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Posted: 1/6/2008 11:38:33 AM EDT
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can anyone give me some info on them? I know that they are imported from korea. But why does that make them less valuable? They were still made here at the springfield armory right? they just got shipped there and then back? thanks |
Also, aside from being deep, the print is very large size, compared to what normally is stamped. "Blue Sky Imports" is freaking huge=long on my barrel, but the gun is in excellent condtion and shoots great.  |
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For the most part it's just a cosmetic detractor having that stamped on the barrel or some rifles on the receiver (CAI???) If it wasn't there in someones mind they could say it's just as it was on D-Day or at the Chosin Reservoir. Sad part is it damn well may have been at the frozen chosin! -also mentioned was the high numbers of poor condition blue sky's -and the odd one where the stamp was so hard the barrel was pressed out of round. |
I agree. I've heard and read lots of stories about rifles with distorted barrels and rusty metal but I have yet to see one. About a year ago I posted a thread here inviting people to post pics of their "bad" Blue Sky rifles. Nobody came out to play. 
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I believe the M1 Carbine snobs have perpetrated the "BAD" Blue Sky myth. That way their non import Carbines are worth more. They are USGI Carbines. The Import stamp does detract from the value just as anything else would that changes the Carbine from its original configuration. I buy Blue Sky Carbines......I just pay less then a non import one. Poor me...I save money......
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I remember seeing "Blue Sky" imported M1 Garands at the Woolworth Store (Fort Street/Downtown Honolulu, HI). It was back in the late 60s (or early 70s)? IIRC they were all re-parked gray and they looked terrible because of the re-park job and the wear. Back then, I was too young to purchase one, maybe I was lucky? Aloha, Mark |
| I bought 2 of the Blue Sky Garands back in the day. Think I paid under $250.00 for the pair. -- Both are SA, one has a mint bore and a 6 digit s/n, other is 7 digit & had a bad bore, rebarreled it to .308 -- I do remember that the op rod springs were VERY brittle. Whatever they used to prep them for re-park ruined the springs in both of mine. -- Replaced all the springs in both rifles & they are good shooters to this day. Never heard the one about the markings squashing the bbl before, only 1 of mine has the orig. blue sky marked bbl and it's not very deep. They were a pretty good deal at the time, by todays prices, they probably still are! -- JMO, ALLONS!! |
Here is a Blue Sky Winchester M1 carbine at Gunbroker with a buy-it-now price of $1200. He will probably get close to his price by the time the auction ends.  Blue Sky Winchester M1 carbine. |
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I have owned two Blue Sky rifles. One was a Winchester m1 carbine, the other is a Springfield Garand in the 350k serial number range. The carbine was badly out of headspace. It semi frequently would suffer case head separations. The rear sight dovetail was no longer able to hold the sight in place and it would slide from side to side at random as it had lost it's tension. I fixed that by pulling the sight and liberally filling in the dovetail with silver solder and then pounding the sight back in place. The bore was decent, the wood not so good, very little finish on it anywhere. It was about as accurate as most carbines, the bore being in good shape for the most part. I sold it about 6 months ago due to the headspace issue. The Garand I bought out of a pawn shop. The barrel was complete shit, period. There was only the vaguest hint of rifling left in the bore. The muzzle would swallow a bullet. The throat reading was an 8. The buttstock had apparently been refinished at some point by a pack of crack smoking monkeys with 9" grinders- the buttplate severely overlapped the butt all the way around and there were several "grind" marks on the stock. The stock fit was sloppy at best. The gas cylinder was white and the splines on the barrel let it rattle like a rail car full of scrap steel on a rollercoaster. The op rod was an uncut flat 9 that appeared to be in almost new condition (that's one reason I bought the rifle) and it had a very good condition lock bar rear sight on it...I gave $200 for rifle. I bought a Danish VAR barrel for the gun for $90 from Fulton Armory when they had them. I replaced the stock with one I had lying around and refinished the handguards to match. The wore out gas cylinder got replaced by an excellent condition Beretta unit I bought from Northridge at the Tulsa gunshow for $25. I sold the Flat 9 op rod and lock bar rear sight to a collector for over $200 and replaced those with some CMP replacement parts I had bought in the late 90's. After all the swapping I had a total of about $215 and alot of time spent tearing the gun apart etc....in it. Rifle will now shoot 2" consistently and runs like any other garand. Not bad for $200 but as I bought it the gun was worthless. It would literally not keep 8 rounds on the paper at 50 yards. A musket would have been a more accurate weapon! That's been my experience with Blue Sky rifles. Both were junkers essentially but the Garand at least was salvageable and has turned into one of my favorite rifles. |
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