My brother was an avid collector of military guns. He passed away 10 years ago and I was responsible for selling the collection for the estate. His son took a M1 3006 Garand Sniper's rifle which If remember correctly, was matched numbers and in good shape. He now wants to sell it to buy a 300 mag. Any ideas what he should ask. It has the cheek pad and a flash eliminator.
M1 Snipers Rifle
- Thread starter Gitz
- Start date
Navy Gunner
Regular
- Location
- Eastern Passage NS
With all the higher prices now and dependent on condition, probably up to 2 grand perhaps more.
We would need more info, and ideally photos, both to verify that this is a bona fide military sniper model and to give an estimate of value. There were 3 models of Garand sniper rifles, the M1C, the M1D and the MC-1. The M1C and MC-1 are very rare. The M1D is more common and can be put together from parts which are available on the market. Value depends on the model, originality of parts incl scope and mount and condition.
"...matched numbers..." No such thing. M1 Rifle part numbers have nothing to do with the S/N and should not match each other. If they do, the rifle, sniper model or not, is ruined as they've been made that way by somebody who didn't know better.
"...what he should ask..." Like purple says, it depends. Pictures will certainly help, but they need to be the correct picture and ofgood quality.
"...can be put together from..." D's still have distinguishing parts. 'D7312555' for example.
"...what he should ask..." Like purple says, it depends. Pictures will certainly help, but they need to be the correct picture and ofgood quality.
"...can be put together from..." D's still have distinguishing parts. 'D7312555' for example.
Thanks for the replies. I will be picking the rifle up in April. I will then send in some pictures. I know the rife still had a price tag of $1,700 on it. I do not know what my brother paid for it. I do know that his lugers that I sold for the estate had matching numbers except for the artillery luger that was put together from parts. The M1 carbine was still packed in grease.
I was at a gun show in Yuma and spotted some Garands. No sniper rifles but some nice stuff. The prices ranged from $650 US to $1,150. The one that I would have loved was a rebuild by CMP (civilian marksmanship program ) It had totally new wood and a new barrel. Talking to a seemingly knowledgeable collector a sniper rifle is easily put together and almost impossible to tell the difference. Paper work seems important for confirmation. How does one get paper work for a genuine sniper's rifle returned from the war. What is this paper work?
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You need to upload your pictures to a photo hosting service such as photobucket, imageshack, etc., then link to them here.
Mark
I was at a gun show in Yuma and spotted some Garands. No sniper rifles but some nice stuff. The prices ranged from $650 US to $1,150. The one that I would have loved was a rebuild by CMP (civilian marksmanship program ) It had totally new wood and a new barrel. Talking to a seemingly knowledgeable collector a sniper rifle is easily put together and almost impossible to tell the difference. Paper work seems important for confirmation. How does one get paper work for a genuine sniper's rifle returned from the war. What is this paper work?
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What US collectors look for to establish military provenance are sales papers from either the NRA or the CMP which received bona-fide rifles directly from the US military supply system. Again it depends which of the 3 models of sniper rifles that we are talking about. The M1C Sniper rifle was produced as new at Springfield Armory using new receivers within known serial number ranges. The MC1 was a US Marine Corps re-build of M1Cs, so the serial number check again applies. Various mounts and scopes were used depending on which model of sniper rifle is involved.
No M1Ds were made as new rifles. All were arsenal or base level rebuilds using existing receivers, so an M1D can be found with any type of USGI receiver - Springfield, Winchester, IHC or HRA. There is even a possibility that some M1Ds may have been made up by both the Italian and Danish armies on Italian made Breda and Beretta receivers. The Danish army did use authentic M1Ds which were supplied from US stocks. These are identical to the US made rifles, but will normally have an M84 scope which is marked with Danish military property marks. The stock may also be serial numbered to the rifle. An M1D uses a barrel with a unique drawing number which features a press fit base for the M1D scope mount. As long as you have this barrel it can be installed on any US GI receiver and, voila, you have an M1D.
M1Cs and MC1s employed a Griffen & Howe scope mount base which was fitted to the receiver using 3 screws and 2 pins. Its tough to fake either of these 2 models because they were made in known serial number ranges. The Garand Collectors Assn offers a verification service for M1Cs which is based on the serial numbers. M1Cs were originally produced with mostly 1945 vintage standard barrels, but many were rebuilt in the early 1950s for the Korean War using any make or type of barrel available (mostly 1950-52 dated Springfields).
M1Ds can be found in Canada which come from US, Norwegian, or Danish surplus stocks. M1Cs do exist in Canada as well, but are very scarce. I`ve never heard of a MC1 rifle in Canada, but there may well be some in the hands of collectors.
I've never found the sniper rifles to be any more accurate than a properly set up M1, although the scope will allow for better target resolution at longer ranges. The scopes are 2.5x and were state of the art in 1945-50, a far cry from the precision optics of today. The bell flash hiders look all tough and ###y, but they fit loosely and will induce accuracy destroying vibrations. I only shoot them with the flash hider removed. The later prong style flash hiders replaced the gas cyl lock, so are a lot tighter fit on the barrel.
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One can assemble a similar Garand with a new Criterion barrel and Italian receiver for $1200-$1400. It's always fun to troll the shows in the US, but what you see is pretty much forbidden fruit nowadays due to US export regulations.
