All of the military Garand receivers, whether made by Springfield, Winchester, International Harvester, Harrington & Richardson, Beretta or Breda passed initial military quality/acceptance checks when taken into service. I have built rifles on all of these makes of receivers and all functioned as they should.
The wartime Springfields and Winchesters seem to have the greatest collector appeal as the basis to build on, followed by the post-war Springfields, IHCs, H&Rs, and the Italian Berettas and Bredas.
The key thing in evaluating a receiver is it's condition. Don't become mezmerized by the Winchester or Springfield label on the heel. You must look at the presence of pitting and degree of wear in key areas which affect functionality and safety. These include the serrations for the sight knobs, the track for the op rod lug, the rear interior bridge which cams the firing pin, the face of the receiver, the legs of the receiver, and the seats for the bolt lugs. The rear horseshoe area, or heel, should also be checked for cracks and excessive battering by the rear of the bolt. A crack anywhere is reason for rejection. Receivers which are heavily corroded or pitted in these areas are unservicable and should not be used. Receivers which were cut and then re-welded should also be rejected. Receivers with exterior pitting look nasty, but are usable as long as the key functional areas are still OK. A small degree of pitting in non-functional areas below the stock line is OK.
Post-war receivers tend to be less worn and abused so would be a better bet as a group. The ex- Danish Bredas and Berettas are in very good mechanical condition, although most need re-parkerizing from a cosmetic point of view. I have never found one of these that was pitted or unservicable. There were a number of US made rifles which were imported from Asian sources which exhibit heavy wear and pitting. I've seen several of these that were cracked and/or pitted to the extent that they were unusable/unsafe. That said, any receiver could be found to be usable or unservicable on the basis of inspection.
The really expensive thing about all of this is the cost of all of the other parts which are needed to build a rifle on a stripped receiver. Until recently Lever Arms were selling stripped Breda receivers for $60 a pop, a great deal considering that the cost of everything else to complete a rifle is around $1000 nowadays. In view of the cost of the other parts, as well as needing to pay someone else for re-parkerizing and building up a rifle if one doesn't have the tools and expertise, I wouldn't go beyond $200 for any servicable receiver.
A last comment on the Winchester receivers. Those nifty Winchester markings were applied quite lightly on many rifles and are easily eroded by sandblasting which is done to prepare the receiver for re-parkerizing. A lot of receivers were re-parkerized one or more times in military service.
