M1D Garand Thoughts?

[CODFan]

I admit I do not know much about these Rifles and I am looking for some input.

The barrel is marked D7312555 (under handguard) and is dated S-A-5-51.

Are any additional pictures or other information required?

Note - the Rifle is located in Canada

Thank you in advance for your help.

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Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[CINDERS]

That looks really a nice pick up but one question I have wanted to ask on the Garand set up like that was a similar thing the Brits did in WWI with a side mounted scope and from memory it created some very unusual problems in shooting them. I would surely like some of those lucky enough to have fired either type to give a break down on the fores and againsts of such a set up. Is it a Saginaw sniper rifle or am I on another globe in space, forgive me it is a bit late here an is past my sleeping time. Thanks for sharing your pictures was a cool thing

[RCS]

I was once involved with training new men who were not familiar with the M1D. Three M1D rifles were issued per company and men who had qualified as expert were selected to train on the M1D. Because of the awkward arrangement of the scope on the left side, you have a different position to sight the scope. The new men would often drop their head down and pick-up the iron sight to shoot rather then twist around to pick up the scope picture.

It takes time to train someone to use the M1D and the awkward sighting arrangement, our M1D rifles were never fired with the flash hider.

The Saginaw is related to M1 carbines

[M94/14]

The rifle you show in the pics is one of the M1D's that Century Arms brought in to Canada in around 1980 or 81. These rifles were complete M1D's that were packaged into two lots that were sold out of Norway. The rifles in one lot, and the scopes and mounts in the other. Century Arms won the bid for the rifles, and Sherwood Int'l in the U.S. won the bid for the scopes and mounts.
Your rifle still has the Norwegian sticker on the back of the heel of the receiver. These rifles were built into M1D's at Springfield Armoury in the early '50's, and like mine, yours has the dark almost black finish to the metal that was peculiar to Springfield Armoury rifles built or rebuilt during that time period.
Your Pics show a complete M1D with scope and mount and all the included accouterments, which means that Century Arms may have purchased scopes/mounts from the previously mentioned Sherwood Int'l, or some dealer may have bought the rifles and scopes/mounts from these two vendors to make the rifles complete again. Possibly that's what happened to the one I own, as it was originally purchased complete from Lever Arms in Nov. of 1981.
It's very important to remember here, that although the rifles and scopes/mounts were separated into two lots, and sold to two separate bidders, that the rifles and scopes/mounts were matched to each other before being packaged separately.

What you have shown is an M1D that is about as real as they get, enjoy.

Edit to add...all of the Norwegian issue examples I have seen to date which is three, have all had 6 digit or less serial numbers.

[M1 sniper]

Very nice. I just sighted in my CMP m1d special in at 300yards with a cold bore it was grouping pretty tight 3inches or so! After the barrel heated up the groups opened up to approx 4.0 inches or so. I was pretty impressed with these guns.

[Bob Seijas]

Competitive shooters might scoff at 4" groups, but not a combat soldier... you could make head shots with that.

[M1 sniper]

Competitive shooters might scoff at 4" groups, but not a combat soldier... you could make head shots with that.

So true!haha

[no4mk1t]

If you remove the action from the stock and examine the right receiver leg, there should be the initials of the depot that performed the conversion to a "D" and the date electro penciled thereon. Mine is a Winchester and was converted in 1969.
The M1D is essentially a standard issue M1 with a scope added. Converted rifles can be from any manufacturer, and any era. They were not accurized or tuned for improved accuracy.
The leather cheek piece has 3 felt pads in it that can be tailored to the face of the shooter to align the right eye with the scope when using a proper cheek weld.
An M1 with a good bore and most important, a good muzzle can be tuned to shoot in the 2.5 MOA range with match quality ammo.

If you intend to shoot it, only use ammo intended for the M1. Hornady and Federal have specific loads that are M1 friendly. If you hand load, read up and use powders appropriate for the M1's gas system.
Replace the op rod spring. After 60+ years, it has almost certainly taken a set and is no longer within spec. Fulton Armory has newly made springs from one of the original GI contractors made to the USGI print. Be sure to properly grease it.
Operating Rod Spring, New, Fulton Armory GI Spec