There have been some good threads discussing Garands but I'm unable to find anything using Search. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I would appreciate anyone assisting me with locating some of the older threads.

https://www.google.com/search?q=m1+garand+texags&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS930US930&oq=m1+garand+texags&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i546l3j69i60.4787j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8


Topic and texags search on google works better than the native search function

Thank you!

What do you want to know? I have 6 from the CMP.

Selling any?

Nope.

My Dad, a WW2 veteran, bought an M1 in the 1990s. Based on my conversations with him I believe he acquired it through CMP. The rifle seemed to disappear when he passed in 2004. A week ago I received one from a family member but they are not sure it had been the one he bought. Now I'm trying to learn more about M1s and about this one specifically.

My son, class of '97, was living with my Dad when the rifle was bought and he helped Dad unpack and clean it. According to him it arrived packed in cosmoline and wrapped in wax paper. His description of the rifle matches this one perfectly.

My son believed it was a new rifle. It certainly seems to be in pristine condition but I've only had a brief chance to look at it. I'm just starting my education on these but based on what little I've read I would be surprised if it is new. I just don't know.

Back in the 90's, it was still the DCM (Department of Civilian Marksmanship). You could buy one rifle per lifetime. It sounds like your dad's was one of those, since that is how they shipped them those days. They were completely refurbed.

That being said, you can contact the CMP with the serial number, and they will tell you if it was one of their rifles, when it was sold, etc. They may even have extra info on it. Just explain the situation, and ask them to give you everything they have on it if it originated from them.

Also, sign up here. Rain Man levels of M1 knowledge:

https://forums.thecmp.org/

Thanks! I'll do both. I'm trying to learn but after 2 days of reading I feel like I'm drinking from a fire hose.

Additional comment- after handling the rifle some I can't imagine sloughing your way across Europe carrying one all day everyday. I know I've lost some physically with age but good grief. Yet I knew quite a few my Dad's age who did just that. Dad was Corps of Engineers and he said he hated it at the time so he liberated a 1911 sidearm. Then he got nostalgic and wanted one after retiring.

You can get the M1 serial numbers online. Find your number to see when it was made. I have one that was made in June 1942, approximately six months after Pearl Harbor. This makes it a good bet that it saw action in WWII and was rebuilt over the years.

I've got to find a site and check the serial number. Thanks for reminding me.

Anything 3.88 million or below is WWII. Springfield Armory and Winchester were the only two WWII manufacturers.

Post-war era starts at 4.2 million and goes up to 6 million. SA, Harrington & Richards, and International Harvester were the manufacturers.

http://usriflecal30m1.com/ProductionGraph.aspx

I've just gotten back to where I can access the rifle. It's Springfield Armory with S/N 2.73 million. If I'm reading the chart in the link correctly it was manufactured in April 1944. So it appears to have been a WW2 weapon.

Make notes of the drawing numbers on the bolt, oprod, and trigger group, along with the barrel and it's date code. Those will tell you who made them, and how substantially original the rifle is.

Will do. Interesting that the stock looks new. Rosewood appearance with no scars, ding, or marks. Minor impressions on one side by the breach that looks like mishandling. Certainly not combat damage. Not sure I'd call the inspector's mark a cartouche. It's a simple letter P in a box. Based on your comments in other threads and other notes I've read I assume this is a replacement stock.

"P" mark means it was shot with a proof load.

Left side at about the heel should have either the inspector's initials stamp or the DAS Eagle over 3 stars. Anything else is from being crated with other rifles. A couple of mine have definite oprod indentations on the right side.

POST PICS!

I found the meaning of the prof stamp. I don't recal any other markings at all but will check again. The stock looks brand new. Was gonna try to post pictures yesterday but had to hop out of town. I've never posted but will do so as soon as I get tonight or tomorrow. Really appreciate your input.

AgEngineer72 said:

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Will do. Interesting that the stock looks new. Rosewood appearance with no scars, ding, or marks. Minor impressions on one side by the breach that looks like mishandling. Certainly not combat damage. Not sure I'd call the inspector's mark a cartouche. It's a simple letter P in a box. Based on your comments in other threads and other notes I've read I assume this is a replacement stock.

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All M1's were rebuilt post war and those used in Korea were rebuilt again after that. When they were rebuilt they were pulled apart and all parts were put in separate bins and inspected. If they were within tolerances they were put in another bin to be rebuilt into a rifle. So every M1 is a mix master. The only similarity was Remington parts were used to rebuilt Remington receivers and likewise for the other manufactures.

There are no more original M1's floating around as the only one's left were pulled from production lines by the manufactures and the Army for reference models and they are now in museums. Now, a lot of people have shopped around for period correct parts and rebuilt "correct" rifles and sometimes sell those are original, but that's different in my mind than a true original rifles.

Both the stocks and barrels of the M1's were designed as expendable items that would be replaced as they wore out in combat. Barrels were originally designed to have 90 day of combat use in them, that reduced to 30 days in reality.

Many of the DCM rifles were still WWII original. They'd sat in depot for years before being surplused out. Even today, people will randomly get a completely correct WWII rifle from the CMP.

They didn't make it a point to match up manufacturers parts with what was on the receiver. Eli Whitney method of manufacturing: everything was interchangeable and built to tolerance, otherwise it was rejected.

Remington never made M1 Garands.

There was a massive amount of stuff that got lost in the depots that was untouched or just relegated to the Indiana Jones warehouse until they started surplusing things out. I've got a Pre-Pearl Harbor 6 digit SA that was rebuilt at RRAD in the early 60's and was untouched until I bought it at the North Store in the mid-2000's. Granted it's a rebuild, but that thing was pristine when I got it. Old volunteer guy up there went in the back and pulled it for me. "Just buy this one", after hearing what i was looking for. He was correct. I can ring 12x12 steel at 600 yards with it.

You are correct, Remington never made Garands, not sure where they came from, I meant Springfield.

Every WW2 rifle was rebuilt at a depot and broken down into parts bins that were inspected for tolerance and then after passing rifles were rebuilt. So every M1 Grand the CMP/DCM ever sold was at some point rebuilt and a mix master of parts. After the depot rebuilds then a lot of them did go into storage but most were issued for Korea and then rebuilt again after the war. Thus your 60's era rebuilt rifle likely saw both WW2 combat and Korea combat and was rebuilt twice.

Now there are some IHC and H&R rifles completed after Korea that were never rebuilt, but those are rare and the CMP doesn't have anything like that left in it's stock.

A few years back I got into the CMP advanced armorers course where you spend a week at Anniston/CMP South and build a garand from scratch. Got to spend most of an afternoon with the director of the CMP and ask lots of questions and hear him busting a lot of CMP myths. So what's I'm put here came directly from him.