Need help identifing a possible NM Garand

[Bob Seijas]

Looks like a service shop match gun, not SA NM. The bedding is not typical SA and you do not mention white serial digits in the barrel channel and on the trigger housing.

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[Ray Rieli]

Looks like a service shop match gun, not SA NM. The bedding is not typical SA and you do not mention white serial digits in the barrel channel and on the trigger housing.

I purchased this gun at the CMP north store so I assume it is a Greek return. It had a complete WWII trigger group in it and a service rear sight. It was covered in grease and it was obvious it had seen normal service duty from the condition of the wood. The stock has the last 4 digits of the SN etched (not painted) in the channel of the butt stock. The wood is so rough (but I believe original) that I am refinishing it. To me it looks like a nice gun treated bad...

Thank you

Ray

---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

Congrats, nice rifle. how does it shoot?

Have not shot it yet. The muzzle gages 1.25 and the throat gages 3.75 The bore is clean and bright and the stock lockup is tight so I am hoping it will shoot good. Might need to seat the bullets a little long for the throat...

Ray

[Joe W]

Looks like a service shop match gun, not SA NM. The bedding is not typical SA and you do not mention white serial digits in the barrel channel and on the trigger housing.

Agree about the stock bedding not being SA but is there any chance that this was originally a 1963 NM rifle in the hands of a military team and restocked and bedded by military AMU ??? WW2 trigger housing and standard rear sights could have been replacements when in Greek hands.

[Ray Rieli]

Agree about the stock bedding not being SA but is there any chance that this was originally a 1963 NM rifle in the hands of a military team and restocked and bedded by military AMU ??? WW2 trigger housing and standard rear sights could have been replacements when in Greek hands.

Joe thank you for your comments. That is a possibility that the AMU upgraded it. From my reading, many of the parts which came on it would have been 1962-1963 vintage upgrades which could have been done at SA or some other facility. Being that I got the gun directly from CMP, it must never have been in civilian hands. So like you say a AMU may have done the upgrade. As I mentioned earlier the stock has the last 4 digits of the SN etched (I think) in the channel. Is that something the AMU would do? The barrel chamber is in the white and the condition of the barrel and receiver finish is a matching worn dark grey/green look. The barreled receiver looks original for a 1963 rebuild. In fact all the parts have significant worn finish, especially the stock wood. I understand the rear match sight and match trigger group being replaced if put in the hands of ground troops, the big question is why did it go to Greece in the first place (I assume it is one of the Greek returns)?

Thank you

Ray

[Joe W]

. I understand the rear match sight and match trigger group being replaced if put in the hands of ground troops, the big question is why did it go to Greece in the first place (I assume it is one of the Greek returns)?

Thank you

Ray

Based on a 2006 article that Bob Seijas wrote for the GCA Journal, it seems that in 1973, when the DCM ended sales of NM rifles, there was about 9000 NM rifles still unsold. In 1974, 3,564 were disassembled and the remaining 5,677 given to Greece under a MAP. Seems that most were used by the Greeks as regular service rifles. Yours may have been one of these rifles or, as Jim said, a former military built match rifle that went to Greece, mixed in with thousands of other service rifles, the U.S. also sent under a MAP. It does look now as though alot of the 6 mil numbered rifles now being released by CMP may have escaped that fate but, somewhere along the way, lost there stocks and some original parts. If Bob Seijas comes back to this thread he may shed more light on the subject.