click here) in the Denmark - Milsurp Knowledge Library (click here).

Regards,
Badger

[dastier]

Hi folks! I'm writing in the behalf of my buddy whom is looking for a couple of answers. On the last weeks at shooting range, while we picked-up our things before to come back home, we heared some riflemen talking together about the M1 Garand. All they said to keep away from the Garand from Danmark and it was like they were talking about a sort of devil. What we understood is the Garand has (???) troubles with the bore... Here, in Italy, on the market you can find only few Garands and all them are from Danmark and aren't cheaper (not less than 900.00Euro). My buddy desires to buy one but now he's afraid. His question is: WHY he must "keep away" from the Garand from Danmark? Really there is/are trouble/s with the bore? May anybody give an answer? Many thanks.

I have seen this opinion about Danish Garands express on some US gun forums and I think its just an example of American chauvinism - the believe held by some (usually Americans) that if its not made in the USA its not good enough. I also think this opinion exists because after all, the Garand is an true epic American weapon, probably the best of its generation and a source of great pride to Americans. General George S. Patton considered the Garand "... the greatest battle implement ever devised." To some the only real Garand is one manufactured in the USA with only US parts.

That said I have a Danish SA '43 Garand with a VAR barrel and would not sell it. VAR barrels are highly sought after by shooters as they are known for their accuracy. The US military loaned Garands to Denmark shortly after WW2 and again in the mid fifties. Plus the US equipped many nations with Garands as a hedge against possible Soviet aggression. Weapon conditions varied especially those that saw active WW2 service and hence Berreta and Breda of Italy tooled up to make replacement parts. So most likely any Danish Garand is a mix of parts and this gets back to my point on American chauvinism. But that doesn't mean the Italians don't know how to make guns or gun parts - they make some of the best guns in the world.

Plus as previously mentioned the Danish Garands for the most part seemed to have been better kept by their military. Better educated and trained soldiers generally means better maintenance.

[John R.]

I own 2 unissued Breda made Garands as well as Beretta No5,Beretta No99 and Breda No45 and a few I built myself from brand new parts including one with a brand new VAR made Danish barrel.
The fit and finish on the Italian built rifles IS EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS THAT ON MY Type 1 Springfield Armory(the REAL one) National Match S/N 5945754 and the NM's are considered to be the epitome of US MAde Garands.

I installed the bolts and checked headspace on almost TEN THOUSAND M1 Garands ALL OF WHICH came from Denmark in the time frame 1998-2000 for a now retired importer friend here in Vancouver.The Danish Garands, be they US OR Italian made, were VERY WELL MAINTAINED and if anything ,probably better maintained than some I have seen coming from US Army Stocks.

The Italian made ones are very popular in Italy due to their having been made there.I shipped a few to a friend in Milano along with 5 REAL M14's.4 to one friend and another to a friend of his.Have a good gunsmith who knows MILITARY rifles check any Garand you want to buy and if he approves it just buy some good quality ammunition and ENJOY your rifle.

My rifle of choice to shoot for fun is the Breda S/N 8821 that I built up myself from brand new parts including that VAR barrel.It shoots EVERY BIT AS WELL AS MY Springfield Armory NATIONAL MATCH GARAND and if anything has BETTER fit and finish too.

So Buon Natale and Felice Anno Nuovo to all in Italia and have a nice glass of vino tinto for me too.
Ciao Tutti,

John R.

[dastier]

Here's a link to a brief history of the M1 Garand in Danish service:

Danish M1
Posted by: Mike Gingher

enjoy,
dastier

[Bodyman]

[QUOTE=dastier;97311]I have seen this opinion about Danish Garands express on some US gun forums and I think its just an example of American chauvinism - the believe held by some (usually Americans) that if its not made in the USA its not good enough. I also think this opinion exists because after all, the Garand is an true epic American weapon, probably the best of its generation and a source of great pride to Americans. General George S. Patton considered the Garand "... the greatest battle implement ever devised." To some the only real Garand is one manufactured in the USA with only US parts.QUOTE]

To begin with, this is the first I've heard of anything bad about the Danish Garands. Most of the comments I've heard have put them on par with or very close to the Italian made Beretta Garands. In what I find to be a particularly unchauvanistic display , many folks here will actually admit that if they have handled a Beretta made Garand that they find them to be at least as good if not slightly superior some of their US made Garands and they may actually enjoy shooting them more. Further as stated with regard to the VAR barrels, though initially somewhat skeptical, shooters here have come to highly prize any VAR marked barrel for an inherent accuracy. Though widely available when the Danish rifles first returned to the States, these now change hands infrequently and when they do they bring prices roughly equal to some of the best that Springfield Armory produced (though neither are found in quantity any longer). The price alone tells you that they are held in equal esteem.

So I don't really know what the criticism might be. The Danish used but maintained their Garands such that well after the finish was virtually gone we still didn't see many at all with any kind of rust on them, even though some were almost bare steel! Beyond that they made good solid replacement parts and rebuilt them using both BMB and PB parts to fill in where things got bad, and the rifles never skipped a beat.

I'd have to say that such criticisms are from someone with a little less experience with these weapons. Heck, if you want to see a crummy Garand, pick up a CAI with a cast receiver - even with good parts, some of these rifles are barely useable ... besides, it is kind of hard to be elitist about our manufacturing capability when we can't manufacture a d@mned thing any longer ... but hey, at least we don't have Canada yelling at us about killing all their lakes and fish with acid rain from Detroit any more, right ... a problem that certainly could have been solved with the application of a little brain power instead of gutting our economy, propping it up with 'housing' that was never meant to prop up anything let alone the world's economy, letting a bunch of fat cats get richer while the rest of us get to feed on nothing but 'hope and change' while we foot the bill and wait for a job in our new shiny 'service economy' which is nothing but a bunch of butlers trading the same money around in an ever smaller and downward spiraling circle all while the rich politicians skim a little more off the top and continue to pass ever more legislation that protects all those who contribute to their coffers so they don't have to actually 'do' anything but continue to screw us while playing the fiddle and watching Rome burn ..., but hey, as long as the tree huggers are happy, eh ...

[deleted even more than the board monitors are considering deleting now ... ... hopefully they will be kind and just slightly gag me ...]

Yea, I never know where these are going to end up either ...

AMHO. Best regards all.

[arado]

I have a Danish Garand. It is an M1D sniper. It has a Beretta receiver FKF marked. a SA 555 barrel with M84 scope and mount FKF marked. stock and hand guard danish. Bolt and remainder Beretta. Very well made and accurate. I don't know who's armory put it together. I have built my own M1D's. It's easy. and not for resale. Gary

[campperrykid]

A lot of people beat me to it.
I've seen very little criticism of Danish issued or Italian produced Garands , on the net or elsewhere. What little there was did not match my own experience and did serious damage to the credibilty of the sources.
In my limited experience , Garand savvy Americans don't slam Dane or Italian Garands.