Has anyone seen this before? - Barrel to receiver weld.

[Joe W]

It was a "ceremonial" rifle loaned by the US Army to veterans organizations for ceremonial purposes. The purpose of the welds was to render the rifle incapable of semi auto fire. The valve of the gas cylinder lock screw was drilled out or otherwise removed so that the gas would escape through the lock screw and not drive the op-rod to the rear. To make it difficult to restore to semi auto the gas cylinder lock and screw were welded together and the barrel welded to the receiver so that you could not remove barrel and gas cylinder as a unit, replace and use as Semi auto. I believe, at some point it was decided this was a dumb idea and the practice ended. Alot of these rifles are found with only the barrel to receiver weld.
I purchased a "ceremonial" less wood from CMP about a year ago. All it had was the small tack weld on the barrel to receiver, front end was fine. The barrel was a like new, unfired H&R replacement barrel. It has turned into one of the best shooting M1s that I have. I don't even give that small weld a thought. Others may belive otherwise but I don't believe it will ever cause a problem.
You can find an article on the "Rifle, Ceremonial. Cal. 30 M1" in Vol. 7 Number 1 (Winter 1992) of the GCA Journal. You can find another interesting article in the Fall 1996 issue, page 23, regarding the " Ceremonial" rifle".
Anyone with a real interest in the M1 Rifle should consider joining the GCA. Answers to most of your questions can be found within the pages of one of the GCA Journals. I am sure those that are members would agree that the GCA is the best bang for your buck when it comes to information regarding the M1 Garand.