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Garand manufacturers

3K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  mtpo 
#1 ·
Hey, I need to know who make the best Garand (original manufacturer) as far as overall quality, and reliability. Opinions are welcome as long as they are supported. Thanks!
 
#3 ·
I have to agree with John. The late post war Springfields were the best ever produced. If that is what you want, there is one sure fire way to get one. You can order a Springfield Armory correct grade from the CMP. Living so close to the north store, I have had the privelege of examining about a hundred of the latest correct grades to come through. All were in excellent shape with very good to new barrels. All that I have seen in this last batch were 5.4M and 5.8M serial numbers. These are among the best Garands ever made, and with their CMP certificates of authenticity, each and every one is worth more than you paid for it the moment you open the box.
 
#4 ·
I picked up a couple SA and a couple HRA corrects from the last batch and I must say they are beautiful. I have one set to show off but the other set is still in the grease and will be until my nephew inherits them. Either one you can’t go wrong.

woof
 
#6 ·
zepman said:
Does anyone know about the Garands from Miltech?

http://miltecharms.com/rifles.htm#GARAND
HIGHLY overpriced cosmetics..... Simply a re-finished rifle, nothing more. You can get the same thing by buying a CMP Rack Grade (Lowest Grade) and having the metal re-finished and, if necessary, replacing the wood with a set of Boyd's.

Best,
Swampy

Garands forever
2007 NRA Missouri State 600 yard Service Rifle Champion.... with an M1
 
#7 ·
Sprigfield rifles seem to be the best overall, FWIW if you want to buy a "new" one from a dealer, I have a H & R that I purchased from the Garand Guy with a new stock, reparked metal and a new Criterion chrome lined barrel for much less ($600 less) than the price listed by Miltech. I bought it as my primary shooter, the barrel will last me the rest of my life, it's a mixmaster that I can shoot regularly and not feel bad about it's value if it depreciates from use.

That said A CMP Garand is a great way to go and I'm definetly going to pick up a SA service grade within the next three months.
 
#9 ·
I lost out the last time the CMP had Service Grade Winchesters and could not order one at the time. I picked up a Winchester Grade B receiver a bit over a year ago and built my own so as to have one in my collection. I just read that there are some in the latest batch from Greece and that maybe later this year they will have enough to put them up.
 
#10 ·
Yup, the word is later this year. What grades or conditions is anyone's guess. The last time they had them at the north store there were a few diamonds amongst the rough. One guy found and early six digit receiver mixmaster with just one extra little item. It still had it's original Winchester flush nut rear sights!

A friend of mine wanted to get one and I could not get away to go up with him to help him pick one out. I got a few M1's out in the gun room and showed him what to look for. Basically, I showed him what an original finish looked like versus the Greek black, what to look for as far as receiver wear, and explained to him how many of the Winchester logos were not evenly stamped. I told him they were all pretty much mixmasters, but once he had a good receiver he should look for any other WRA parts to make a tie breaker if he found more than one candidate. He brought the rifle back to see if he did alright. He had a beautiful Winchester 2.4M receiver and for extra parts it had it's original WRA barrel that measured about 1.5 at the muzzle, a WRA bolt that head spaced nicely, and a WRA trigger guard! I offered him a $100.00 profit right on the spot, and also suggested that he shouldn't take it. He said I told him to look for extra Winchester parts. WOW!
 
#11 ·
Like a lot of posters have said you can't go wrong with an SA and the post wars are probably better. Seems like after the war they had better metals, more time, better machines. Winchester continues to be one of the most popular M1 Garands but some of their tolerances weren't that good. Their machine work lacked good finish and sometimes fit. That said I have several and wish I had more Winny's. The H and R's which are all post war are in my opinion fine rifles. I have a correct I got from CMP which I think should have been a collector grade and like new. The parts are made well, finished well and it shoots well. The International Harvester "tractor guns" command some big bucks but had some poor workmanship in their earlier attempts at rifle making. They are all post war and are the rarest of all the M1 Garands.
The number of rifles made goes SA with the most made, then Winchester, then H and R, then IHC.
Bill
 
#12 ·
I have to agree with Bill's observations of HRA made M1s. Like Bill I purchased from the CMP a correct grade HRA M1 that could have been a collector grade. The rifle I received was manufactured in November 1955 and appears to have been test fired and then stored until it was sold to me. The fit, finish and general quality of this rifle is outstanding. It is a great shooter.

Mike
 
#13 ·
I agree with the above, an HRA correct is among the finest M1 Garands you can get. My 5.5M HRA correct is a beautiful rifle and one of my three best J.C.G. legal shooters. I did not mention them because they are not available through the CMP at this time while SA corrects are.
 
#14 ·
JAS,

If I lived as close to the north store as you. I would probably be broke most of the time. However since I live about two thousand miles from the nearest CMP store I am still married and have enough money to be able to afford my other hobby, which is riding my Harley.

Mike
 
#15 ·
Workmanship wasn't IHC's problem. Rather, they had the misfortune of getting SA's "help". Oddly enough, the moment that HRA took over the job of helping IHC along, all of thier production problems disappeared. A lot of people at Winchester downright blamed SA for their early production woes, which mostly disappeared as soon as war was declared. It might be noted that the state of war made intentional interference/sabotage with war material production a capital offense. Some see a pattern there (including me).

As to the matter at hand, I have a correct grade post war SA and a collector grade HRA. The fit and finish on both are simply superb. In terms of quality, both companies made incredibly fine rifles there at the end. Especially if it has a LMR barrel on it.
 
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