Questions about an earlier M1 Garand

[opzM1]

Since I found this place I'm researching and trying to find out about the guns that i have collected

I have a M1 Garand manufactured in sep/oct 41 and it has a January 42 barrel on it. It came from CMP in the mid 80's as I have the box and papers that it was shipped in and with. My question is how exactly would it end up with a barrel in January 42 with a reciever from 41? could it have the correct barrel/receiver? Or is it just luck that when it went to arsenal it got an early barrel? The stock is post war, probably Korea I guess, but it is mostly all WW2 parts from what I've been able to find and mostly Springfield, with a very few winchester parts.

Just curious as to the weapon I have. It's in outstanding shape and I'm glad to have come across it

Information

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[RCS]

I think that your barrel could well be original to your receiver. Sometimes receivers were set aside to be reworked before final assembly. Years ago I saw SA 544121 with a S-A 10-41 barrel. This 10-41 barrel also had
the area around the gas port chrome plated. The bore gaged just over 1.0 T.E. with an excellent bore. It is believed that this 10-41 barrel had been set aside to be reworked (chrome around the gas port) as this area of
the barrel could have been out of spec. There have been a few other examples of receiver and barrels being "off" by some months too.

[ROCK]

You may have a 60's SA rebuild if it has a date etched on the receiver leg and bedding of the inletting for the trigger housing.

[opzM1]

I've had it all apart many times and have never found an etched date anywhere, but certainly the stock doesn't match the rest of the gun, as I believe the rest is at least WW2 parts. I'm still working on identifying every piece so I know for sure. I'm still learning..

I thought that possibly the receiver and barrel could be original to each other, that's good to know there's a chance anyway.

[Bob Seijas]

Receivers were delayed all the time to correct missing or incorrectly done machining operations. We don't know how long these repairs took. Some were sent elsewhere for varying periods of time, like the one sent to the Stock Shop and returned to Assembly over a year later. Sometimes they dipped into the contingency reserve if the flow of receivers was interrupted for things like machine breakdown, sharpening, etc. These things occasionally distort exact matches of components. I don't mean to excuse all incongruous guns, but we should not be too dogmatic about exact matches, oddball things happened, and SA didn't care a whit about serial numbers.

[Joe W]

"The stock is post war, probably Korea I guess, but it is mostly all WW2 parts"

The stock is post Korean war and the rear sights are post WW2.

[TDH]

like the one sent to the Stock Shop and returned to Assembly over a year later. Sometimes they dipped into the contingency reserve if the flow of receivers was interrupted for things like machine breakdown, sharpening

Anyone that is familiar with manufacturing knows that as an operator meets his quota the extra parts go in a container and when they change to a different part the extras are set to the side and any parts from past runs of the new part is brought back to the floor. Lost a good job because of that one time. I was building differentials for lawn tractors and we had a model change. My good parts went against the wall and bad parts brought to the line that went into the transmissions which later came apart. I was on the line the day the transmission was built though I didn't build the failed part. That's when I found out my last name was Goat and my first was Scape.

[opzM1]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll take some more pictures and see if anyone can help me identify things.

[opzM1]

A few more pictures

[browningautorifle]

The trigger guard is too late also, a full set of pics would help us to help you identify all the parts.