Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Any M1 Garand Experts on the Fire? What do I have...

I consider all M1s to be collectible and the fact that they are a mix of parts is just evidence of their history.

Enjoy looking at it and enjoy shooting it once in a while.

Make sure you get a sling for it and shoot it the way it was meant to be shot - slung up. You might be surprised to see those groups shrink into knots!

Ron, I have an all-original 6/42 SA Garand in pretty nice shape (non arsenal refinished that I can see or tell). Any idea as to what it's worth? not looking to sell, just curious. jorge

Jorge, do you mean that it's all original with the correct parts for 6/42 and has the original finish? If so, you are getting into some pretty good money.

Does it have Type I rear sights?

I believe so, guys, all the parts say SA and the barrel date stamp (6/42) corresponds with the serial number and manufacture date. By the way, 6/42 was the battle of Midway. Affirm on the rear sight.

Type one lock bar sight. Also is the barrel date upside down when viewed with the op-rod locked open and rifle right side up?

the question is the part "all original". It's not enough, although a good sign if all the parts are marked springfield, but the parts went through numerous revisions as they were made.
One would have to look at the part and number and as how it relates to the serial/reciever date. Also that coloration matched, wood, and so on. Translated the cmp is getting around 1000bucks for a rebuild reciever with a criterion barrel and a boyd stock, they are now parting them together for sale. The reciever isn't rebuilt but the rest is.

Yours just on the face of it would be something a collector would like to tear apart to see if it all matches up. Prices could be up or down, but certainly to someone that knows what they are looking at, put some zero's on it.
I just had a springfield high number garand offered to me for 2000bucks. If the gooberment would not wanted some money out of my hide i probably would have bought it. A friend owns it he says it hasn't been fired, and knowing where and how he got it thats probably a steal.
I have seen some unfired ones go in the 10k to 14k.
Your date makes it even more interesting cause it went to war.
I would really recommend getting a copy of ruth's book or canfield, join the garand association and look into its worth.
I hate to assign an exact price not knowing or seeing the specifics of the rifle. But it too is not a cheap one. You have to be careful with garands, they breed in a safe.
somebody mentioned winchester as to quality. Some would debate that, yeah popular by name, but they were not as finely finished as some of the others.
It's pretty rare to find one that is "as issued" but they are out there. There is a guy in prescott valley i know, he has one. Being personal friends with the director of the D.C.M. in the 50's might have something to do with it. He did let me hold it once. I had to give it back.

Page 21 of the above mentioned book "there were three variants of rear sights used with the m1rifle. As originally adopted, the rear sight utilized a SPANNER nut (aka flush nut) that held the adjustment of the sight. These sights were found not to always hold this adjusstment well, and the spanner nut was replaced by a "locking bar," which could be securely tightened by hand. This modification came into use circa ver late 1942. After a short period, the rear sight's pinion was lengthened. a slightly modified locking bar remained in use with the longer pinion. Winchester used the early sights with the spanner nut into early 1943.. Near the end of WWII, the T105E1 rear sight was introduced To skip a few lines few, if any, of these sights were used before the end of WWII on production m1s, although the rifles subsequently overhauled were fitted with T105E1sights.

There were several rear sights. I can't tell from the picture early prior to lockbar or post war T105.
Venturino isn't always right. Witness winchester continuing to use the pre lock bar sight until 1943.

If you develop an interest in garands, there still is a bunch of stuff out there other than the rifles, bayonets, slings scabbards you name it.
Couple of my prize pieces are three spam cans of ammo from the pacific repacked in hawaii in the early 50's, plus some marine web belts. Keep in mind the marines hit the canal with springfield rifles, the garands didn't come in until the army followed.
I should add one of mine is close to the production date of Jorge's, but it was rebarreled in 43 or 44, have to check to be acurate.
I also have another pre WWII garand, ended up in the italian army after the war, then got back here some how. I had the devils own time identifying it. Until i went to a guy whose rifles appear in the books on the garand. The springfield serial number did not match any of the sprinfield run and it was marked M88 on the butt of the reciever. Remarked when it italy but ALL pre war parts. He wanted to buy it on sight for the parts. Ah, no.

Very nice Danish rebuild. I would leave it alone. Finding "as returned" danish rifles with matching numbered stocks is getting relatively hard. One of these days people will start collecting returned rifles and yours is a great example. It even has a mismatched numbered bolt which is "correct" for danish returns.

Nice, if interested in selling let me know. A 42 is one that is missing in my collection

Thanks very much. I'm not interested in selling it, and I do shoot it a bit. It's just one of the nicer ones I've seen and the price was right. The icing on the cake was the 6/42 date and Midway. j

Slightly off topic, towards the end of WWII Japan built a few semi auto rifles in 7.7MM caliber, to see a photo of one they were copying the M1 Garand design. Wonder how much one of those is worth?

the japanese also built post war m1carbines. A few eventually wound their way here, minus the late style bayonet lugs. Made by howa for thailand. They have the royal crest on them.

people are already collecting them, like me.

The Jap version of the M1 was called Type 5 and closely resembled the real one. CAI sold a Type 5 some years ago for an enormous amount. It was out of my price range. I don't remember the figure.

I earned this 50 years ago shooting one of them:

DistRiflemanBadge by Rick Mulhern, on Flickr

Mine turns out to be a rebuild lads, but it's still in good shape and a hell of a shooter. The barrel is indeed a 6/42 but the receiver dates from May of 44. Not bad for 600 bucks. j

Serial number on the OP's rifle puts it in September 1941 production, pre-war, pretty neat.

I have one of the very rare IHC arrowhead receivers, one of about 1100.

When I bought it, the rifle was basically non-functional, it had been treated and stored so bad, and everything was in a Ramline stock.

I rejuvenated it with a Criterion barrel, new Op-rod, new Gas cylinder, all the innards, new DGR stock, and new sights. Once I got started, I wanted all-new, and just the receiver and trigger group (with new springs) are all that's left from the original rifle.

Part of the incentive for all-new parts was I had a continual "11 O-clock" stoppage on the seventh round. I found the issue one day when shooting my HRA, which has proven itself to be reliable, and had the same number and the same type of stoppages.

The freaking clips were causing it, a silly one-dollar item. AEC-3s. Look out for them, if you get some and they seem to be too close together on the open end, bend them open until the look right, that's all I did. My IHC has been 100% reliable since.

I learned a lot about Garands doing that rebuild.