The MC1952, the Marines M1C

[cplnorton]

Hey I guess there are more than 50 out there. I talked to someone offline and he has recorded more than 50 serial numbers. So I went back and re-read the Garand Journal article and they even mention more. So yeah I have no clue. I thought I read in there there less than 50 known, but I must have been confusing that with something else. So yeah I have no clue how many there are.

[Emri]

Nice rifle Steve !!

I missed a documented USMC one several years ago by about an hour. I saw it on an auction site with a 10K buy it now price. Being the smart shopper that I am I decided to do some research before bidding since I wasn't intimately familiar with the M1 sniper rifles. Went back to the auction an hour later and it was GONE.

It was like the one you assembled with the same Kollmorgen scope and was from 1952. The rifle was purchased from USMC inventory at Quantico in 1968. Seller had all the papers with original purchasers information, rifle SN, etc.

So, I guess the scopes by themselves are pretty scarce and valuable ??

[cplnorton]

Wow I would love to find a documented one. Those are extremely rare. And honestly that was a good price.

One of the scopes by itself a couple weeks ago on Ebay brought $7100. Now that was probably a fluke. I think they generally bring around 3-4k, but two people must have wanted it bad, and not many turn up for sale. The MC1 Marine mount, the last 2 or 3 that have sold have averaged about $2-2500 for the mount and rings. And then you have the cost of the M1C rifle. So just the parts value alone of the parts is an easy about 8-9k alone and that is without a documented Marine rifle.

[goo]

have you compared 100 or 200 yard group size with and without the funnel flash suppressor?

[cplnorton]

have you compared 100 or 200 yard group size with and without the funnel flash suppressor?

No I've been tempted to though. One thing to note. Major Culver said they actually modified a grenade launcher into a flash hider for these. I do think there will be a upcoming article on this on the GCA journal with pics.

But here is an article written by the Major.

http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/Articles/Sniper/The%20M1C%20and%20M1D%20Variations%20of%20the%20Garand%20Rifle%20by%20Dick%20Culver.htm

[Bodyman]

Beautiful rifle.

What a great job. That really is a rifle or which you can be very proud.

I remember the first morning I woke up and recalled dreaming of an M82. I said to myself; "This is gonna cost me." Always on the search for a good deal, with patience back in the day I managed to find a nice setup fairly reasonably.

Bruce Canfield's books are always a curse as far as tempting you into the next arena of Garands (or anything).



So, of course then I had to try to find a Stith-Kollmorgen ... the M1C is easy by comparison (I remember that Title X papered rifle coming for sale - wow. No, I didn't have the cash to pull the trigger but if I could have, ... wow).

First I found a loose MC1 ring set but could never find the proper scope to go with it. Then I found a full set on ebay one morning with a buy it now for I think 6 or 8 hundred bucks (!!). Bear in mind that this is quite a few years ago (but you know I am going to tell you that it is all still out there). I have no proof but I heard that the Marines used to use a couple of the different John Unertle scopes in addition to the Stith (the Hawk and Condor and such) so I found one for my lonely ring set.



I have shot both. The Stith is an absolutely HUGE improvement over the M82 and the Hawk is even more so (it is a 6x).

I don't know if the flash hider that Dick Culver describes in his article has ever been seen out here in the world or even if many more were made. That would be one heck of a score to find sitting on a gun show table somewhere, ...

Congrats again on completing that - what a fantastic and very rewarding project.