My garand

[Joe W]

Could be a team built rifle, AMU or Marine Corps. As you said, the use of screws to attach the lower band to the front handguard would indicate military built as SA used glue for this purpose. I would suppose the 77 series NM barrels were available to the military team armorers. In any case it is a nice looking rifle that was used for the purpose it was built for.

[andiarisaka]

Looks like the windage knob has more than 4 clicks of adjustment per rotation, an early version of the NM sight, before the NM2A. Might be a detent ball behind the knob. This was used to get 1/2 minute windage clicks out of the regular sight base.

[grif684]

I will have to take a closer look at that......I will let you know, thanks....

[Joe W]

After taking another look at the barrel markings I am pretty sure it is not an SA built NM rifle. If the barrel was installed at SA on a NM rifle it would have a second proof P and a punch mark in the loop of the second "P". It would also have the targeting "T" mark. The barrel is a replacement and could have been used by a military team armorer to build a match rifle. As the barrels were available the rifle could also have been built by a civilian gunsmith or installed at Camp Perry. Hard to say for sure.

This is what SA bedding looks like. Yours looks to be military.

[grif684]

Well, the mystery continues, I received a response letter today from the CMP, and it stated they could not find a record of my serial number, that they "have very little information for anything that was sold before 1996". Unless there is some documentation of AMU built rifles, I guess I will never know for certain.....at least the CMP response was quick, only two weeks from the day I mailed my request....

[grif684]

I wish I had paid more attention to the things my dad told me when I was younger, but I was able to track down the history of my M1 with the help of mom and a good friend of both my father and the original owner (both deceased unfortunately), who remembered quite a bit. The man who owned it originally was a Korean war vet and avid sportsman and competitive shooter. He purchased the rifle from the DCM around 1960, then had it built to match specs by an AMU armorer at Camp Perry in '63 or '64. Shortly afterwards he bought NM garand, and sold his converted match rifle to my father in 1966. My dad then used it at the matches at Camp Perry in 1967 (which I attended according to my mother, but have no recollection of, as I was a little over two at the time). My dad intended on competing in the years after, but was unable in '68 due to a strike at his job, then in '69 my parents purchased a new home, so after the '67 matches, it was waxed up and put away until my dads passing last year. After closer inspection it appears that the rifle was indeed rebuilt to match specs with a NM barrel, op rod, gas tube, rear sight aperature and ball bearing converted base, as well as a new bedded stock, and unitized handguard, done with slotted wood screws. I'm sure my dad gave me the rifles history more than once over the years, just goes to show you, pay attention.....

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I wish I had paid more attention to the things my dad told me when I was younger

Don't we all.
I am glad you were diligent and were able to fill in the gaps in your knowlege of your fathers Garand. May I suggest you commit it to writing and keep it with the rifle for the next generation.
Beautifil rifle made more so with the famly history. Well done!

[Joe W]

Happy to hear that you were able to get the history of your dads rifle. I would think that to you, that rifle is worth more than any documented SA built NM rifle could ever be. I hope it remains in your family for many more generations. As "Hooked On History" has said, "well done".