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Springfield M1 Garand help

Spider7115
A guy has an ad in the newspaper for a Springfield M1 Garand, allegedly from the Korean War. I'm going to call him later as he's quite a distance from me. Can you please give me a quick course on what questions I should ask re: features, markings and cartouches? I don't want to drive all the way up there if it's a mutt although I want to see it if his answers sound good. He's asking $550 for it.

I'm into antiques so I don't know much about Garands and want to ask the right questions. Thanks!
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8 comments

Date Votes
  • mark christian
    There is just too much to cover. Ask for the serial number and if it is under 3.9 million then it is a WWII rifle and could have been used in Korea. Numbers above 4.2 million are all post war production and none of these saw action in Korea, they all remained stateside. Ask if it an import marked rifle: Blue Sky, Fed Ord, ect. and if it has been refinished. Refinished imports usually mean that the rifle had a LOT of wear and the importers automatically refinished them to make them look saleable. The cartouche is going to be on the left side of the stock more or less below the rear sight but here are several variations and unless we know the serial number I can't tell you what is correct and what is not. Unless you or the seller has a set of bore gauges there is no way to test the chamber for erosion and just looking down the bore cannot tell you anything about barrel wear. You are going to have to be your own expert and since you don't know much about M1s use caution. There are are more dogs out there for $550 than there are gems.
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  • rstbkt69
    Ask him if the wood matches. If its from the korean war the only cartouches may be the 3 stars and eagle but it could have an earlier stock. generally when someone dates a rifle they are refering to the MFG date that the S/N of the receiver has. There really are not many part number correct M-1s any more because the armory rebuilders swapped all the parts. I have an M1 with the receiver being built in Dec of 43 that has a june 52 barrel a H/R stock a late MFG'd trigger guard and gas lock and other parts spread out from the 40's. So what era does this rifle fall into for this guy. Id call it a Korean war rebuild. he may call it a WWII rifle. But to me the matching wood and how it shoots are the only thing that matters. And even with the wood it is something you could work on later. How it shoots is forever. And a gun going for $550 is a shooter not a collector piece.
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  • Spider7115
    Thanks, guys. I had a couple of Garands about thirty years ago and just needed some tips, especially serial number range. I'll update this thread after I speak to him. If this guy is a dealer or collector, I expect it to be only a shooter. However, if he's just a family friend of the widow, maybe it's a good deal. Time will tell. Thanks again.
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  • rstbkt69
    You never can tell. It may have been bought for 100 bucks out of a hardware/tire store back in the 60's or 70's. Could be a CMP buy. There are so many things that you can date for an M1. Go to www.thecmp.org and read a few posts on there. You could learn more there than we have time to write. You would be halfway there before we finished. If it looks good and shoots ok the price isn't too out of line. It may actually be a good deal. But don't expect to be able to put it in as issued condition later on. it could get pretty costly. Just shoot it and have fun. Oh and by the way don't shoot commercial ammo out of it unless it is marked for M1 garand use untill you buy,install and adjustable gas plug
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  • givette
    Spider: I'm in NY (Greene County). Can I be of any service? (Ref: the long distance mentioned in your post). Joe
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  • Spider7115
    quote:Originally posted by givette
    Spider: I'm in NY (Greene County). Can I be of any service? (Ref: the long distance mentioned in your post). Joe


    Thanks for the offer, Joe, but I just hung up with the guy. It's in the 2 million serial number range but it's an Excel Import with a Winchester barrel and mismatched wood with no cartouches so I passed. Thanks again to everyone for your help.
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  • givette
    I hear 'ya Spidey!!

    2mil SerNo is about '44 off the top of my head. And the guy isn't as dumb as he'd like us to believe...$550.00 is not a steal by any means considering the 'unknowns'. Best, Joe
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  • mark christian
    I was not surprised at all that it was an import and asking about that is always a top priority. Import marking decrease value and desirability substantially unless the rifle is rare (a International Harvester) or has a barrel that is in excellent condition...Something seldom seen on 75% of the M1s imported. If the seller can actually tell that the barrel is a Winchester than it is probably a 1960s Winchester script barrel, which has no collector value at all. An imported M1 dating from WWII with (at the very least) a replacement barrel and non descript wood...Not worth $550 in my opinion.

    By the way, I am always up for looking over M1s and I have a full set of gauges. The cost of serivce is a nice lunch...And of course First Class round trip airfare and overnight hotel accommodations[;)]
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