Picked up this gem at a gun show a couple of weeks ago.  Traded a beat-up Makarov and $360 for it.





Dates to Nov 42.  Most of the parts are in good/great shape, except for the barrel and the stock.  I'm planning on restoring it to as-issued parts.

Here's the question:  I've got another Garand, a post-war HRA, with parts that are correct for the Springfield, specifically the bullet guide, hammer, follower assembly,  gas cylinder and gas cylinder lock.

Now, I'm pretty positive the cylinder lock, hammer and follower assembly are all fully interchangeable, but am I going to worry about timing issues if I switch the bullet guide?  What about the gas cylinder?  I know my HRA works now, and i don't want to swap parts and wind up with two non-functioning guns.

Here's the other issue--as I started looking at my HRA for possible parts swaps, I looked at the barrel--and it's markings don't match anything I'm familiar with.  Can anyone place this barrel?



The wierdest part is this mark.  I know I've seen it before, but I just can't remember where or what it means.  Any ideas?



Any help/guidance/mentoring would be greatly appreciated!

Could that be a "Blue Marlin" barrel? I have seen some on post war rebuilds and as I recall, they are stamped with Marlin on top, not the side. Pull off the rear handguard and see.

As for restoring the 42 SA, good luck. Finding a cartouched stock and dated barrel that has not been refinished is going to be a chore, not to mention *very expensive*. Depending on how much barrel life you get in one, expect to pay quite a bit.

If I were you, I would leave the functioning HRA alone and just be satisfied with your other rifle as well.

Quoted: Could that be a "Blue Marlin" barrel? I have seen some on post war rebuilds and as I recall, they are stamped with Marlin on top, not the side. Pull off the rear handguard and see. As for restoring the 42 SA, good luck. Finding a cartouched stock and dated barrel that has not been refinished is going to be a chore, not to mention *very expensive*. Depending on how much barrel life you get in one, expect to pay quite a bit. If I were you, I would leave the functioning HRA alone and just be satisfied with your other rifle as well.

The HRA barrel is unmarked under the handguard.  The only markings are the ones I took a photo of, and a CAI import stamp above the gas cylinder  .

The SA rifle needs some work anyway; the barrel is pretty shot out and I'll need to replace the stock anyway (it looks like crap and has been repaired in two different places).

Already been on Ebay looking for parts--the last correct cartouched stock I saw went for $707.  Not looking forward to that part, but I figure I can get all the smaller parts changed out, at least.

Quoted: Forgive me for mentioning this, but even though a given part on your HRA may be of SA mfr does NOT necessarily mean that it is the correct part for your particular SA. Some parts went through literally dozens of revisions over the years of Garand manufacture.

Understand, that's why the first thing I did after getting the SA was buy Scott Duff's book on the correct parts for that time frame.

Quoted: The HRA barrel is unmarked under the handguard.  The only markings are the ones I took a photo of, and a CAI import stamp above the gas cylinder  .

Since you say it has an import mark, I would bet that barrel was made in the country it came from. My guess would be South Korea, but it could be from just about anywhere. I do know it is not a Danish VAR barrel.

Already been on Ebay looking for parts--the last correct cartouched stock I saw went for $707.  Not looking forward to that part, but I figure I can get all the smaller parts changed out, at least.

You are looking in the LAST place you need to be looking for parts from. Not only will you overpay, it is also a good place to get ripped off by either bait and switch or just out and out faked parts. If you do get your parts off of Ebay, you will have far more in your rifle than it will EVER be worth. That may happen anyway but is assured if done off of Ebay. You really need to join the GCA and go that route and deal with someone who is legit and has some sort of standards to go by. Faked Garand parts are so common it is not even funny. Not only are they faked but they command absolutely the most over inflated prices as well.

Quoted: Quoted: The HRA barrel is unmarked under the handguard.  The only markings are the ones I took a photo of, and a CAI import stamp above the gas cylinder  . Since you say it has an import mark, I would bet that barrel was made in the country it came from. My guess would be South Korea, but it could be from just about anywhere. I do know it is not a Danish VAR barrel. Already been on Ebay looking for parts--the last correct cartouched stock I saw went for $707.  Not looking forward to that part, but I figure I can get all the smaller parts changed out, at least. You are looking in the LAST place you need to be looking for parts from. Not only will you overpay, it is also a good place to get ripped off by either bait and switch or just out and out faked parts. If you do get your parts off of Ebay, you will have far more in your rifle than it will EVER be worth. That may happen anyway but is assured if done off of Ebay. You really need to join the GCA and go that route and deal with someone who is legit and has some sort of standards to go by. Faked Garand parts are so common it is not even funny. Not only are they faked but they command absolutely the most over inflated prices as well.

GCA?  What's that?  

I was looking as a gauge for pricing, but you're right, in hindsight that's probably the worst place to go.  I've already got a cheat-sheet built for when I go to the gun shows in the area, but besides that, where are other good on-line places for parts?

You also need to check out the M1/M14 board on Jouster.com.  It is arguably the best M1 Garand board on the whole internet, and certainly the one most frequented by the heavy weights in Garand collecting.  There is a CSP Shopper which is a classified ad section that ends up being about 70 percent M1 Garand items.  The only drawback is the board format is the chronological order with no topic separator.  Posts get flushed out pretty fast on busy days - save any information as a Word document if you want to keep it.

Quoted: You also need to check out the M1/M14 board on Jouster.com.  It is arguably the best M1 Garand board on the whole internet, and certainly the one most frequented by the heavy weights in Garand collecting.  There is a CSP Shopper which is a classified ad section that ends up being about 70 percent M1 Garand items.  The only drawback is the board format is the chronological order with no topic separator.  Posts get flushed out pretty fast on busy days - save any information as a Word document if you want to keep it.

That's what that was!  I visited jouster doing a Google search, and then I couldn't find it again.  Thanks for the info!

Restoral????

Sounds like nasal spray.

This is too far removed from original to restore. I'd restock, rebarrel in 7.62X51 and then shoot that one out.


JR