I've got the opertunity to buy a very nice M1 With a Beretta receiver,new barrel and nice wood,and what I don't know is the Baretta reciever worth a premium over say a Winchester? I've not taken the rifle apart but have been told that it is mostly Baretta.  Value???

Berreta became the official NATO manufacturer of the M1 in Europe in the early '50s. They made a bunch for the Danes as well as for themselves before using the equipment to produce the BM-59. They also made tons of replacement parts the Danes. Funny you should ask about its value relative to a Winchester, because they were given Winchester's M1 forging and tooling equipment as part of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Berreta was supposed to have turned out a better product than Winchester,  which has a reputation for rough finish work on its receivers and parts.

I heard that SA Inc used some Berreta recievers in their "new" Garands, as well as Berreta parts. Much better to get one with a Berreta reciever than a Lithgow (junk) receiver. As for value, depending on its condition, I don't think it would really be worth much more than a Winchester in similar condition. It certainly is not worth any more than one of SA Inc's "new" Garands. Without seeing it, I'd say $600-$800 would be a ballpark figure if its in good shape w/tight muzzle and low throat erosion. Maybe $900 if its all original parts.

Baretta Garands were actually made on Winchester machinery we gave the Italians...as for value they are not all that common.... maybe as rare as Winnie Garands... because, don't forget, the only way to get then was if they were imported.. and that hasn't happened a long time....

Probably even more rare (in the US) than the Winchesters. Winchester produced a few million Garands. I don't know how many Beretta produced, or how many were imported, but its going to be a lot lower number than the number of Winnies out there. That being said, rarity doesn't always equate to value. Desirability by collectors is usually what drive the prices up, and many collectors have a serious Jones for Winnies.

One of the things that drives M1 collectors is the history of the rifles. Having an M1 that may have been in ETO or PTO during WWII is pretty cool. Thats one of the reasons WWII SA and Winnies with "correct" parts will often fetch a higher price than an HRA or IHC in better condition. There may be some collector value to the Beretta due to its relative rarity (in the US), but it lacks that sense of history that the others have, so I'd view it more as a shooter than a collector piece.

Super info Thanks, I'm still thinking about the rifle as a shooter, It's not going to be sold too soon so I've some time to think on it. again Thanks  

Thought you might find this interesting.

www.jouster.com/cgi-bin/garand/garand.pl?read=72798

I had the opportunity to inspect one of the new Spingfield, Inc. M1's with the Beretta receiver.

It was finished on par with the original Springfield Armory receivers. It looked worlds better than the receivers Winchester produced. That is, they are on par with modern production standards.

Now in Winchesters defence, there was a war going on. I'll bet they could have produced a very good looking receiver had they not been producing on a war-time basis. And Winchester's "poor" war-time standards were still incomparibly better than anything anyone else in the world was producing at that time, except Springfield Armory