I remember being waist high to my Dad when he was searching through a barrel of Lee Enfields for $12 each. He bought a half dozen of them. The spike bayonets were 5 for a buck. We used them as tent pegs the entire time I was growing up.
Good old days - $80 Garands
- Thread starter kjohn
- Start date
Yup. It still looks like new and has been an excellent shooter over the years.
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
The Americans didn't use serial numbers rather drawing/assembly numbers as they considered there parts fully interchangeable. The reason they don't show up in the original from the factory numbers is because in service they would just put all the parts into a big pile and just grab some and start cleaning. At the end they would grab random parts and throw them back together again. Same thing for rebuilds. Due to this very few American M1 Garands and 1903s are 'matching' as they left the factory. Those few that exist unless it has some clear providence (like the Lend-Lease British M1 Garands for example). Otherwise I would avoid it like the plague (or at least not pay the ridiculous prices) as anyone can hunt down the 'correct' parts and try to sell it for more (in fact the States has a massive cottage industry devoted to the exchange of these parts). It is scary as sometimes wear marks are what people use to determine if it is actually how it was or if it was something someone put together.
Garand prices in the 2nd half of the 1990's were artificially low due to the recent introduction of the gun registry and the looming deadline to register all non-restricted. Just a few years earlier, the going price for Garands was at least 2-3 times more, and still a bargain by today's standards.
