1943 Garand question

[Steve(WA)]

Hi all.... I have been out of garands for a while, mostly concentrating on 1903s. A local guy has a 2,989,000 SA garand with barrel dated 1-SA-2-43. I can't remember if that is Feb 43 or Dec 43, but either way, is it too early for the receiver? Has a nice matching SA/GAW stock, all other SA parts. Wants $1500. Seems very clean, no rust, finish seems to match. Thanks all, Steve

[bd1]

That receiver SN = appx June 1944. GAW appears correct for the stock. We'd need to see a data sheet and/or pics of other parts like bolt, op rod, sights, trigger group, gas cyl, etc. At that time, if anybody wants to say they were there at the National Armory, OK, fine by me. That's the very height, the peak of WW II production. IF the 2/43 tube is still in the white at the chamber, I won't be one to say it couldn't have been original to a mid-'44 rifle.

[Steve(WA)]

Thanks bd1. Appreciate your thoughts. I will probably pass on it for the $1500. I only have a few garands, so whatever I get, I do want it to be a solid original.

[2111]

Like bd1 says " I won't be one to say it couldn't have been original to a mid-'44 rifle.", but I will throw the following out as food for thought.

Consider that in June 1944 SA delivered about 80,000 rifles. In Scott Duffs WW2 book, he shows a data sheet on 3000000, which is about 11000 receivers newer than yours. I would think your receiver was produced about a week or less prior to 3000000.
In regard to 3000000, Scott states " SA records indicate that serial number 3000000 was stamped on the receiver on July 1, 1944 by numbering Machine Operator, Desire Houde, as Col. Woody looked on. The rifle was assembled later that month and placed in the SA museum."
The barrel on # 3000000 is dated 5-44.
If you have Scott Duffs Red book see the data sheet on page 233.

[RGBvr]

Hi all.... I have been out of garands for a while, mostly concentrating on 1903s. A local guy has a 2,989,000 SA garand with barrel dated 1-SA-2-43. I can't remember if that is Feb 43 or Dec 43, but either way, is it too early for the receiver? Has a nice matching SA/GAW stock, all other SA parts. Wants $1500. Seems very clean, no rust, finish seems to match. Thanks all, Steve

Did the guy live in Puyallup, WA? I may have purchased this rifle, 2,989,601 with a barrel date of 1-S-A-2-43. Chamber is in the white,with a Type III lock bar sight. I didn't pay $1500 for it though.

I detail stripped it and found the following. The drawing numbers / heat treat codes for the trigger group and hammer are correct, as is the #12 stamped on the follower, correct bullet guide, and all other small parts in the receiver are correct. Narrow base gas cylinder, correct unmarked cylinder lock, etc. Stock has correct SA/GAW and Ordinance stamps, all wood is in good condition and matches in color.

I found the following parts that are inconsistent with the SN. The safety has a -6A heat treat code which is Jul '41 - Aug '42. The bolt is -19SA, A-8 heat treat, and the op rod is a later 65xxxxx series. Gas cylinder lock screw is marked HRA "O"

As I mentioned above, the chamber is in the white, the barrel gauged TE=2.5, ME=1.5. I stripped the bolt and checked head space with Go, No--Go and Field gauges, no problems. Passes the tilt test. During inspection of the bolt, I noticed there was very little evidence of wear on the bolt face and extractor. Almost like the rifle hadn't been fired much after it was reworked.

Overall a very nice rifle. I'll probably acquire a bolt and uncut op rod with the correct drawing number / heat treat codes to make the rifle "correct". However I intend to enjoy and shoot the rifle in it's current state.

Richard

[StockDoc]

If you are going to shoot it, you should put a new stock on it and save the original. After all it is a 70 yr old stock.

just my 2 cents worth

[RGBvr]

I finally did shoot the rifle while on vacation two weeks ago. At 100 yards from a shooting table, Privi M2 ball, without bags, only using the sling to pull it tight with my elbow as a rest, the rifle shot 3.5 MOA. With a new stock it will do better.

Richard

[RGBvr]

I have more information about M1, SN 2,989,601. I contacted CMP, paid the $25 for them to do a search of their records. I received confirmation the rifle was sold by the CMP South on June 19th, 2014. So my theory is this M1 was reworked and received a new barrel, bolt, and operating rod at some point in it's past by a military armorer, and was put into storage until the CMP sold it. That is unless CMP South has a stash of NOS WW-II barrels they are installing on Service Grade M1s.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, all other parts are basically correct to the July '44 manufacture, including a Type 3 Lockbar rear sight. Stock is GI wood (walnut), S.A. / GAW, proper Ordinance cartouche, circled serif P proof, small Ordinance cartouche on the end of the pistol grip.

Since the test firing, I decided to restore the stock. There were numerous scratches in the original finish, only a couple indented / gouged the underlying wood. These scratches combined with 70 year old mix of oil, cosmoline, dirt and sweat were in my opinion a detriment to the rifle. I used a 50/50 mix of turpentine and household ammonia to clean the finish off the stock. I followed up with TSP on the areas with heavy dark stains near the buttplate. I steamed out the dents that would come out, everything else was left, same for gouges in the wood. I did not use sandpaper, only a gray 3M pad to remove the whiskers raised during the cleaning process. After doing a lot of research regarding the original method the armory used to finish the stocks, I decided to go with a Raw Linseed Oil finish, with no stain on the main stock. I did use Vanderhave's Formula XIX Military Stock Stain to color match the forward and upper handguard to the stock. The Vanderhave stain is alcohol based which allows the user finer control of the final coloring. The finished product was well worth the effort. I'll post photos of the before / after at a later date.

Richard