An old Marine and an M1

Garandimal · Jul 12, 2020

D.B. Cooper said:
Exactly. The best you can realistically hope for is a "correct" rifle where in all the parts are from the same manufacturer and are the correct parts for year of manufacture. My 1945 Springfield Armory has a 1956 SA barrel and who knows when it was made SA bolt. By the time I got it, it no longer had a SA stock. Truly "collector grade" Garands are a rarity (I'm thinking something like a gas trap gun), so just buy it and shoot it and enjoy the pride of ownership.

The M1 is like a NAPA rifle.

Common stories of rifle squads being issued one cleaning rod, rifles field stripped and the parts put into individual piles and divided up for cleaning, and then grab-bag re-assembly.

GR

D.B. Cooper · Jul 12, 2020

Garandimal said:
The M1 is like a NAPA rifle.

Common stories of rifle squads being issued one cleaning rod, rifles field stripped and the parts put into individual piles and divided up for cleaning, and then grab-bag re-assembly.

GR

LOL. That would be unheard of in my day with the M16, but it's totally believable. The notion that an "all original" M1 rifle exists anywhere in the world today is totally unbelievable. I see that at a gun show and I walk on by.

Vern Humphrey · Jul 12, 2020

OleEd said:
First high power weapon was the M1 issued to me in Boot Camp (MRSD San Diego 1960). My Drill Sgt, who was always right in everything, taught me to love my rifle and honor my M1. I followed his order and I still do.

But problem. Never bought one for myself ant then I learned about CMP too late. My cousin, a very well versed in weapons to include M1s called me. I had told him I was interested in owning an M1. He called me and said his wife’s uncle passed away and has an M1, except it has two different serial numbers. Other than that the weapon is in very good condition and the barrel (rifling) looks the same comparable to his match M1.

They want to sell it to me for just below fair market value. Don’t know them and the executor is not family. My cousin said it was in really nice condition and was well taken care of. My question is: With two different serial numbers and the stated condition, would the rifle be worth about $1000 to $1250? I’m still quite active, shoot often pistols (prefer my 1911s), my 30-06 and my 308 and hated, memories of my Matel toy while in Vietnam,

Others have told you that any other numbers you find are parts numbers. The true serial number is on the heel of the receiver, just behind the rear sight.

There are VERY few M1s that are all original -- they were all rebuilt in the course of their lives -- most of them more than once -- and in the rebuilding process, parts from different rifles were assembled into a rifle -- which may have come out of rebuild with nothing original but the receiver.

Vern Humphrey · Jul 12, 2020

David Hoback said:
I’m a littles surprised, that with you having been issued the M1, M14 AND M16...during Vietnam... that you would still choose the M1. But then, I then, maybe you were issued one of the earlier “suspect” ARs?

I was issued an M2 carbine my first tour in Viet Nam as an adviser. It got wrapped around a tree, and I borrowed a Garand from the ARVN. The great advantage of the Garand I found, was it will shoot THROUGH things. If you think you know where a bad guy is, and shoot repeatedly at and around that spot with a Garand, you'll get him.

My second tour I was a company commander, and bullied my battalion commander into getting me a couple of M14 sniper rifles (this was before the M21 was standardized.) I kept one of those rifles for myself, and it worked as well as the Garand.

Vern Humphrey · Jul 12, 2020

Garandimal said:
How to Order an M1 Garand from the Civilian Marksmanship Program - CMP(DCM)

GR

Take a look at the left hand in the opening shot -- there's a man who has shot a Garand a time or two and knows how to hold it.

Bwana John · Jul 12, 2020

Vern Humphrey said:
Take a look at the left hand in the opening shot -- there's a man who has shot a Garand a time or two and knows how to hold it.

But if I hold my right hand the way he's holding his, my right thumb is gonna knock my nose and right cheekbone in recoil. Same on a M14, I gotta hold my thumb on the right hand side of the stock. But I am quite a bit bigger and longer limbed than "the average GI" that the rifle was designed to fit.

Vern Humphrey · Jul 12, 2020

Bwana John said:
But if I hold my right hand the way he's holding his, my right thumb is gonna knock my nose and right cheekbone in recoil. Same on a M14, I gotta hold my thumb on the right hand side of the stock. But I am quite a bit bigger and longer limbed than "the average GI" that the rifle was designed to fit.

Many's the time I have left the range with a bloody mark on my right cheek bone from repeated hits by the receiver in recoil.

Garandimal · Jul 12, 2020

Vern Humphrey said:
Many's the time I have left the range with a bloody mark on my right cheek bone from repeated hits by the receiver in recoil.

The basics...

How_to_Shoot_the_US_Army_Rifle (.pdf)

and

GR

hdbiker · Jul 25, 2020

I was in the last cycle of basic training trainees to use the M1 Garand at Ft Lenordwood Mo. in the summer of 1963. hdbiker

An old Marine and an M1

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