National Match Garand

IronCanadian

IronCanadian

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I've recently come across a fellow who is selling a Springfield National Match Garand, unfortunately my knowledge of the Garand is slight and even less so of the National Match rifles.

I'm hoping to get some insight concerning what I should be looking for when examining the rifle or questions I should be asking.

As I understand it the National Match rifles were re-built post war for competition shooting (I apologize for butchering lingo).

My final question of course comes back to value. If my assumptions are correct, then I know I'm not looking at an original war era Garand, so what would the value of a National Match Garand in "average" or better shape be?

Thank you for bearing with my vagueness and I know, I know...

:needPics:
 
Does it have a national match oprod,front and rear sights? If it shoots well and is decent cosmetically value is 1500+++ your mileage may vary.
 
All I know so far (from original description) is it has a NM barrel, he also mentioned a scope and mounts; which I've questioned him if the receiver was drilled and tapped for a scope mount.

On the National Match rifles were all match parts marked with NM or NM logo?
 
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I don't really know a lot in depth about Garands equipped with scopes, but 'drilled and tapped' possibly means it was adapted from the factory to take a sniping scope, and could possibly be an M1C or M1D Garand, or a Garand that was adapted by the Danish to take a scope for military purposes, but usually they were not drilled and tapped like you would imagine a bolt action rifle would be drilled and tapped.

The only other scope mounts for the Garand that I know of would be for a 'scout' type scope forward of the receiver. For this the barrel would be drilled and tapped (lighter) or the scope base would be a clamp on affair, (heavy).

Edit: I Believe S&K Industries makes a regular eye relief scope base for the Garand, this is strictly an aftermarket thing, and to use their base you have to ditch the entire rear sight assembly.
 
Programs and built characteristics varied between different branches of the service and or respective "government contracts".

A match barrel and other components and modifications make a match capable rifle.

Do your home work on line and be wary of post build mods that really devalue an original, like mounts and grinding etc!.

Some shooters did their own "personal modifications" ...stay away from those....usually too personal and often damaged the original build....my $.02
 
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There were various iterations of NM Garands that were built at various times IAW all of Army, Airforce and Navy specs. NM rifles were not fitted with scope mounts or scopes at any time.

A lot of detailed photos would be very helpful to try to authenticate this one. Some details which would be helpful incl front and rear sight markings, op rod markings, barrel date & markings, incl presence of the letters "NM" stamped on the barrel in the area of the gas cylinder. Other details which would assist incl presence of glass bedding in stock, front handguard with liner removed and unitized to the lower band with screws, and stock ferrule unitized with stock with screws in the front face.

The other thing is the barrel condition itself. These rifles were shot a lot in competition and were rebarreled one or more times to maintain top accuracy. I'd go slowly on this one. You can find rifles that folks have fitted with NM marked op rods and sights, but this doesn't mean that they are bona fide NM rifles. Is it a .30-06 or 7.62?
 
Thanks everyone,

Tony, no confirmation on drill and tap. still waiting for an answer regarding the scope comment the op made.

Purple, the rifle is a .30-06 as per the OP.

I'll use information I gather on this post to further question the seller about the rifle.
 
Just as a caution...

There have been a number of "National Match" Springfield M1a and Garands that have popped up on the various public used firearms websites. These ads are often priced well below market value (e.g, $850 for an NM Garand).

If you do a Google search on the phrases in the description, 9/10 times you'll find an American ad that is worded almost identically, although the ad writers are getting smarter. Regardless, proceed with caution as many of these ads are fraudulent.

For some reason, the Springfield M1a and Garand are popular targets of the scammers.
 
I've seen many surplus M1's in this country that had been rebuilt at some time in their existence with some NM parts, usually the Op Rods, sometimes the barrels. It doesn't make it a National Match Gun. As far as collecting NM M1's, If the gun doesn't have any paperwork from the DCM to that effect, then I'd be very careful.
 
In my humble opinion, just because it is a National Match doesn't mean it will still shoot better than a rack grade rifle. If previous owners were serious shooters, chances are this rifle was used in the matches and retired when it was no longer competitive. Most shooters will have two (or three) closely matched rifles in rotation. One ready for the next match, one getting something fixed after the last match or season, and one that is a disappointment (or an unknown promise). Not saying all the bullseyes have been shot out of your potential NM Garand, but it might just be an assemblage of correctly marked parts that won't hold a group anymore.
 
An interesting bit of irony the NM Garands are seldom ued in competition these days. The Match grade AR-15s now dominate the service rifle matches in the U.S. There is a Specific Garand Match but that is for "as issued" grade rifles and "Match Grade" ones are banned from it.
 
Thanks for the additional information guys.

I am certainly proceeding slowly on this and would not be making a purchase without handling the rifle and seeing it shoot.

Additional info: The OP got back to me re the scope mount. He says it's the original factory scope mount from the armory!? (I read that he is saying it's a sniper scope mount) Hopefully I'll have some pics soon.

He has also said he is the original owner of the rifle, so I'll be asking him about his competition shooting.

Additionally, I'm not picking this up for competition shooting. Just a plinking rifle to have some fun with and I love "vintage" rifles.
 
fat tony said:
^I wonder if it's one of the Danish rifles? I recall back in the 1990s you could pick them up for a song (around $275 bucks no less :ninja:).
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Some yrs ago I spoke with a fellow in Winnipeg who claimed to have gotten one of the Danish Garands which was fitted with a Kreiger heavy match barrel. I never saw it, but I suppose anything is possible. The Danish made VAR barrels have an excellent reputation for accuracy as do the Breda barrels. I can attest to this on the basis of my own experience.

It takes more than just a good barrel to bring out the best in a Garand though. There are a number of fairly easy tweaks which can improve accuracy quite a bit.
 
fat tony said:
I can get 3moa out of mine on a good day, but I have not done much at all to her except to give her a good cleaning periodically. I should try peening the splineways sometime, it's not that hard of a modification by the looks of it.
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If there is rotational movement of the gas cyl on the barrel the front sight position will be variable-not a good thing for accuracy.

The barrel splineways should be peened to correct this. To peen the splines support the splined area on a wooden block and use a flat face punch to deform the edges of the splines. Go easy on this. Only use a series of light taps along the edge of the splines from front to back, just enough to deform the edges. You can test for tightness by trial fitting the gas cyl.

A tight fit is good, at least to the point where the gas cyl must be tapped on and off. To drive the cyl on /off use a hardwood block on the front and rear of the bayo lug. Do not strike the face of the gas cyl directly with a hammer.
 
Pulled the trigger!

I did it, I pulled the trigger on this Garand.

Went and took a look at it earlier this week.

Gun is in very good condition, good looking bore, immaculate stock. It's a post war Garand with SN: D700###x.

The scope mount in question was an aftermarket S&K scope mount that replaced the rear sight in an offset and includes an integrated peep sight.

Unfortunately the scope mount was put on at the factory, so the rear sight is MIA. Fortunately Pocketfisherman just put one up for sale and I snapped it up.

So, it's a Springfield Armory M1 Garand in .30-06 sn: D700###x with a barrel marked NM.

Don't know if there are any other NM marked parts since I haven't pulled it apart.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can take some good ones.

Thanks for all the help.
 
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