WRA 1944 M1 with SA parts

A

aspenkarius

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West central alberta.
I have a really nice WRA M1 Garand. it has several WRA parts but close to an even amount of SA (including bolt and trigger assy) I know WRA parts are generaly described as not as nice as SA parts but im leaning towards trying to find all WRA for this rifle...

now my question(s). will swapping out all my SA parts help or hurt the value? and are WRA parts reliable or is this just a bad idea?

this is a re-weld receiver as far as i can tell as the part number on the lower half does not jive with the serial number time frame.

sorry for the excessive use of WRA and SA but im too lazy to type out full names.. :)
 
In my honest opinion, if the receiver has been re-welded I'd shy away from trying to correct the rifle. Finding all the correct WRA parts would not be an easy task in Canada and the price of them would probably make you cry. My best advise would be to simply leave the rifle alone and enjoy it as it is.

As far as value goes - if there's a mixture of parts it's probably been re-built so you wouldn't be destroying the historical authenticity of a completely original rifle by "correcting" it, but again, if you were to track down all the WRA parts you'd have to be prepared to throw down a serious chunk of change. For example, finding the correct WRA cartouched stock will surely set you back several hundred dollars. If you don't already have a WRA barrel that's another several hundred dollars. The correct WRA lockbar sights will run you about $300. I could go on but I think you probably get the point.

I am interested to see the rifle though, if you could post some pics we might get a better idea of what you'd be dealing with.
 
If you advise both the drawing number on the right front receiver leg and the serial number on the heel of the receiver this can assist in verifying whether or not the receiver has actually been re-welded. Welds are tough to hide as they will often show flaws and, if the receiver has been re-parkerized, the welded area will show color variations due to heat and the composition of the weld.

Restoring a WW2 Garand, especially a WRA, with correct parts is a very expensive and time consuming project and really isn't worthwhile financially. A number of WRA parts, especially barrels and stocks, are very scarce and expensive. When rebuilding Garands the military made no attempt to do this with matching manufacturer's parts. All parts made by any manufacturer, incl SA, WRA, HRA , IHC, Beretta, and Breda are totally interchangeable and were used in any combination provided that they were servicable.
 
i cant see any discoloration on the reciever, im just running off info i found on other sites. I would be thinking of trading/selling my SA parts to get the WRA ones.
the only part i know for sure i would like to change out is the bolt if i could find one closer in colour to my rifle (the current SA one is black ish and my rifle is a greenish gray)

here is an Imgur album of all my pics. http://imgur.com/a/bOXCH

also the drawing number on the right front receiver leg is D28291-2

the stock has the WRA V notch behind/under the trigger guard and a P in a square (rebuild?) stamp on it.
 
Stock has been sanded, handguards are new and probably Boyds. Just shoot and enjoy it, you could buy another rifle for what it will end up costing you in parts to make it period correct.
 
The receiver drawing number is correct for the receiver. From your photos the receiver shows no sign of being cut and welded. A NM op rod was made to fit a bit tighter than the standard ones. There is no guarentee that it, by itself, will necessarily make the rifle shoot any better. NM rifles were quite extensively modified for accuracy incl stock bedding, gas cyl fit, lower band fit, different sights, handguard fit, gas cyl lock fit, op rod fit and a few other mods. I think you are best off to keep it as is.
 
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