This M1 Garand was built by Springfield Armory and carries serial 31402xx, which places the receiver at about September 1944 on Springfield’s published production figures. The receiver is marked U.S. RIFLE CAL. .30 M1 SPRINGFIELD ARMORY, and the right leg is electro pencilled LEAD 4-65, the code of Letterkenny Army Depot recording a rebuild there in April 1965. The parts tell the same story. The barrel is a Springfield barrel, drawing number 6535448, dated 12 64 with the lot mark Y64, so it was made four months before the rebuild. The operating rod is the final 7790722-SA pattern, the trigger housing is D28290-5-SA, and the bolt is 6528287-SA in heat lot Y01. The trigger guard is Winchester made, marked C46025 W.R.A. The walnut stock is clean and carries a P proof. The bore is mirror bright and the rifle is mechanically excellent.
The M1 Garand was adopted in 1936 and was the first semi-automatic rifle to become the standard issue arm of any army. It was designed by John Garand at Springfield Armory, is chambered in .30-06, and feeds from an eight round en bloc clip that is pressed into the magazine from above and thrown clear with the distinctive ping once the last round is fired. Springfield Armory and Winchester built the rifle through the Second World War, Springfield making the large majority, and around four million had been produced by 1945.
The Army did not retire its Garands after the war; it rebuilt them. Rifles came back to depots and arsenals, were stripped, had whatever was worn replaced from stores, and went out again. Each depot recorded its work by hand etching a code and a date on the right side of the receiver leg with an electric pen, and Letterkenny Army Depot in Pennsylvania used the code LEAD. A rebuilt rifle is not a matching wartime gun and was never meant to be. It is a rifle that stayed in service for another twenty years, and the late barrel, the final pattern operating rod, the mixed maker parts and the depot mark on the leg are the record of exactly that.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Springfield Armory
Country of origin: United States
Model: U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1 (Garand)
Action: Gas-operated semi-automatic
Caliber: .30-06
Serial: 31402xx
Year: Receiver about September 1944
Rebuild: Letterkenny Army Depot, April 1965, electro pencilled LEAD 4-65 on the receiver leg
Barrel: Springfield, 6535448, dated 12 64, lot Y64
Operating rod: 7790722-SA
Trigger housing: D28290-5-SA
Bolt: 6528287-SA, heat lot Y01
Trigger guard: Winchester, C46025 W.R.A.
Stock: Walnut, P proof
Bore: Mirror bright
Mechanical condition: Excellent
