Original WW2 M1 rifle

[Garandrew]

Ive shown this SA/GAW 1-44 M1 before..its got traces of a black paint, in some places, including the sling brass..
Any ideas? New crowd here?
Andy
SA144 pictures by AndrewG1957 - Photobucket

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[rongee]

What kind of response are you looking for? And what do you mean by the term "original"? That word can mean different things to different people.

[Devil Dog]

Looks like a honest original gun (less black paint) and I wish it were mine. When refering to M1's, I can take the word "original" in only one way.

[Garandrew]

I was just wondering what the members think of the rifle? Why would the black finish have been there, and does it effect the value?
Andy

[rongee]

Here we go one more time. Rather than concoct my own definition of "original", I went to an online dictionary for the definition: belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning: The book still has its original binding.. Andrew's rifle looks like it has all the components of an M1 produced in 1944. Is it original? Well, the addition of black paint should serve to settle that question. But even if the paint were not there, who can certify that this rifle has not been altered since it was produced 65 years ago? It has passed through many hands since then.

[rongee]

Why would the black finish have been there, and does it effect the value?
Andy

I don't know if anyone can answer the question as to why the paint is there. It could have been applied by most anyone. It is obviously not original to the rifle. Does it affect the value? Most likely, but how much is difficult to say.

[Joe W]

Andy, First off, nice looking example of WW2 rifle. Barrel date of 1-44 is correct. As best I can tell from the pictures the other parts look to be period correct. One thing I might question would be the gas cylinder lock screw. In Duff's book S/N 2466215 has the poppet valve style.
As far as it being "original", as rongee already said, that's hard to say. If all parts are period correct and wear patterns match it becomes an educated guess for anyone. The more M1s a collector has examined and the more "known" originals rifles he has seen ,the better the guess, but, in most cases, a guess never the less. Either way, still a nice rifle most would love to own.
Oh, the paint. Who knows ? All you know for sure is that it don't belong there. Maybe you can remove it.
Semper Fi, Joe

[Devil Dog]

Single slot lock screws can be found on original guns made in mid 1944. I have an original 2.9 with a single slot screw. I think most were changed to the Poppet style because it was necessary to use with grenades and the change was so simple.

[Bob Womack]

The description by war correspondent Ernie Pyle of a Normandy rifle armory told me everything I needed to know about wartime rifle originality. It used to be on Jousters but I found a page containing it HERE. It starts half way down on page 187.

Bob

[latigo 1]

I doubt there were few if any "original" rifles that saw combat. There are original rifles however that were issued to non combat personnell and did not go through a rebuild.