Please HELP National Match Garand Mess. Hope I Didnt Lose on This One. HELP

[t120tr6r]

Hi you all. I bought a beautiful National Match M-1 garand. For this rifle i paid $1600 and I purchased it from a knowlegable man. I got it apart and found some odd things. I will make a list below. This rifle is exceptionally nice. The trigger has been worked to 4.6 pounds. It has won several matches and will shoot in one hole at 100 yards. I know for a fact that it has been professionally set up for CMP competition. Now the troubles:

Serial no. 1656494 This is early-mid WW2. Springfield receiver of coarse

Stock is unmarked, walnut and very nice. It is glass bedded with the old brown material used years ago. This is done so well you can read the receiver numbers in the bedding. Obviously a professional job. Also, the stock and handguards have "LO 494" or maybe "LD 494" written inside in white chalk. 494 is last 3 numbers of the rifles s/n. the but plate is a bit small on the stock. Front barrel band faintly marked NM.

Trigger group marked "494" in white chalk on left side and also on the inside of the floor plate. Drawing no. 6528290-SA. No other markings.

Action: Front sight correct NM 062. Rear site NM marked on arperture/elevation ramp, but none on sight ear. also windage dial is unmarked but it is 1/2 MOA per click. (8 clicks per revolution. Hooded arpeture marked .520.

Barrel is a replacement marked (stamped) "NM" in the usual place on the left side of the bbl. Under the op-rod is marked "Geneseo Ill. 30/06" slightly forward is "SS" and that is all.
receiver drawing no. D 28291 27 heat lot no "041B diamond"

Bolt D28287-12SA
RE5B

So, this is a really nice rifle, but:
1. Is it a real armory made National Match or a later assembled rifle
2. What is it worth
3. How desireable is this old rifle?

Thank you all for this forum and your help. Thanks.

Shane

Information

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[Phil McGrath]

Hi you all. I bought a beautiful National Match M-1 garand. For this rifle i paid $1600 and I purchased it from a knowlegable man. I got it apart and found some odd things. I will make a list below. This rifle is exceptionally nice. The trigger has been worked to 4.6 pounds. It has won several matches and will shoot in one hole at 100 yards. I know for a fact that it has been professionally set up for CMP competition. Now the troubles:

Serial no. 1656494 This is early-mid WW2. Springfield receiver of coarse

Stock is unmarked, walnut and very nice. It is glass bedded with the old brown material used years ago. This is done so well you can read the receiver numbers in the bedding. Obviously a professional job. Also, the stock and handguards have "LO 494" or maybe "LD 494" written inside in white chalk. 494 is last 3 numbers of the rifles s/n. the but plate is a bit small on the stock. Front barrel band faintly marked NM.

Trigger group marked "494" in white chalk on left side and also on the inside of the floor plate. Drawing no. 6528290-SA. No other markings.

Action: Front sight correct NM 062. Rear site NM marked on arperture/elevation ramp, but none on sight ear. also windage dial is unmarked but it is 1/2 MOA per click. (8 clicks per revolution. Hooded arpeture marked .520.

Barrel is a replacement marked (stamped) "NM" in the usual place on the left side of the bbl. Under the op-rod is marked "Geneseo Ill. 30/06" slightly forward is "SS" and that is all.
receiver drawing no. D 28291 27 heat lot no "041B diamond"

Bolt D28287-12SA
RE5B

So, this is a really nice rifle, but:
1. Is it a real armory made National Match or a later assembled rifle
2. What is it worth
3. How desireable is this old rifle?

Thank you all for this forum and your help. Thanks.

Shane

Sorry, Shane.
#1. What you have is a WWII era reciever that SAI rebarreled, they used too provide this service if you bought there barrel and sent in your barreled action and stripped bolt they would install it and set the headspace, I believe that they would also refinnish you rifle for a fair price at the time.
#2. with the commercial barrel its worth the sum of its parts.
#3. with the commercial barrel there is no collector interest/value.
What its worth and how desireable are hard too answer without seeing pic's, but a clean shooter M1 in a nice stock and fresh barrel about $800

Done with the bad news, the good news is that I'm sure its a better than avg. shooter and will give years of shooting fun, another option is too find a late postwar barrel if your looking too keep it USGI or a Criterion barrel, they can be found for fair prices and when the current barrel is shot out replace it.

FWIW my .02

[M1Riflenut]

Even if it was an original USGI SA NM at one time, it is not original anymore. More likely it is an SA Inc NM rifle as Phil posted above. As far as its real world value, you probaby overpaid a bit. But then if you had a good garandsmith build you one, with properly bedded stock etc, you would most likely spend almost as much. The real value is in how it shoots. If its a real tackdriver, and you plan on competing with it, then you got a great rifle for a fair price. If you bought it strictly for collector appeal, well, it has little. It's all in how you look at it. When it comes to NM rifle though, always do thorough research BEFORE you buy. If you lose the deal during the time it takes you to check it out, no big deal, another will come along soon enough. You should know that EVERYONE here has made a less than desirable purchase, many of us have done it more than once, so your not alone. Just be thankful that you now have the internet as a research tool. It was'nt always like that years ago.

[t120tr6r]

Hey all. I called SA today and got lots more info: Acording to Springfield armory, Thisis indeed an original National Match rifle. In 1989 is was sent to SA for a rebuild. SA sent the rifle to a man in Georgia named Glenn Nelson. Aparently he was a very skilled gunsmith and armorer. He replaced the barrel with a first quality barrel made by Douglas, added a new "heavy" stock and oil finishes it. Also it was "match accurised" including bedding the stock.
So, does this info make this rifle any more desirable. How about value. I still think I over paid. Thanks again.

[Phil McGrath]

Hey all. I called SA today and got lots more info: Acording to Springfield armory, Thisis indeed an original National Match rifle. In 1989 is was sent to SA for a rebuild. SA sent the rifle to a man in Georgia named Glenn Nelson. Aparently he was a very skilled gunsmith and armorer. He replaced the barrel with a first quality barrel made by Douglas, added a new "heavy" stock and oil finishes it. Also it was "match accurised" including bedding the stock.
So, does this info make this rifle any more desirable. How about value. I still think I over paid. Thanks again.

Your rifle was originaly built as a std infantry M1 Garand durring WWII, there were no National Matches durring the war, the National Matches did not resume untell 1946, after your rifle was originaly made. Years later a shooter wanted a M1 Garand and could have picked one up thru the DCM or from a gunshow. After the original sale the rifle could have changed owners many times, However someone in 1989 sent the M1 to SAI for a NM upgrade, SAI then sent the rifle too Glenn Nelson a former USAMTU smith. Glenn Nelson rebuilt the rifle too National Match specs and sent it too SAI and from SAI too its rightfull owner.

Yes, having a Glenn Nelson tuned rifle does add too the rifles value, condition is still everything. For a nice clean rifle, good refinnish, clean muzzle, low T/E and M/E, soild bedding, good draw preasure on triggerguard closing, clean breaking trigger job, tight fitting gas cylinder. well you get the Idea, $1200. is a fair price.

[Bob Seijas]

The Service Rifle matches were scheduled to resume after the war, but there was a problem integrating the 8-shot M1 with the NM course of fire designed for the 5-shot '03 Springfield. One or the other would be disadvantaged. This dragged on until the Korean War broke and postponed them further. They finally resumed in 1953.

I have a bit of a problem with Nelson's stamping NM at the front like an SA NM M1. What's that all about if it isn't intended to fool somebody?

[Joe W]

The Service Rifle matches were scheduled to resume after the war, but there was a problem integrating the 8-shot M1 with the NM course of fire designed for the 5-shot '03 Springfield. One or the other would be disadvantaged. This dragged on until the Korean War broke and postponed them further. They finally resumed in 1953.

I have a bit of a problem with Nelson's stamping NM at the front like an SA NM M1. What's that all about if it isn't intended to fool somebody?

Maybe it wasn't Glenn Nelson that stamped the "NM" on the barrel. It may have been SA Inc., after it was returned to them.

[Nodda Duma]

$1200-$1500 is about what you'd expect to pay to get a Garand set up for the National Matches. Remember, Garands and M1As dominated Camp Perry for quite some time, and still do very well there. A single hole at 100 yds would be a nice setup indeed.

As a historical WW2 collector piece, your rifle bears about the same resemblance to an original Garand as a P-51 set up for the Reno air races does to a mustang taking off from an airfield in England in 1944. Thing is, both versions are beautiful examples of classic machinery at its finest. What happened to that rifle after the war is as much a part of its history as what it went through in it's first 2 1/2 years of existence, and it sure as hell doesn't mean it's worthless.

Who was it who said the only interesting rifles are accurate rifles?

[Phil McGrath]

I don't think anyone is faking anything with Geneseo ILL stamped into the barrel, I would like too know what all the stampings and there style in the barrel. NM and SS Geneseo ILL. doesn't discribe much is it a standard weight or heavy weight barrel this will narrow down who made the barrel.

In this case Pic's would really help.

[gulliver62]

I have a Glenn Nelson build match M1A from 1982. It has a replacement barrel marked GN - 82. So that is how the M1A barrels were marked at least some of them. Validated this through an old M1A smith named 'Hook' Boutin who went through the rifle for me. 'Hook' trained Glenn in the early days.
VAlue is tough on the Garand. If I wanted a great shooter and was willing to spend $1500, I would build a rifle (actually have done that) with a new Kreiger or Douglass barrel.
Obviously it's not an original or even correct NM anymore.
For me there would be some value in having a Nelson build Garand especially since I have the M1A but it would only be a small premium.