Is this M1D Authentic?

[bearhunter]

Thanks for looking Rick B. Much appreciated.

[purple]

A WRA trigger housing would be correct for an original M1D. M1Ds were not newly manufactured rifles but were assembled in US Ordnance facilities from any US made Garand parts on hand,with the obvious exception of the unique M1D barrels,handguards,and scope mounts.

[big bear]

I have an M1D I bought in Vancouver about 22 or so years ago, not from Levers but from a shop that is no more. Story was that it had belonged to a Filipino miltary officer. I never put much credence to the story but the price was right and I like Garands. It came with cheek pad. If I get my son to post some pics, what would be of interest?

[bearhunter]

Any information we can get is of interest. One word of caution though, be careful of a story when buying a firearm, buy the rifle, not the story.
That's why I'm trying to find out if the rifle I've posted pics of is authentic.

M1D rifles have been copied big time and the reproduction parts to do a conversion are available on a couple of sites, including M84 scope, bracket, hand guard, base and cheek rest, for less than $600US.

It's understandable then when people are skeptical. I've seen dozens of M1D rifles at Lever Arms and a bunch more that were broken up for parts in Montreal at International Firearms. After Lever and a couple of other buyers grabbed what they wanted, the rest were torn down for parts to ship into the US.

The rifles I saw there came from Holland, Denmark, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some had distinguishing tags, stickers, crests or other stamps, most were as purchased or lend leased. Some had obvious accessories, still intact, like cheek pads and slings or both types of flash eliminators but most were plain and the accessories had either been stripped off or from the looks of things, never attached.

I cried when I heard they were going to be torn down for parts. The parts were worth twice as much in the US as they could get for a complete rifle in Canada. International did much of their work on site or had it farmed out to locals.

[John R.]

I saw those NORWEGIAN M1D's at CenturyInternational's Ste Laurent Quebec Warehouse a few days after they arrived in early 1980.
Manny W the General Manager was showing me around before we went out for lunch and told me that they had bought them at a Norwegian Gov't AUCTION(sealed bids) and they were still in the ORIGINAL SPRINGFIELD ARSENAL CRATES complete with the NATO US Flag and hands stickers etc as well as the NSN and NATO 1005-xxxx etc stock numbers.
You got the RIFLE,web sling,yellow capped clear plastic oiler thong kit and M2 flash hider(mostly "Heavy" Harts with the odd SA)as well as the ORIGINAL MRT 3-52 leather cheek rest.
Grease proof greyish/greenish coloured sticker in Norwegian right in front of your eye below the lip of the receiver heels.I took it off and binned it.
Manny wasn't happy because Mike Kokin of Sherwood Int'l in Northridge had outbid Century for the scopes,mounts and web cases for them so they were selling the rifles without the scopes.
I paid $395(less 20 pct) for mine and bought a scope from Mike Kokin in 1983.Still have the rifle but sold the scope and mount when I was able to replace it with a DCM Sale ONE INCH Weaver K4-60B in 1989.I really dislike the M84 scopes but the Weavers are very much okay.
My rifle is a SA with a receiver in the 2.5 million range and all of those Century Rifles were RIGHTEOUS with the crates ALL STENCILLED US Rifle Cal.30 M1D(Sniper's) or whatever it was.
Would be nice to see a few more.JR

[bearhunter]

I remember the Norwegian M1Ds as well. There were also several pallets of well used M1 rifles and M1 carbines there at the same time. they were stacked like cord wood criss cross on the pallets and about 10 deep. They had definitely seen some rough service but looked better than the recent imports a few years ago.

About the same time, the Hong Kong examples showed up.

I haven't seen Manny or that big guy that was in charge of the warehouse, since they closed their doors in Canada. Do you know what became of them?

[John R.]

I remember the Norwegian M1Ds as well. There were also several pallets of well used M1 rifles and M1 carbines there at the same time. they were stacked like cord wood criss cross on the pallets and about 10 deep. They had definitely seen some rough service but looked better than the recent imports a few years ago.

About the same time, the Hong Kong examples showed up.

I haven't seen Manny or that big guy that was in charge of the warehouse, since they closed their doors in Canada. Do you know what became of them?

Manny died around 2000 and if it's Tony Tornyi(the Hungarian) you mean he and his son own TRADEX.
I knew Manny and Bill Sucher from age 15 and spent more time at 1011 Bleury the original shop, than I did in classes during my first two years in Meds at McGill.
ALL the Norwegian M1D's were unissued since conversion to M1D status and the crates were the originals from Springfield Armory.That's why I always laugh at this BS that ONLY a CMP M1D is a REAL M1D.I should have asked Manny for one of the original crates because the contents therof were clearly stencilled on them.Some of the Israeli M1Ds were quite nice but a lot of the rest including the Danish issue ones were not all that great.
Denmark ALSO had M1C's and I often wonder WHO stole them.Was it the guys at TOPMARK in Denmark or the guys who went there from the CMP helping themselves AGAIN to all the "good stuff". A few bits were still left in the crates of parts etc that Alan Lever got in at the end and M1C parts were also listed on the manifests but had been stolen."VERRY INTERESTING" as the man said.JR

[bearhunter]

Well there you go, It's to bad about Manny, I liked him. A real stand up gentleman. And yes the big guy with the mustache was named Tony and had an accent. I was just talking to him on the phone the other day and thinking " I know that voice". I will make sure to say HI next time. He probably won't remember me though.

[GUTS]

The barrel drawing number ending in 555 should be UNDER the rear handguard on top of the barrel. It appears your scope mount does have rounded ends on the hinge pin so I would say it is genuine USGI. Without paperwork to substantiate the rifle you will always be told it is worth the value of the parts. It could be a genuine USGI M1D but without definitive paperwork to prove it you have what must be assumed to be a parts rifle.

The earlier M1C and some very early M1D's(SA) had the drawing number on the top of the barrel under the handguard, Most of the M1D's had the number on the side of the barrel, you could see it when you locked the bolt back. The correct number is: D7312555 MD 34 SA month year. This is the barrel on my M1D.



And the stock. A correct stock is normally marked like this.

Cheeck pad holes.



I also feel that there is a few different types of M1D. Original, Authentic, and just plain fake.

[JGaynor]

My M1D's Barrel is marked as follows:
Barrel – Under rear hand guard app. 3.5 inches in front of receiver ring (12 o’clock)
Drawing Number D7312555 A178B

Symbol - Ordnance Escutcheon (crossed cannons encircled by belt) M M


Barrel Date: at 3 o’clock viewed from chamber (viewable with bolt retracted)

S-A – 10-52

Letter “P” lying on its side

My understanding is that the M1D Barrel Assembly (D7312555 bbl w/ scope base) was marked in the majority of cases at 12 O'clock under the rear handguard.

Regards,

Jim