Christmas Garand!

[King Johhny]

Merry Christmas! Here is the Oct. 1944 M1 Garand I got. The barrel is dated to I believe Nov. 44? Can somebody verify for me? I do not know that much about all the markings on the rifle so please tell me as much as you can. The last picture is near the number 115 near the bottom swing swivel. Is it from a soldier marking the rifle or something else? Sorry I can't upload a full picture of it, the ones I have exceed the file size . Thanks.
Edit: I would also like to know what kind of ammo is safe to use for this rifle.

[desdem12]

Nice Christmas present. You can post pictures but you have to reduce their size. I usually do that in paint or right click picture and choose edit, resize, and then save file.

[King Johhny]

Thanks for the tip! Here is the resized full photo. The stock is Springfield also.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Barrel date November 1944, nice gift from Santa:) What exactly did you need to know? Paint marking on the buttstock looks like a rack number.

[King Johhny]

I would just like to know what kind of ammunition is safe to fire in it without bending the op rod. I have heard many different answers and would like to hear from the experts.

[TulaTom]

M2 ball.
http://estore.thecmp.org/store/catalog/ ... 6X216-192P

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/pro ... uctId/3866

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/264068 ... 128-rounds

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/250312 ... tal-jacket

Any of this will work.

[dou44]

the 192 rounds in a sealed can with en blocks is the best buy from cmp. I just bought 3 cans to put up for when I have some time to shoot

[Junk Yard Dog]

I would just like to know what kind of ammunition is safe to fire in it without bending the op rod. I have heard many different answers and would like to hear from the experts.

In 30 years of shooting the Garand I put more rounds downrange with one than you will likely ever see given todays prices compared to back then. 100 or more rounds a day every evening after work for the better part of a decade when I could get it at .20 a round or less distributed amongst 9 Garands. US M2 ball, South Korean M2 ball, Austrian M2 ball, Greek M2 ball, Winchester WW2 lend lease M2 ball, that's just the stuff I remember, the Garand ate it all without complaint. I can tell you what your rifle can eat, I can not tell you if it is safe to shoot, not without the rifle in hand, if you can't do it yourself then any competent gunsmith should be able to give the weapon the once over. As for bending the op rod, the Garand is not a piece of shit, it is a well designed and constructed weapon built for the military of a first world nation. It would take considerable use of commercial .30-06 with pressure at the higher end of the scale to damage the rifle, and bending the op rod is not were the damage would be likely. Accelerated wear to all the cam surfaces on the receiver, bolt, and op rod, as well as wear to the gas piston, broken firing pins, broken trigger group parts, this I would expect over time. All this can be avoided three ways, shoot only M2 ball, load your own ammo to M2 spec, or use the adjustable gas plug.

[Deadheadmatt]

Nice rifle. Can you post some pics of the markings on the bolt?

Matt