I searched the old posts before writing this and found nothing on the subject so forgive me if this has been beat dead, but...

I have a short garand in .308 and I have been very pleased with it.  I'm curious if it is a factory assembled shorty or some guy just threw it together.  

The barrel is marked "ARLINGTON ORD. ARL. VA. 7.62 NATO".

Most of the parts are marked "NM".  

The front sight is the narrow National Match to make up for the short sight radius.

The receiver is marked "U.S. RIFLE CAL. 30M1 SPRINGFIELD ARMORY" with ser#24XXXX.

If someone is familiar or experienced, I would like to know the quality of the shorties in general and mine in particular.

Arlington Ordnance brought M1 Garands back from Korea from 1991-1996. In the 1994-96 time frame they started making what they referred to as their T26 Tanker Model, in both 30-06 and 308.

Like most attempts to manufacturer "Tanker" Garands, results are spotty. Some worked fine, some didn't. Op rod geometry is usually just wrong, whether the rifle functions or not.

Can't tell you if it was built by a master-class gunsmith or a chipmunk that works at Century now. AO has been out of business since 1996. If it works, be happy with it. In perfect shape it might be worth about $600 to the right buyer.

What DavidC said.  I'll add that the U.S. Military never had manufactured or used the so-called "Tanker" Garand.  The T26 designation actually refers to a shortened M1 developed by S.A. late in WWII for possible use by airborne troops.  However, only about 3 prototypes were manufactured, and it was never adopted.  See Bruce Canfield's book, "Complete Guide to the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine"