I just bought a CMP Dane M1.  Springfield receiver and brand new dane barrel.  The metal has minty park on it a few sctratches.  The wood is dinged up birch with walnut handguards.  But it has matching serial numbers on the bottom.  I was thinking about gettin DRG to make it look brand new. New all walnut wood and new springs and new parking.  What do you guys think?

The gun cost me $400, the rebuild $430.  Hmmm.

It's not going to hurt anything to do it, so go ahead. A good M1 is going for $1200 these days, so you'd still be ahead of the game.

IMO, if you're gonna spend close to $1K for a Garand, why not get one from Fulton Armory, Mil-Tech or Springfield Armory?

I bought a milsurp Garand & then had a Douglas NM barrel installed on it for less than $200.

My .o2

Bob, thought about that too.  Springfields new guns have the horrible Boyds over sized stocks on them.  Not to mention a lot of the parts are cast and not GI spec.  Ask any of the guys that have had M1As fall apart.  Foulton is darned expensive a lot more then $800-900 that I will end up paying.  The rifle will end up looking brand new.  I guess the question is whether I keep the vintage look or get a gun that will look like its out of the box.

Go DGR.  You won't regret it.  Worth every penny.

Rich

How big are the scratches on the park??, if they're not real noticable, Maybe touch them up and put it in a new stock,DGR does sell unfinished,fitted,stock sets,Will cost you around $175.00, The last M1 I got from CMP has about 98-99% of the park on it I restocked it,with one of Dean's stock sets and touched up some small parts on the rifle myself with some Brownells Dicropan, T-4 touch up,(creme formula)(works great) This weekend I did the buttplate with this stuff, Buttplate was lightly buffed, to get some of the scratches out,(buttplate was devoid of any finish whatsoever,and well worn,so,if this did'nt work,I wasn't out much) I was shocked! 3 coats later, It came out a dark grey color that goes very well with the rest of the rifle, finish on rifle is now 100%,Stock was done with 6 coats of boiled linseed oil, sanded in between coats with 0000 steel wool,and then 2 coats of formby's tung oil finish...rifle looks like it left S.A. yesterday... You can do all this yourself(including replacing op-rod,ejector,and extractor,springs) and maybe save a few bucks,take your time, and you'll end up with a good looking rifle, something to think about...

I thought about that Ralph.  The part that scares me is the fitting of the wood.  I dont want to ruin the parts.  I did take it apart and the inside is pristine.  ALL SA parts.  I was really suprised.  The only thing not SA is the barrel and its new!  I decided to send it since its an import and has no historical importance, probably a rebuild anyway.  

I'll second a trip to DGR.  He did two Garands for me and the results were outstanding.

I'd triple the DGR recommendation.  If you want your rifle looking absolutely BEAUTIFUL and have it FUNCTIONAL, without just buying another one, send it to Dean.  I've seen a few examples of his work.  Absolutely wonderful.  I plan on sending at least one or two to him as I get a few more M1s.  

The unfinished,fitted stock sets Dean sells ARE already Fitted,All the finish inletting is done by Dean,Your M1 action will fit,tightly, all you have to do is finish sand it, and stain it, that's it, you're done!!Dean does do excellent work,But He's not cheap, and if your rifle already has 98-99% of the park on it It's somewhat of a waste to repark metal that does'nt really need it,But, that's up to you,You won't be sorry if you do decide to send it to Dean,He is a artist,

I wouldn't touch it. The wood has historical value, for one...dinged handguards? The rifle probably did the Government-sponsered tour of Europe during the mid-40's. I wouldn't chuck that, even if someone paid me. I have a Dane...except for it's VAR barrel, it's all original. It's awesome.

I wouldn't want a Garand to look brand new. That'd render moot the whole purpose, for me. If I want a showpiece, I'll drop the many thousands for a DCM papered M1 National Match. You can bet those were taken care of. Other than that...it's a battle rifle. They went to battle. Let it wear it's scars and dings proudly.

Simply my opinion, and it's worth the electrons it took to display the message...(nil! )