M1Garand Rifle

[Andykev]

I was wondering if anyone out there had an M1 Garand 30-06 rifle from WWII, and what could they tell me what to look for, price, problems? I have always wanted one!

 

[MrBern]

I dont have one. ( I usually reenact a weaponless combat photog)
I do know that the Civilian Marksmanship Program helped save tons of them from being reduced to scrap. There's a service to help you qualify to own one at a decent price.
http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/m1garand.htm

hope this helps
-bernard

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

A really nice collector-grade Garand is going to be really expensive unless you are lucky. Fortunately, there are a lot of the things still out there and you can find very nice shooter-grade ones fairly easily. I would check into the CMP as they are usually a good source for the things.

http://www.odcmp.com/

With Garands, one thing you want to especially check out is the condition of the bore and chamber as they were fired with corrosive ammo. As for problems, there are no really big problems with them other than the limitations of the original design. I am not a huge fan of the en-bloc clip loading system, but it is reliable enough.

 

[indieflmkr]

M1-Garand

M-1 Garands are relatively easy to find. As far as price and what to look for, that depends on what you are hoping to use it for. Is this for a collection? Reenacting, etc?

Collector grade rifles will run from $800 to $4,000 depending on condition, whether all of the parts have matching serial numbers, what the manufacturer is, the year of production, whether or not it has been re-imported, etc. etc.

If you're looking for a rifle to use for reenacting or living history displays, you can usually get them in inexpensively as $419 not including shipping. The cheapest weapons are going to be ones that have a reproduction reciever which will not have the normal serial number or armory markings. The cheaper ones will also likely be later than WWII dated and/or be re-imported. This means they were at one time US Property, sold to a foreign government (like South Korean) and then at some later point, we're sold to a private dealer who then re-imported them back the the US. Blue Sky is one of the major re-importers and you will see a stamp on the barrel the indicates it has been re-imported.

A good price to pay for a non-collector grade, non-re-imported Garand is between $550 and $750 depending on condition, etc.

As far as dates and etc -- keep in mind that a rifle issued with all the parts dated the same and with matching serial numbers is not only extremely rare -- but relatively inaccurate historically speaking. Say for instance you were portraying an army soldier in 1944 - your rifle may likely have been refurbished a number of times and parts interchanged, etc.

There are places to look for all of the various armory markings, dates and manufacturer marks, but I'm not really sure where they all are, but I can try to find out for you.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Troy

 

[MrBern]

Heres a pretty good FAQ for Garands & Carbines.
I found it handy for identifying wartime production, as opposed to postwar manufacturers.
http://www.fulton-armory.com/FAQ.htm

also, just last year, Shotgun news had a review of the current production Garands from Springfield. They were well received.

-bern

 

[Feraud]

To read everything you ever wanted to know about military weapons from around the world see Parallax Bill's Curio & Relic and Military Surplus Firearms Forums.
You can probably find answers to all your questions. Good Luck.

 

[The Wingnut]

Andykev, if you don't mind your M-1 being a well-used service rifle(instead of the prima donna unmolested ones everyone seems to want), call the shop and talk to Wally about what he can get for you. We're not an FFL dealer, so you'll have to figure that part out on your own.

http://www.militaryantiquesmuseum.com