Garand serial number/date of manufacture question

Depending on your shooting and/or collecting interests, there is much more to look at than the condition of the wood.

For collecting purposes, consider any stamps in the wood and other parts of the rifle. The stamps indicate the (rebuild) history of the rifle. They usually include the initials of the man in charge of the (rebuild) facility at the time. I'm adding (rebuild) to allow for the probability that this rifle has gone to an arsenal at least once in its life and gotten refurbished.

This would also affect the other factor in collecting: correct parts. Pull the op-rod back and look at the stampings on the bbl. Among other things, you'll see the date the bbl was made. Finding a 1944 rifle with its original bbl is possible but not likely. If the owner lets you, remove the trigger group and look at the stamps on the various parts. And, just because they say Springfield on them, doesn't make them original. If the rifle was rebuilt, the arsenal would have used whatever parts were on hand.

For shooting purposes, look at the condition of the metal. If possible, take a throat erosion gate and/or a muzzle gage and/or headspace gage. Look at the locking lugs on the bolt to see how worn they are. Check how well the trigger group locks into the stock. If by some chance it has been converted to .308, make sure it is a true .308 bbl and not just the chamber insert, which is considered unsafe.

$899 is a decent price for an open-market Garand, but that greatly depends on condition. You could always go the CMP route and try your luck of the draw, or visit the CMP store.

Here is a link of interest, also from Culver's:
http://www.jouster.com/Bulletin/Evaluate.html

Garand/date

That sounds about right for date production.
To me $899 sounds kind of steep for a gun show Garand.
Theres several gun stores around Indy that sell Garands from various price ranges at $600 to $1k.I don't know where your located but used quality Garands seem almost a dime a dozen at any reputable gun dealers and pawn shops.
Collector grade Garand thru the CMP are around $1200 I believe.And thats pure (SA,HRA,Win,or IHC)
Cartouches are neat to see on the oldies also,but several thousand garands were rebuilt 2 and 3 times depending on their individual needs.So alot of stocks didn't really match the 1st and 2nd rebuilds indicated on a stock by the cartouche stamp.
I'd want to know about TE and MW and how shot out this rifle is.Also if it is a 308 conversion,not really many 308 were around in WWII.
The wood really can be decieveing.My HRA had a SA stock on it thru the CMP and only had the circle P on it. plus my production date was late 54 so any kind of action was purely a miss,so wood didn't factor in my purchase.So a nice Wenig stock now holds a corrected HRA shooter for me.
Just my 2 cents here,goood luck with your purchase.

You should know how to spot a reweld if you are buying an M1 (unless it comes with CMP papers). Make sure that all the lines between the receiver legs are absolutely straight (i.e. clip latch inletting on the left side) and that there is no discoloration or pock marks or grinding marks in that area. Look especially close under the wood, on the inside and bottom surfaces. The tooling marks on the front of the receiver should match the ones in the middle and at the back. Bring a straightedge and make sure the receiver is actually straight. Make sure the barrel has four grooves.

The drawing number (right side front under the wood) for that serial # should be "D28291-35" On rewelds, the drawing number on the front end is usually incorrect for the serial number on the back.

Many dealers will not give you a straight answer if you ask if it's a reweld.

For that amount of money, I would just go with a Service Grade SA Garand from the CMP. It will cost much less, and you can even ask for a WWII-era serial number on the mail-order form.

Sometimes wood can be problematic with the CMP Garands but it's easy to get replacement wood. CMP has a very good stockset from Boyd's that matches the WWII size at a great price. But most stocks can be cleaned up and refinished easily.

CMP Garands are checked carefully for operating condition and safe operation and the Service Grade rifles are test-fired. Muzzle and throat condition are checked and labeled on a tag.

The CMP has two stores where you can go to pick a rifle (or up to 12 ) from their stock. One is located at Camp Perry, OH and the other is at Anniston, AL.

Check out the CMP here: www.odcmp.com
Here's the sale information page: http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/sales.htm