My local shop is helping a long-time collector liquidate his M1 Garand collection. They have at least 15 M1 Garands at the shop.

Let me just say, I have always wanted an M1, but I have never found the right one for the right price. Unfortunately the prices just keep going up and the selections are getting worse! This might be MY time.

If I were picking between two or three, I could probably handle that, but picking through a stack of M1s? I need help.

My understanding is that these are all rebuilds, so there aren't any completely original rifles. Some have H&R barrel/op rod, while another has Danish markings, etc...

With this info, what should I look for? This is going to be shot, but hardly. I've got other rifles to shoot. This will mostly be a collector piece.

One of the things I'd look over is the serial numbers and the date it corresponds to.

Maybe there's a specific date you want and can find in there.

Not nearly enough information.  If you have any specifics, we could steer you in a good direction.

barrel condition
then stock fit

get those two covered and it should be at least a good shooter.

for shooters I have a preference for the post war Garands.  The H&R rifles were some of the best.   H&R barrels sometimes had LMR barrels, Line Materials Company made great barrels and are known for great accuracy.   The barrel would be marked  LMR in the "window" behind the op rod, above the stock line, below the hand guard on the R side of the rifle.  

The Danish Garands with VAR barrels are as good or better than the LMR's from anything I've heard.  I have a couple of LMR barreled Garands but have never had a VAR.  The Danes made very good barrels too.

Stock fit?  Just checking for a good tight fit, or is there something/somewhere to check?

How do you check barrel condition on a rifle packed in cosmoline?  I have a bore light, but no gauges. Any tips?

In general you'd suggest an H&R post war?  Is that what I'm hearing?  I don't know if I want a Danish rifle. I'd rather the American workhorse be American made.

Do you want a shooter or a collector piece?



If you don't have a muzzle wear gauge a M2 ball stuck in the muzzle will tell you the condition of the muzzle.  If it swallows it to the case it's pretty worn out.  If it's got a good bit of meat left you've got a good barrel.  


If you have no idea what I'm talking about go to the CMP forums and start reading every thread you can find on M1 garands.

I get it. Good advice!

yep,  you want a good strong trigger latch feel and you want a somewhat snug fit of the action into the stock with the trigger assembly out.  Shouldn't have a lot of play foreward and back and not a lot of play side to side.  If you have to lightly press the action into the wood even better.


Now the barrel.  You can take an unfired M2 .30-06 round, or heck any .30 caliber rifle cartridge and use it as a muzzle gage.  Just insert it bullet first and see how much of the copper projectile stays outside the rifling.  If you set it in the muzzle and it falls down to the brass neck you might have  a heavily worn out barrel assuming you didn't use some goofy cartridge that has no .308 section sticking out of the neck.  It's a poor man's gage.  A good like new USGI barrel will have 1/4"-3/8" of bullet exposed.  If you have less than 1/8" of copper bullet exposed you have some wear going on.   There are real gages for this of course as well as a gage to check the throat wear which is as important.

This will be a collector piece that will get shot every great now and then. Almost all my shooting these days is suppressed, so I won't have much of a chance to shoot this old workhorse.

 
In that case you need to get some of the Duff books and start reading up on what is and isn't correct for certain rifles.


Winchester and IHC are the two most sought after.  If they're correct rifles even a field grade will fetch over $1K.  Winchester were WWII production only, IHC were all post war but very few made comparitively.  SA were produced the entire time.  HRA were post war only, and for whatever reason aren't quite as valuable as the SA in the same grade.  

When people talk about a Danish M1 they are not referring to where the rifle was built. They are all American unless you get one of Fluffy's Italians. The term Dane refers to one of the rifles loaned to Denmark. Several years ago the CMP sold Danish returns as a separate class of rifles. The Danes did extensive rebuids on some of the rifles over the years. 1903s were Greek returns.

Well not with that attitude

I've also read that the Danish rebuilds were most likely to have the most WWII "in-action" history behind them.  They were used in Europe and then surplussed to Denmark when the war ended.

Use the cartridge trick on the bore to check for muzzle wear.

See if the rifle shifts in the stock.  If it doesn't snap the trigger group loose but don't pull it out yet.  As you swing closed the trigger guard, check to see if the guard meets some resistance.  If there is very little resistance, the stock will likely be loose.  If it starts to get snug at maybe 30 degrees before snapping shut, you may have a nice tight stock.

Also once the stock is off the rifle look to see if there is any glass bedding in the stock.