A friend wants to part with a Winchester Garand with serial number ranger 158xxx.
from the pics he sent me, it has a springfield bolt, .308 barrel, NM rear sight, no markings on the stock.

I haven't seen it in person so I don't know about the OP rod, trigger group, ect.

He really doesn't know the history on it. He purchased it a long time ago for a gift for his father in law. When the FIL passed away, the rifle was returned to him.

The condition looks to be really nice. No pitting that I can see above the stock and the parkerizing looks really good.

Any thoughts on value? I really wouldn't be interested much if it weren't for the Winchester receiver.

Gunbroker is all over the place.

Rebarreled to .308 makes it hard to for me to really value. (Changed from re-chambered).

Thanks.

Edit:
Additional information reveals that the gun is bedded and may have been used for competition.

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Damn nice looking rifle!  

OP, I bought my CMP re-build / overhauled to new 7.62mm H&R from the CMP Camp Perry Store for just under $1000 about 8 years ago.

Depending on condition and parts I'd say between $750-900 would be more than fair -- maybe more if he has a CMP provenance letter and accessories (sling, clips, etc.).

It will be worth a lot more if it's a Navy Trophy rifle.

It really depends. Assuming it is all in good condition, one with a commercial barrel, stock and sights would put it around $1400-1600. If it was all USGI parts, the price creeps up. Prices have been stupid high for Winchesters and all other M1’s for a couple years now. Currently commercial 308 barrels are hard to get so there is a small premium for that.

Prices are all over the place on Gunbroker mostly because people don’t know what they are buying and/or are leary of sellers with low feedback or don’t take credit cards. A penny auction will always bring way more than a high starting bid. A pretty commercial stocked M1 will sell more than an all USGI rifle with a valuable collector stock. Many sale prices just don’t make sense.

Prices are cooling fast on M1’s at auction. Typical mixmasters in good shape seem to have dropped several hundred since the peak. People flipping $1100 pitted CMP rifles are not getting the ridiculous $1800 sales they were a 6 months ago.

Winchester receivers have a bit more value than an SA.   It's not a collector item now but 308 is shoot and more accurate than 30/06.

I paid $1200 for a clean HRA rebarreled to 308 and was happy with it at that price.

&
$1200 is what he wants. Now if I can find my gauges.

Winchester receivers sell for $700+ stripped.

Does this rifle look like it's been bedded to you. I haven't seen it in person but it looks like some bedding compound around the receiver.

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Hard to tell. Keep in mind when CMP had .308 "Experts" for sale they went for $1000 bucks, $1200 would be a good price current market. You could always hunt around for a USGI 30.06 barrel and restore it, or get one of the current 30.06 Experts and barrel swap between that and use the Winchester receiver as trade/sale bait.

National match sights painted like old high power competitors did - likely a very good shooting rifle. $1200 would not be out of line. Too bad we don’t know make of the barrel

My friend thinks that the butt of the gun was hot dipped in lead.
Was this a common practice for competition rifles?

IIRC it was done to strengthen the receiver for launching grenades, it was done to over 1 million Garands IIRC

Not the butt, the heel of the receiver. From the pics, it does appear you have a receiver that was lead dipped.

Thank you for the correction on the receiver heal and not the butt. Not sure where I got that.

In more technical terms it was used to anneal the receivers, increasing toughness so they were not as brittle. The process actually reduces the strength. Grenade launching was not the purpose. Here is a good read about the subject, CMP forum discussion on lead dipped heels and receiver legs.

Seems reasonable if you want a Winchester in 308. I don't think I have ever seen a garand for sale less then 1k except the cmp.
If you don't already have a garand, then this would be a good one to pick up.

Don't know if the OP is aware but the 308 conversion was because some service rifle matches used to give everyone ball ammo to shoot (from government stock) and 30/06 was harder to get than 308.

I believe some guns had new barrels fitted and some had a sleeve installed to make the chamber 308 size. Quality of the work in both cases is important . I have heard of the sleeves shifting .

I have no idea on value.

The early Garand receivers were made from one of several steels.

The earliest steel became brittle and the heels of the receivers would crack.

Rather than remove them from service, for the newer steel receivers, the receiver heels were tempered in hot lead, to make them less brittle.

I have seen these receivers and the newer ones demilled by a crushing blow through the center from a shear.

These older receivers would shatter into small pieces, like glass, around around the break, but the newer receivers would bend and split a little when sheared apart.