Got my Garand back

[Shawnc]

Some years ago my Garand got a big nasty scratch down the stock during a hunting excursion. I lived with it for years and finally decided to do something about it. One of my buddies has a woodworking business so I give the furniture to him to smooth out and refinish. Before anyone freaks out, the stocks are aftermarket and the gun is a mix master in 7.62 that I bought from a Gunner's Mate while I was in the Navy. He put it together for match shooting.
As an aside I took the gas system apart for the first time and managed to put it all back together virtually without incident. And I only had a few parts left over!
Well, here is a before and after picture. It was originally a lot blonder and highly varnished, and now it's darker just lightly finished.



And after:



Not certain I like the darker color. I'm so used to the blonde, but I guess I'll get used to the brunette.

[desdem12]

[Junk Yard Dog]

The area of the wrist looks a bit thin, did he oversand it? US Milsurp stock colors are dark, that's normal. Another 7.62, there is at least one more on the board that I know of, looks nice.

[Shawnc]

The area of the wrist looks a bit thin, did he oversand it? US Milsurp stock colors are dark, that's normal. Another 7.62, there is at least one more on the board that I know of, looks nice.

Nope, that's the way I got it. I don't think he touched anything near the wrist. We'll see how she shoots in a coupla weeks.

[OLD OUTLAW]

The area of the wrist looks a bit thin, did he oversand it? US Milsurp stock colors are dark, that's normal. Another 7.62, there is at least one more on the board that I know of, looks nice.

JYD, are you saying an M1 in 7.62 is a rather rare bird? Two weeks ago today, that little shop where I found my Swedish Mauser
had 3 or 4 Garands from the same collection. The nicest, newest looking one was positively a 7.62. I seem to recall for it
he had it tagged at $1050 though. He probably would go down at least $100, perhaps up to $200 off.

Should I be looking at it? He is about 105 miles from here.

[WeldonHunter]

The area of the wrist looks a bit thin, did he oversand it? US Milsurp stock colors are dark, that's normal. Another 7.62, there is at least one more on the board that I know of, looks nice.

JYD, are you saying an M1 in 7.62 is a rather rare bird? Two weeks ago today, that little shop where I found my Swedish Mauser
had 3 or 4 Garands from the same collection. The nicest, newest looking one was positively a 7.62. I seem to recall for it
he had it tagged at $1050 though. He probably would go down at least $100, perhaps up to $200 off.

Should I be looking at it? He is about 105 miles from here.

OO the one I have is 7.62x51 and was a rebarrel job by Arlington Ord. They are somewhat rare but the ones worth real money are the Navy issued presentation rifles and ones rebarreled by the US armed forces. A lot of them were rebarreled by importers like mine but they're still fairly valuable. Especially since mine is made on a Winchester reciever.

[OLD OUTLAW]

Navy, trips my memory. I was not in the market for one because I wanted that Swedish Mauser. But Gerald said something about the Navy re-calibering some rifles. I cannot swear to it yet, but I think he said this was an ex-Navy rifle. I never even bothered to look at any stampings because of the $1050 price tag.
If I do go back down there next Saturday, I will have to look closer and ask more questions. Still, It will be a lot of money for me right now. Plus, after I
left the Army, I swore I never wanted to carry one of those heavy suckers again. But, if I see it still there, and it is a good one, I can always pass the info to some one else.

[WeldonHunter]

Navy, trips my memory. I was not in the market for one because I wanted that Swedish Mauser. But Gerald said something about the Navy re-calibering some rifles. I cannot swear to it yet, but I think he said this was an ex-Navy rifle. I never even bothered to look at any stampings because of the $1050 price tag.
If I do go back down there next Saturday, I will have to look closer and ask more questions. Still, It will be a lot of money for me right now. Plus, after I
left the Army, I swore I never wanted to carry one of those heavy suckers again. But, if I see it still there, and it is a good one, I can always pass the info to some one else.

I've seen where guys have said the Navy never gave M1 Garands chambered in 7.62x51 NATO as presentation rifles and other say they were. I know the Navy was one branch that used them in this caliber however sparingly that may have been.

[Shawnc]

A few more pix. I know we all like examining numbers and little nicks in metal.
The receiver was built in 1943. Nothing matches the receiver.

At some point I had looked up all these numbers as much as I could. I don't remember all the details except that almost nothing matched anything else. The rear sight is NM and I think the Op rod might be as well.

This is the barrel. If I remember correctly it was manufactured in 1966, the last two digits on the barrel number, and it was made by Springfield as a 7.62, not a rebarrel.


The guy who sold it to me was an armorer at Annapolis, or a base near there I think, and bought the receiver out of Shotgun News. As an armorer he had access to the other parts and probably one of these barrels was wrapped up unused in a corner somewhere. Also the butt of the rifle is full of lead which makes the balance really nice. I don't know how many matches he shot with it or if he won any. I was ecstatic when he offered to sell it to me. We used to talk guns and he said he wanted to get a Ruger Blackhawk, so he offered me his Garand for $500 so he could get it.

[WeldonHunter]

A few more pix. I know we all like examining numbers and little nicks in metal.
The receiver was built in 1943. Nothing matches the receiver.
At some point I had looked up all these numbers as much as I could. I don't remember all the details except that almost nothing matched anything else. The rear sight is NM and I think the Op rod might be as well.
This is the barrel. If I remember correctly it was manufactured in 1966, the last two digits on the barrel number, and it was made by Springfield as a 7.62, not a rebarrel.

The guy who sold it to me was an armorer at Annapolis, or a base near there I think, and bought the receiver out of Shotgun News. As an armorer he had access to the other parts and probably one of these barrels was wrapped up unused in a corner somewhere. Also the butt of the rifle is full of lead which makes the balance really nice. I don't know how many matches he shot with it or if he won any. I was ecstatic when he offered to sell it to me. We used to talk guns and he said he wanted to get a Ruger Blackhawk, so he offered me his Garand for $500 so he could get it.

What I meant by a rebarrel is mearly that the barrel was changed from the original barrel that was 30.06 to the one it has now. The barrel my gun has was made as a 7.62x51 NATO and not one that has a chamber insert like they did with some of the armorer rebuilds early on. The gun I have was rebuilt by Arlington Ord. It was most likely a Korean repatriation and the barrel was most likely shot out so they replaced the barrel with the 7.62x51 NATO barrel. These importers were doing anything to sell these guns back then. This was most likely the early to mid 90's.

[bunkysdad]

a bargain was had that day.

[WeldonHunter]

a bargain was had that day.

Agreed BD it surely is. The history behind it makes it worth it. A fine example for sure.

[Shawnc]

Just a little more info about 7.62 Garands:

http://yarchive.net/gun/rifle/garand_308.html

[Junk Yard Dog]

A navy 7.62mm Garand would be rare, but the more ordinary 7.62 commercial rebarreled Garands are not. Most Garand owners opt to keep the rifle shooting M2 ball, however for a time before 2005 or so 7.62x51mm was readily available and cheap so some people converted.