This M1 Garand was built by Harrington and Richardson Arms Company, serial 55290xx, and is in excellent condition throughout. What sets it apart is that it is HRA across the board: the trigger housing, safety, operating rod, bolt and gas plug are all HRA marked, and the barrel is an HRA barrel dated 8-54. That is worth noting, because Harrington and Richardson drew on outside barrels from Line Material and Springfield Armory to a considerable extent, and a great many HRA rifles left the plant wearing them. The stock is unmarked and in excellent condition. The bore is mirror bright and the rifle is mechanically excellent. It is accompanied by its Civilian Marksmanship Program certificate and the original 2008 sales receipt, both in hand, recording the rifle as having been sold as a CMP Service Grade, so its chain of custody back to government stocks is documented rather than assumed. The rifle is offered as it is shown.
Harrington and Richardson was one of two commercial contractors, alongside International Harvester, brought in during the early 1950s to build M1 rifles when Cold War rearmament outran what Springfield Armory could produce alone. HRA production ran from 1953 until May 1956, by which point 428,600 rifles had been delivered from the company’s works at Worcester, Massachusetts. The government assigned Harrington and Richardson two principal blocks of serial numbers, 4,660,001 to 4,800,000 for the 1953 to 1954 work and 5,488,247 to 5,793,847 for 1954 to 1956, with a short third block of four hundred rifles issued in mid 1956 when production ran past the second. This rifle falls early in the second block, which places it in the middle of the contract and sits comfortably with an August 1954 barrel. The M1 Garand itself needs little introduction: the first semi-automatic rifle adopted as a standard infantry arm by any major power, chambered in .30-06 and fed by an eight round en bloc clip.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Harrington and Richardson Arms Company, Worcester, Massachusetts
Model: US Rifle, Caliber .30, M1
Caliber: .30-06 Springfield
Serial: 55290xx
Capacity: 8 rounds, en bloc clip
Barrel: HRA marked, dated 8-54
Parts: HRA trigger housing, safety, operating rod, bolt and gas plug
Stock: Unmarked, excellent condition
Bore: Mirror
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Provenance: CMP certificate and original 2008 sales receipt, both included
Included: CMP certificate, original purchase receipt
