Wooo hooo! CMP Garand is (almost) here...interesting S/N?

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iamkris

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Hooray! I just got word that my CMP Garand has arrived. Problem is that I am not at home and won't be until at least Thanksgiving...TORTURE!

My buddy who signed for it from the Fed Ex guy has sent me a grainy digital picture of he and his s#!t-eating grin holding it with very few details on condition. He's also sent me photo of the certificate from the CMP with the S/N. Here's the specifics:

Springfield Armory
Service Grade
S/N 19,8XX

Huh? That's the lowest I've ever seen (usually see guys quoting 1,XXX,XXX or 2,XXX,XXX range). I specifically wanted one that was WWII vintage but my quick check of the jouster.com S/N page shows that SA S/N range to be in the November 1939 manufacture date.

Can anyone let me know if the earlier manufactured Garands have any significance? Were they know to be better / worse than later ones? Any significant design differences? Manufacturing differences?

Thanks! (from a person proud to find out he now owns a Garand on Veteran's Day)
 
Kris,
That IS a low number. Wouldn't be surprised if it was originally a Gas Trap version.
You might want to post your question on the Jouster M1/M14 forum. I'm sure the guys there would have plenty of info for ya.
Only thing I can think of is to check the receiver for the annealed heel. This should be indicated by a darker tone to the parkerizing in back of the rear sights. IIRC, the early production receivers were a bit too brittle after heat treatment, which caused cracking problems (maybe only when launching grenades, but not sure on that). This was fixed by dipping the heel of the receiver into molten lead to anneal it a little bit. The softer steel in this area is what causes the difference in the parkerizing tone.
Since your buddy's enjoying playing with YOUR Garand so much, put him to work for it. Have him strip it down and work up a data sheet for ya. I believe there's fillable PDF versions he can email to you when he's done.
Oh, yeah... and tell him to check the function of it by locking the bolt back and pressing down on the follower with his thumb :evil: :what:
LostCajun
 
HA! He already did...sent me a pic of his blood blister on his thumb **snicker, snicker, snicker**

I posted this on battlerifles.com and got a couple of pretty good comments.

My buddy finally sent me more detailed pictures. I'll post them when I get time. Net-net, it looks pretty good. Wood has a lot of deep gouges though from other rifle rear sight knobs. The receiver is almost black...not clear to me if that's from manganese (instead of zinc) phosphate parking or if it is from the annealing process...cool thanks for that info...didn't know.

Here's the writeup he just sent me on it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Wood, the finish you'd expect on a Garand. Good color as opposed to some we've seen. The bad part is that there are alot of deep gouges in the stock. All three pieces, unfortunately. It's the pattern of a rear sight knob, I just realized. Very serviceable, though. But, the upper handguard's not cracked. The buttstock is marked with some faint letters on the left side. Sharp on the bottom and faded at the top. Near as I can tell, "RRAD". <iamkris: That's the rebuild armory mark, right?> Also, has a P inside a square on the inside of the pistol grip <iamkris: That's the inspectors proof mark, right?> . That's about all with the stock.

The metal: I doubt if it saw much service ...too good a shape on the receiver. (looks fairly new) I'll take a pic but:

U.S. RIFLE
CAL 30 M1
SPRINGFIELD ARMORY
198XX

The receiver's been blackened...is that park? <iamkris: That's what various people are ID'ing as either manganese phospahte park or the lead annealing> The rear sight is parked and functions well. Looks like the spring clip is intact. (a breakage problem with these and the M-14. Essentially the same sight.) Appears to have about the half minute elevation of the NM sight but, much wider windage adjustments. The bbl is still parked and looks like it could be the original job. Haven't looked to see about markings on it yet. Trigger group is SA and functions well. Not a whole bunch of takeup and a little creep but, I guess it around 6-7 lbs. and fairly crisp at break. Looks like new out of storage with a little wear on the parkerization. (Sorry, have to take a break from typing to pop the blood blister from my "M1 Thumb" from trying to check out your bore. Just stuck it in there to use the nail for reflection. Watch what you touch.) Ok, from what I could see off the reflection of my purple thumb, the bore is bright and shiny. Must say, the metal came well cleaned and oiled. I was expecting cosmoline. Op rod seems to be stock but, the op rod guide is stamped NM.

All parts seem to have a new serial or part number. All ending in SA but, they're somewhat sequential. 282XX. Just noticed. The inside of the bottom stock doesn't show the tell tale signs of a gas op'ed gun being shot. Didn't see any powder residue. I'd say you done good, son.

Oh yeah, came with an accessory kit which I'm not going to open. Your gun. (well, it's a ziploc bag) Appears to be an indicator for the bore to show whether it's loaded, a trigger lock, a sling, a clip and some literature.
 
iamkris...

"Springfield Armory
Service Grade
S/N 19,8XX"

Congratulations on what looks to be a great catch! You seem to have beat me, I "think" I had the previous TFR/THR record for low serial numbers from CMP. My first rifle was #26,xxx. Most people thought I really meant 2,6xx,xxx. I am almost positive that yours was first made as a gastrap rifle, then re-built into the next configuration .
 
 
OK that doesn't seem to work (little red x's). Looks like you'll have to click through 'till I figure out why pix aren't posting. :banghead:

Oh, to answer the "how long" question:

* Papers sent in October 28th
* Certificate made out on Nov 7
* First Fed Ex delivery attempt Nov 10th
* Picked up from Fed Ex on Nov 11th (Veteran's Day no less...)
 
Kris,
That's a nice-lookin' M1 ya got there... Well, YOU don't have it yet, but.... youknowwhatimean...
Yes, the RRAD is the arsenal rebuild mark. That one is Red River Army Depot. Letterkenny Army Depot electropenciled their mark (LEAD) onto the right front receiver leg. The LEAD parkerizing is interesting in that it has more of a silver tone to it. My M1 (no discernable rebuild marks) has the same sight knob dings, but just on the rear of the stock. The squared-P is the proof mark, they also appear with circles around the P. I haven't actually seen a square-P mark, but have read about them. There should be a cartouche stamped into the left side of the stock in front of the pistol grip, below the receiver heel (I dont' see it on your pix). This should be a 3/4" square containing the letters SA (or WRA) over a set of initials (EMF, JLG, etc). Or maybe even a 3/4 or 1/2" square with 3 stars over an eagle (but this is more a post-war cartouche). Ah.. here's a place to see the stamps themselves: http://www.trfindley.com/pgsnstmpsm1.html Considering the age and amount of wear, it could be faint or gone. If the stock was replaced during the rebuild, it may not have been there at all.
The overall blackening on the metal is the parkerizing treatment. Serves the same purpose as bluing does. If the rifle was reparked during the rebuild, the chamber opening will usually be parkerized; it was originally bare metal. However, I've seen one that I'm sure had to have been reparked, but the chamber entrance was still 'in the white'. With a dark park like yours, it's hard to tell if it shows any annealing. I've got a pic of what it looks like on a lighter receiver, but not with me. Not sure what he's calling an oprod guide, but that is a National Match op rod. Good thing to have. Ask him if there are more parts with NM on them (barrel, receiver, etc). Barrel markings should be visible through the oprod channel with the bolt locked back. Among other proof marks, the drawing number and month/year of the barrel should be there. The gas piston on the front of the op rod may show evidence of having been shot after being rebuilt. (He's gotta read the book to figure out how to strip it, though. It's easy - no tools required) He's right about the metal though... doesn't look very worn.
The numbers on the parts are drawing numbers, not serial numbers. Most M1 parts will contain the drawing under which they were produced. Scott Duff's books (and others, probably) have cross-references of which drawing numbers should be on each part for a given production period. Mine is post-WWII, so I don't have the book covering pre- and War-years production. The SA on the parts with the drawing number means they were all produced by Springfield Armory, not surpising in so early a sample.
Here's a link to a serial# lookup page: http://armscollectors.com/srs/lookup_m1.php It doesn't return any 19,8xx numbers, so it's fairly useless for your rifle. Mine doesn't come back, either.
You've probably already seen it, but a great place to start getting some info is at http://www.jouster.com/lanestips/ The CMP website also has some good info about refinishing the wood, too.
That's about all I can ramble off right now. Gotta get back home to find the pics.
And I was just kidding about the thumb thing.... really!
LC
 
iamkris,

Thanks for the info and the great pics!!

I am sending my stuff off tomorrow (assuming I can find my dang DD214 tonight....) and hope to have her by Christmas!:D
 
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