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

[drharm]

I recently purchased this garand on Gunbroker from blaze2000 (aka Walsh Gun & Tackle in Caseville, Michigan). Unfortunately the seller did not disclose the weld that you see in the photo. I did not remove the rear guard during the 3-day inspection so shame on me. The rifle is mine, weld and all!

I'm looking for help and input.

Has anyone seen a small weld like this on a garand and do you know why it is done?

The rifle appears to be in very good condition otherwise with a clean sharp bore. I do not have a bore scope, so I can't inspect it from the inside.

Your help is appreciated.

Thank you.
Darrell (aka drharm)

Information

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[AKA Hugh Uno]

the seller had no idea and ended up giving me a very fair discount on the rifle. I parted it out. worked out fine for both of us. I think it was a WRA to boot with a WRA barrel! These are VFW blank firing rifles and are probably perfectly safe to shoot, just not very desirable.

[ihcfan55]

It is a salute rifle, used for firing the 21-gun salute at funerals. A large quantity of these rifles were sold recently by the CMP. I personally would not shoot live ammo in the rifle, as the weld probably weakened the barrel.

[Calif-Steve]

You might check with CMP. They are/were VFW rifles and it may well be some VFW Post is now short one its rifles. By the way, they are on loan from the US Army.

[Sunray]

It's a DP(drill purpose) rifle. Not a shooter.
"...21-gun salute..." A 21 gun salute is for Royalty and Heads of State.
"...do not have a bore scope..." A bit of white paper in the open action and the rifle held into a light source will allow you to see the bore from the muzzle.

[AKA Hugh Uno]

isn't very significant or deep. The M1 is massively over-engineered and if everything else checked out, I wouldn't worry about shooting one. IN fact, you could make a legitimate argument that since the tiny area in question would be softer (after it slow cooled), it would be less brittle and actually LESS apt to cause any problems. Exactly Why the DCM did this to begin with escapes me (i.e. a minor tack weld vs. the much harder to reverse drill-rifles).

[0311Shooter]

Saw this with my AL Garands but they were brazed around the top. Most of the bores were in deplorable shape, pitted and unable to completely clean, even with Sweets.

One, however, was not so bad and cleaned up quite well. Took it to the range (removed the BFA) and it shot fairly accurate at 100 yds. It must have not been used at too many ceremonies, or somehow it managed to get cleaned before they broke out the beer.

Amazing rifles those M-1's.

[Calif-Steve]

Just for information; the US Army is doing this just so the VFW will not part out the rifles. CMP isn't doing this at all. This could be a "missing" VFW Garand.

[ihcfan55]

These salute rifles were returned to Anniston Army Depot by VFW posts, and they apparently were surplus to Army needs, because the Army gave them to the CMP, who sold them in the stores. (CMP did not do the welding; the Army did the welding.) I know they were available in the stores, because I bought two of them myself at the South Store.

CMP called these rifles "salute rifles", because, unlike the drill rifles, these salute rifles did not have the breeches welded shut, or the bolt face welded. The salute rifles were fully functional, and were capable of firing blanks, and had been used for such at ceremonies and funerals, hence the "salute" description used by the CMP.

I still do not think a welded barrel is safe. Welding changes the metal composition of the barrel, and does make the barrel more likely to fail. I don't know about you, but my life is worth more than the hundred or so bucks it would take to rebarrel one of these receivers.

[Chief]

I don't beleive that the Army is still welding these ceremonial rifles. I have seen many within the last couple of years that do not have the welds. They are fully functional Garands minus the gas cylinder lock. Some are real nice rifles. Of course non of these rifles were VFW rifles, they were MCL, AL and a local police dept.
regards,
Chief