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.

[browningautorifle]

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

[philb]

I would change the rear sight to the correct locking bar type

[browningautorifle]

change the rear sight

Actually, that could be done pretty easily and not so expensive, I prefer them for looks too.

[Col. Colt]

DCM (like CMP) did screwy things with the rifles. I have a DCM H&R M1 I got years ago from them that is BRAND NEW and Correct in all metal parts (no wear, even on the bolt lugs) - everything - dropped into a crappy, beat up well used stock. Looks like they received a bunch of rifles, started to process them by disassembly, and somebody recognized - "Hey, this one is brand new, no need to rework" - and put it into the first stock he could reach. I would think that lockbars would routinely be replaced, again at DCM. But it is known that both receivers and barrels both sometimes went through rework, which put them way out of sequence. I would bet your barrel and receiver are original to each other - look at the wear and marks. CC