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Posted: 1/12/2003 10:00:58 AM EDT
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I've been looking around Garands from the various different vendors out there for the last couple of months and I got wondering... Where do most of these rifles come from? What are the chances that any of them saw combat? Where have they been all this time? Is there anyway to trace the history of one? |
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As I understand it, the re-imports come from 3 main countries: S. Korea, Israel & Philippines. My bet would be the vast majority from Korea & Israel. As far as tracing one, good luck. While the BATF certainly has access to serial # records, they're not available to the unwashed masses. As for seeing combat, it is up to the imagination of the owner. I like to think mine was at Chosin Reservoir killing Chinese. |
Does the stock have "Kilroy Was Here" chiseled on it?  You can check the date of manufacture of the receiver from the serial number. The barrel usually is stamped with the date. If it's from the early 40's there's a fair chance some G.I. used it in combat. No guarantees, though. |
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My M1 is a Fed-Ord reimport and I read somewhere most of their's came in from the Phillipines. There is also a little pitting at the front of the receiver against the handguard, the clip release and the top of the rear appature. So it probably did spend time in a wet climate. It's also an Oct. 1943 receiver with an April 1945 barrel, plus a few other mismatched parts. So my rifle was in the hands of a GI from late '43/early '44, stormed across Europe and got a tuneup and new barrel at the end of the war in Europe. Then it was stuck in reserves until given/sold to the Phillipines where it went on to kill commie terr's. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 
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