British Proof-marks on a March '42 Winchester

[cgroc09]

Very nice rifle and a bit uncommon to find a Winchester M1 Garand with British markings, essentially with red paint, or at least a ghost trace, on the hand guard lower band area. Congratulations.

The gas cylinder is definitely Springfield and possibly the lock also. The cylinder and lock are definitely incorrect but who knows why they were replaced. Was the original cylinder damaged on the Winchester cylinder ? Maybe the finish was damaged and someone replaced it with a nicer looking one ? The finish looks original on these pieces and it was common for the finish to degrade without use or 'fall off' the early Springfield gas cylinders and gas locks. The single slot screw looks to be correct and with, what appears as, original dulite finish.

Most everything else appears to be Winchester. There are certain finishes on the parts that are correct by what information and pictures we can see. More and better pictures would be very helpful in determining any markings, finish, etc..

The annealed heels weren't done until a little bit later during production at Springfield. I'm unsure if Winchester annealed any heels during production as I don't have that information yet in my research. BUT the heels on earlier rifles could and would be annealed by simply removing the trigger group and then the receiver group from the stock. The rear of the receiver could be annealed without dissassembly of the group and then reassembled back with the stock and trigger group and the rifle returned to stores or service. Not uncommon to find each rifles that are all original or substantially original except the heels were annealed.

I would be hesitant to start changing parts or dissmissing the rifle without further inspection and research. There are some unanswered questions that can be answered easily with more pictures and research.

Paul