swapping M1 parts

[DaveN]

after receiving several HRA and SA garands from CMP i noticed the op rods, trigger groups and some bolts were mixed. wanting to learn how to take down the garand anyway I swaped the rods and tgs and now the rifles are all correct, and the parts are all correct to the period of mftd. do you think someone does this on purpose for someone who orders 1 M1 has a mix master
but I now have 6 rifles that are correct. Though I would not upon sale claim they came that way.

Information

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[Calif-Steve]

Most likely the rifles were received in Greece and inspected by them. The rifles were heavily coated in thick grease and were cleaned by dropping parts in a solvent tank. As they were reassembled it was "first come first served". No regard to manufacturer. Got it?

[DaveN]

oh yea i knew it was simple. but its fun to take them apart and play with them when you cant shoot them very often.

[Akulahawk]

Just make sure that they all headspace correctly. They were designed to be pretty much interchangeable, but once you start swapping bolts out...

[AlReiter]

+1 on the headspace check. If you swapped any bolts, the rifles should be headspace checked before shooting.

[DaveN]

thank you i had thought about that and will have h spc checked for sure or swap back as it is easy to do and i kept records of all parts swapped.

[Redleg]

Yes, they paid the people to do the work, either here or over there.
They paid the armorers no premium to keep things original. That would have defeated the purpose of interchangibility anyway. The concept has been proven to be a success.
Now we can put them back.

[bearhunter]

I seem to be missing something here. When these rifles were originally built, there was very little chance that all of the parts would be matching from inception. The components came from different contractors and they were shipped back and forth as need arose. This is normal. The same thing happened with many rifles, Mausers, Lee Enfields etc. Savage and Long Branch traded parts on a regular basis and shipped parts to the UK as well to speed up their production lines.

I really suspect an "all matching" Garand. That is usually the first tell tale sign that someone has been "upgrading" it. Now, that being said, I'm not saying the rifle isn't correct but it is suspect right off the bat.

Please enlighten me if I'm wrong on this but I saw several hundred Garands that were unmessed with and looke as new in a shop in Vancouver. They came in nice plastic bags inside of cardboard boxes and were destined for sale out of the country. None of them were matching. All were NIB and covered in a light coat of cosmolene.

[jmoore]

Garands were not subcontracted like other rifles for WWII. Korea was a bit different. So yes, a rifle should have quite particular parts as "new". Promptly on delivery, however, that began to change!

Also remember that there was a huge post war rebuild and storage program that stirred the pot almost altogether. "Matching" rifles are more fantasy than fact w/ a very few exceptions for WWII weapons. Korean vintage stuff may, however, be much more likely to be "as left the factory".

Oh, yeah, Springfield was even overhauling rifles DURING WWII, just to confuse things further.

Its fun putting them back together, though!

Just buy them for what the individual parts are worth, plus a variable premium for "matching" patina and/or wear. BTW barrel gaging is not a great indicator (w/in reason) of how well a particular rifle will shoot.

Just my observation- believe what you want- its all for funsies anyway.

ETA Just think, even if the "rare exception" original rifles amount to 1/10 of one percent, that's still about 3,800 "as manufactured" WWII M1s! Granted, most of 'em will likely be 1945 vintage....

[Charlie59]

I seem to be missing something here. When these rifles were originally built, there was very little chance that all of the parts would be matching from inception. The components came from different contractors and they were shipped back and forth as need arose. This is normal. The same thing happened with many rifles, Mausers, Lee Enfields etc. Savage and Long Branch traded parts on a regular basis and shipped parts to the UK as well to speed up their production lines.

I really suspect an "all matching" Garand. That is usually the first tell tale sign that someone has been "upgrading" it. Now, that being said, I'm not saying the rifle isn't correct but it is suspect right off the bat.

Please enlighten me if I'm wrong on this but I saw several hundred Garands that were unmessed with and looke as new in a shop in Vancouver. They came in nice plastic bags inside of cardboard boxes and were destined for sale out of the country. None of them were matching. All were NIB and covered in a light coat of cosmolene.

I suspect matched Garands as well, and ones with all the parkerizing the same shade.
Charlie