Rookie M1 Garand Questions

mmattockx

mmattockx

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Milsurp rookie here. I have been out of shooting for quite a number of years and have a buddy slowly dragging me back in. So I have been looking for a toy to go blast paper at the range, maybe do a bit of hunting if the mood strikes me. I have always thought the M1 Garand was a great rifle and am thinking that it might be just what I am looking for in a new toy. I am a total rookie when it comes to milsurp and have a few questions. I have spent the last couple of weeks searching the CGN site and have not found some answers I am looking for. If there are sticky threads or other threads that answer these, please point me in that direction.

1) I am looking strictly for a shooter, not a collector. So, I want one in sound mechanical condition that looks OK, but I don't care which manufacturer produced it or if the numbers match. Where are the best places to look for this? There is a gun show in Calgary in April, is that a good place to start?

2) There were two books referenced that I found while searching, but cannot track down again. They were the M1 Garand Handbook and M1 Garand Field Book (I think). Can anyone tell me the author and correct titles so I can do some shopping?

3) I see M1's in the EE listing for $750-800 that look very nice and I see M1's listed on the P&S Militaria site for $650+ that look like they were run over by a herd of cattle. What gives? For the difference in appearance, I would pay the extra $100 or so.

4) If I buy a ratty looking M1 and want to put new wood and fittings on it, where are good places to buy parts, stocks, etc.?

5) Eventually, I may want to try my hand at longer distance iron sight shooting. What is a typical range of costs for a gunsmith to bring a standard M1 up to National Match standards? What would be involved in that? Re-barrel and trigger work, or more than that?


Thanks,
Mark
 
Beware of cheap Garand, I ended up with one of the Korean imports brought in during the early '90's. It had a smoothbore barrel, I found a "gunsmith" in Calgary that did a horrendous job fitting a new barrel. In the end, I spent around $1,500.00 rebuilding a rifle that was both accurate and reliable.
 
Try and find an Itallian M1. Better fit & finish, and usually in much better condition then the US rifles that have seen service.
 
"...or if the numbers match..." The numbers on parts are drawing and part numbers and have nothing to do with the S/N. If any of 'em match the S/N, somebody made them that way.
"...books..." Hatcher's Notebook and Hatcher's Book of the Garand. About $30 each in your local gun shop or Amazon. The latter has a trouble shooting chapter. General Hatcher was one of the honchoes in the U.S. Ordnance Department while the rifle was being developed.
Free .pdf U.S. military manuals are here. Note the need for the provided UN & PW. http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/
"...What gives?...buy a ratty looking..." Some retailers and private sellers think an M1 in Canada is worth what they're worth Stateside. I've seen rifles in poor condition at gun shows the guy wanted $775 for. Same guy wanted $4 each for clips too. He carried his stuff back and forth a lot.
If a rifle is ratty looking on the outside, it likely is ratty inside too. Usually poor barrels. Some of the other parts can be worn too. That's not as big a deal as a poor barrel.
Marstar has most of the parts. Gunparts, Stateside, does too. M1's aren't on the U.S. 'restricted for export' list, so you can get anything but a barrel without the U.S. export permit. A barrel needs one.
"...up to National Match standards..." A match barrel, trigger work, bedding and match sights. Finding a smithy to do it all, properly, will be the issue. Lots of 'em Stateside. Not so many up here. If you do go that route, don't even think about any ammo but match grade ammo. Be like using regular gas in a Ferrari. 150, 168 or 175 grain match bullets, carefully hand loaded.
 
Here's an excellent site for M1 Garand upkeep and info that was shown to me by someone on CGN a while back when I bought mine.

http://www.civilianmarksmanship.com/

The Garands at PS Militaria are for the most part ones that saw action, IIRC. So they'll naturally have a fair bit of wear and tear. I almost got one, but in the end found a Danish one in much better shape and for a lot less $, but that's extremely rare from what I've seen.
If I had to buy one now I would go for one off the EE, as it has most likely been cared for properly by a fellow gunnut that has an idea how to do it.
$700 to $900 should get you one in good shape, or if you're not in a hurry keep looking around and see if you get lucky too.
I tried hunting with my Garand this year and found out in a hurry how hard it is to use peep sights at dusk and dawn! LOL! Didn't get anything except a spruce grouse with mine if you can believe it. I would scope mine, but I think it would ruin the rifle.
If you'd like to take mine for a rip, just PM me and we'll get together since we're both Airdrie shooters.
 
I was looking at the Garands at P&S but chose to put an ad out in the EE first. Ended up getting a Itallian Breda M1 for the same price (after taxes) as the cheeper M1's P&S had. Plus I got some clips and a sling and the stock didn't look like the surface of the moon.
 
Thee's a nice looking one in the EE right now. Fantastic rifle, but I found out 10 years ago what proonur did about peep sights in low light. I certainly won't sell mine. Ever.
 
stovepipe699 said:
Thee's a nice looking one in the EE right now. Fantastic rifle, but I found out 10 years ago what proonur did about peep sights in low light. I certainly won't sell mine. Ever.
Click to expand...

Main use will be range shooting, hunting will be a very distant second. Yes, iron sights don't work well in the dark at all. Not a problem for me at this point (famous last words, I know).

Mark
 
I like that "been there , done that" look.
Maybe I should refinish it and sell it for a couple hundred more...:D

M1Garanda.jpg


There's also no D/T mounts out there.

M1Lyman4xf.jpg


If y'all think abit o' grey is a weakness.....your in for a surprise.


M1targ1.jpg


It won't take much to put that big hole on the X and once the weather straightens out , I'll see how it does with some real distance.
Whenever we buy milsurp , (especially unseen over the 'net ) there is a "chance" we take .
However , I'm quite happy with my P&S ( mid '50's HRA ) Garand....It's a keeper for me.
 
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My advice is to not worry about the condition of the wood or the condition of the finish of the metal.

If you want a shooter, make your top priority finding one with the action and rifling in excellent condition. As this is the base of the rifle, it is the most important part to get right. The asthetics will not make a difference to how well it shoots whatsoever, so dont worry about them when looking to buy one.

In order to get the rifle looking good once you have a good action and barrel, you can find a several specialty companies that sell brand new wood stocks and front/ rear handguards for the M1 by simply 'Googling' it. I have seen prices for complete sets ranging from $100 to about $700, depending on the species of wood and how elaborate the craftsmanship is.

As for the condition of the finish on the metal, you can either take it to a gunsmith and have it professionally done for prices ranging from $100 to $500, depending on the quality of finish you would like.

If you feel adventurous, try a product like 'duracoat', which is a high strength, high quality gun paint that is very easy to use.

Hope this helps! :)
 
Kevin M. said:
My advice is to not worry about the condition of the wood or the condition of the finish of the metal.
Click to expand...

I agree, when I bought my Garand it was kind of ugly... well still is :D

But it functions very well, and they are a lot of fun to shoot. You can always swap parts.. And if you want you can even get a synthetic stock for it, although I don't know what the quality of them is like, I think they may be made by Ramline :eek:
 
mmattockx said:
.... I am a total rookie when it comes to milsurp and have a few questions......
Click to expand...

:cheers:

In "The Screening Room" (click here)http://www.milsurps.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46, we updated the existing set of wartime U.S. Government produced Garand training videos (over 2 hours).

To the existing entry Rifle Marksmanship with the M1 Garand Rifle (1942 Training Videos and Companion Book), we've added a 1943 official training Film of the U.S. War Department, displaying the principles of operation of the U.S. CAL. .30 M1 Rifle better known throughout WW2 as the “Garand”. Signal Corps ordnance experts demonstrate the intricacy of the firing mechanism behind the most expensive and one of the best rifles of the Second World War.


U.S. CAL. .30 M1 Rifle (1943)
Video length = 15 minutes
(Click PIC for link to MKL entry)

There's some great material in this Knowledge Library entry for collectors who also shoot these old Garand vintage rifles, including a companion training book titled "How to Shoot the U.S. Army Rifle" and other articles on "Snap Shooting" and pics of the "Sighting Training Device".

Regards,
Badger
 
This is my Breda sporting original wood.
breda2.jpg

This is my Beretta with a boyds stock set.
beretta01.jpg

Both were Dane rifles, the PB had lovely Danish beech stocks.....probably the ugliest wood ever used on a rifle, so I sold it and bought a boyds.
Both shoot really well, Breda has original barrel, while the PB has VAR barrel.
 
This is my beauty which is a 1953 International Harvester. IHC stock and trigger group. I'll probably pass it on to my Son but I'm sure I won't sell it. I am working on replacing all parts with original IHC parts over the next few years.

Garand-04.jpg
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Now I have a question. Are there any manufacturers making brand new M1 Garands, other then the 'Iwo Jima Commemerative Edition'?

I have checked around, but all I have found are rebuilds and original milsurps.

Any ideas?
 
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