IHC "match Garand and CMP Creedmoor ammo

[Calfed]

Years ago I purchased an IHC Garand at an online estate sale. There weren't many pictures and a rather spare description, but I bid on it and glommed it for a decent price.

When it arrived, I noticed that it had an odd, hooded rear sight and later learned that it was a match sight. I also noted that the op rod was marked "NM", but knew that didn't mean much. I shot the rifle a little with LC CMP ammo, and it seemed decently accurate.

No indication on the barrel of it being NM, nor any other indication that I know of. I guess my question is, other than barrel, sights and op rod, what common modifications did gunsmiths of the day make to a Garand to match prep it?

Recently I've started shooting some of my safe queens and took the IHC and a few other rifles out to the range. I also took a box of the CMP Creedmoor Garand ammo and shot a clip of it through the IHC. I was impressed with the rifle and the ammo.


Here is the rifle...









Didn't have much time, so I was only able to get the rifle on paper at 50 yards and shoot an 8 round clip at 100 yards. At 100 yards, first two were off the 8" reactive target up around 11:00 o'clock. made a small adjustment and got the rifle on paper at 100...still up at about 10:30. Made an agressive sight adjustment and put it at 6 o'clock, at the bottom of the target.. Made a final adjustment and put the last 4 into nice tight group of a little over 1", just below the 10 ring.

Here is the 100 yard/Creedmoor ammo target. I think this Garand has potential

[dryheat]

Default

I think this Garand has potential-
I would say...
Your stock is marked A4, that means Anniston arsenal rebuild. You have a sixties dated barrel, that means accuracy(and rebuild). In addition to that your rifle has a finish that kind of looks like the rebuilds of the sixties(grey/silver). Have you used a gauge on the muzzle? Now, for the final question, is there a scrawled marking on the right receiver leg? I want your rifle.
Now, the fact that you got the rifle second hand so to speak means the last owner may have recognized the accuracy potential and added the NM parts(although a NM oprod does nothing but look good mostly). A NM barrel might be marked NM on the left side up by the gas cylinder or have a bunch of markings like a heart, or a for leaf clover, or some other odd mark near the drawing number and date of manufacture. I don't see that on yours.

[Johnny P]

It is not unusual to see the NM marked op-rods in rebuilds. I believe the NM op rods were gaged for correct piston diameter.

[PhillipM]

Going from what has been done to my match prepared IHC:

Front sight blade narrowed
Gas cylinder ring enlarged
Front hand guard unitized, ie glued and screwed to the band.
Front hand guard metal liner removed
Op rod touches no wood
Rear hand guard does not contact the stock
Rear hand guard clears the receiver ring by 1/8"
Bolt lugs lapped to the receiver
Stock glass bedded
Trigger pull smoothed and adjusted for 4.5# break.
Stamped trigger guard, allowing it to be bent for good latching
NMA2 rear sight base to clear the hooded sight.
Windage knob modified from four notches to eight. Hole drilled in receiver at 6 o'clock and a spring and detent ball added for the Windage knob. All this conversion Windage from 1 min to 1/2 min. Easy to check for, turn the knob 360 degrees. If it has 8 clicks, it's 1/2 min, 4 1 min.

All wood sealed in polyurethane to avoid warfare due to humidity.

[Calfed]

Default

I think this Garand has potential-
I would say...
Your stock is marked A4, that means Anniston arsenal rebuild. You have a sixties dated barrel, that means accuracy(and rebuild). In addition to that your rifle has a finish that kind of looks like the rebuilds of the sixties(grey/silver). Have you used a gauge on the muzzle? Now, for the final question, is there a scrawled marking on the right receiver leg? I want your rifle.
Now, the fact that you got the rifle second hand so to speak means the last owner may have recognized the accuracy potential and added the NM parts(although a NM oprod does nothing but look good mostly). A NM barrel might be marked NM on the left side up by the gas cylinder or have a bunch of markings like a heart, or a for leaf clover, or some other odd mark near the drawing number and date of manufacture. I don't see that on yours.

The muzzle gauges a "1" on the CMP muzzle gauge. There is no marking on the receiver legs.

No NM markings on the barrel. ( I know what you mean about the "NM" on the barrel, up by the gas cylinder--a few years ago I got two "6 million" Garands from the CMP and both had NM barrels with that marking).

The two things that pop out at me are the NM sights and the gas cylinder--it is very tight and the front sight has no detectable play in it.

[Calfed]

Going from what has been done to my match prepared IHC:

Front sight blade narrowed
Gas cylinder ring enlarged
Front hand guard unitized, ie glued and screwed to the band.
Front hand guard metal liner removed
Op rod touches no wood
Rear hand guard does not contact the stock
Rear hand guard clears the receiver ring by 1/8"
Bolt lugs lapped to the receiver
Stock glass bedded
Trigger pull smoothed and adjusted for 4.5# break.
Stamped trigger guard, allowing it to be bent for good latching
NMA2 rear sight base to clear the hooded sight.
Windage knob modified from four notches to eight. Hole drilled in receiver at 6 o'clock and a spring and detent ball added for the Windage knob. All this conversion Windage from 1 min to 1/2 min. Easy to check for, turn the knob 360 degrees. If it has 8 clicks, it's 1/2 min, 4 1 min.

All wood sealed in polyurethane to avoid warfare due to humidity.

Thanks, Phillip.

Most oF the mods you list are not present. Some are.

Front sight marked "NM 062"
Rear sight marked .595, has much finer clicks than my other Garands.
Gas cylinder is very tight and the cylinder has no detectable play.
Front handguard is loose and does not appear to be unitized
Front handguard may have metal liner removed (I can't tell for sure)
Clearance of Rear handguard seems the same as my other Garands.
No glass bedding, although the stock fits snugly.
Trigger is smooth and crisp.

[Calfed]

It is not unusual to see the NM marked op-rods in rebuilds. I believe the NM op rods were gaged for correct piston diameter.

Thanks, Johnny.

[PhillipM]

Thanks, Johnny.

Remington made replacement op rods in the 60's, some stamped NM, some not, but they have the same drawing number and are the same which is why the CMP allows NM op rods in as issued matches.

Finer clicks in elevation or windage? Some think the hooded sight that spins 180 degrees is too sloppy so they install one that does not adjust and glue a special 1/2 min disc on the receiver for elevation.

[Calfed]

Remington made replacement op rods in the 60's, some stamped NM, some not, but they have the same drawing number and are the same which is why the CMP allows NM op rods in as issued matches.

Finer clicks in elevation or windage? Some think the hooded sight that spins 180 degrees is too sloppy so they install one that does not adjust and glue a special 1/2 min disc on the receiver for elevation.

I noticed that the op rod is marked "RA". The clicks are finer in elevation.

[Johnny P]

NM Remington op-rod from a CMP sales rifle.

[Johnny P]

I don't know if it was published or not, but the Major wrote an excellent paper on the Springfield Armory M1 Rifle NM program. The one I have is dated circa 2000.

[Calfed]

I'll have to look that up. Is it available on the internet?

[Griff Murphey]

Just a suggestion; it looks to me that you have a very accurate issue M-1 with match sights added. If you changed out the front and rear sights - hopefully just the aperture slide on the rear, you would have a John C. Garand match legal rifle. JCG matches are a little less formal than NRA High Power, fun stuff. Also you may find as I do that the bigger aperture and wider front sight blades are an advantage as one gets older. The NM rod can be left as is - because of the shortage of non-NM rods the CMP started putting match rods on their guns plus the Danes had used lots of them on their guns which in turn the CMP sold. So that is not a problem. Although a plain rod would increase the value in my opinion.

In a nutshell with a tiny but of work you could return the rifle to make it a more valuable collector piece than a bubba hi power gun, plus you would then have an excellent JCG match rifle.

[Calfed]

just a suggestion; it looks to me that you have a very accurate issue M-1 with natch sights added. If you changed out the front and rear sights - hopefully just the aperture slide on the rear, you would have a John C. Garand match legal rifle. JCG matches are a little less formal than NRA High Power, fun stuff. Also you may find as I do that the bigger aperture and wider front sight blades are an advantage as one gets older. The NM rod can be left as is - because of the shortage of non-NM rods the CMP started putting match rods on their guns plus the Danes had used lots of them on their guns which in turn the CMP sold. So that is not a problem. Although a plain rod would increase the value in my opinion.

In a nutshell with a tiny but of work you could return the rifle to make it a more valuable collector piece than a bubba hi power gun, plus you would then have an excellent JCG match rifle.

Thanks, Griff. I like this idea.

[John Sukey]

Just a small question. How many of you were issued a M1?