My WWII M1 Garand

[LoyalHistorian]

I am proud to announce that I am officially a WWII M1 Garand owner! This has been a 20-year dream come to life. It is a Springfield 1943 Correct-Grade. Receiver is August 1943, barrel is June 1943. All draw numbers of parts and the cartouche on the stock are correct for that production time frame. The additional cool thing about it...it was corrected and restored by Scott Duff! I've included some photos, as well as the specs that Duff filled out in 1997 for anyone that is interested in the details.













Though it would have been awesome to have an original-as-issued, all-parts-original-to-that-weapon collector-grade M1 Garand, I unfortunately cannot afford that on my teacher's salary! Not to mention, that's not really the nature of the beast with M1 Garands...those are few and far between.

[Rescue190]

Congrats! Looks great. We all want 100 original as they rolled of the lines. There are very, very few out there is that shape. Nearly all of them were rebuilt at one time or another. Even collector grade does not mean all original.
John

[guns ltd]

This looks like a very nice rifle.
Thanks for sharing it with us.


John

[Rakkasan187]

Congratulations..

Welcome to the club.. They are fun to shoot and own..

Smitty

[Tank Destroyer]

Congratulations on a wonderful rifle. I had a correct 43 with a lead dipped receiver heal but traded it for kitchen cabinets. I have one left and will be shooting it tomorrow.

Marty

[WorldWar1Boy]

Hello LoyalHistorian,

That is an awesome collectible right there! I actually hope to myself someday get one of those. Thanks for sharing!

WorldWar1Boy

[08SMLE48]

Nice one loyal!! I bought mine when I was 15 from the HGCA gun show there in Houston. It’s a wartime rebuild with a strange stock. Turns out it was sold to Denmark and the stock is beech. All parts are wartime Springfield other than the stock and the oprod (post war but still Springfield). They are a blast to shoot and to research!! Congrats!

[LoyalHistorian]

Yes, with all the rebuilds and the fact that they were used, used, and re-used in US conflicts and other countries' abroad for decades, I know it's rare to find a M1 that'd be straight-from-armory original. I'm quite happy with what I've bought. It's even more beautiful than the pictures make it out to be. Or maybe that's just my bias talking...like a parent convinced that their child is the prettiest, haha!

I plan for this M1 Garand to be my collector rifle. I'd still like to get a "mixmatch" some day just to plink with, but I don't think that'll happen for the next few years unless I find a really good deal. I can see how collecting Garands can get addictive. They really are fun to research and see what you have. In my years of searching for the right one, I've had a lot of fun looking up drawing numbers from photos that sellers post, just to see what it was made up of.

Now that I've actually gotten my "firearm grail", guess it's time to start slowly saving up for my next big firearms purchase. Been trying to decide what it will be. The Garand was something that I always knew I wanted. I have lots on my firearms wish list, but none that I've been so devoted to finding. I'm leaning toward the M1903. Specifically, one that was modified for the USMC for WWII. I've looked into those a little and find the history interesting.