My Newest Tractor....?

[rtimgray]

Sort of...

I was finally able to roll enough pennies to pick up an International Harvester M1 Garand from the CMP. This particular unit is a Field Grade, but it has a TE/ME of 2. I'm guessing it was demoted to Field Grade because of worn finish. I believe the stock is a Turkish replacement, but that's just a guess.

This one came with a Springfield bolt and HRA trigger - luckily I have a Springfield with an IHC bolt and a HRA with an IHC trigger - so now I can make them all happy (actually, I don't think they care...)

It needs quite a bit of cleaning, but I think it will become one of my favorite farm implements!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Sort of...

I was finally able to roll enough pennies to pick up an International Harvester M1 Garand from the CMP. This particular unit is a Field Grade, but it has a TE/ME of 2. I'm guessing it was demoted to Field Grade because of worn finish. I believe the stock is a Turkish replacement, but that's just a guess.

This one came with a Springfield bolt and HRA trigger - luckily I have a Springfield with an IHC bolt and a HRA with an IHC trigger - so now I can make them all happy (actually, I don't think they care...)

It needs quite a bit of cleaning, but I think it will become one of my favorite farm implements!

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I am curious...to what would you attribute the mixing of parts on the different rifles? My guess is that perhaps during reconditioning, parts were randomly mixed, but I really don't know.

 

[rtimgray]

From what I gather, these rifles (at 60 or 70+ years old) have been in service for various agencies (and governments) in their time. Most of them have been to an armory for checkout, repair and refitting. I'm assuming if parts are worn beyond tolerance, they are replaced with whatever is on hand at the time, since all of the parts from all of the different manufacturers should be equal and interchangeable. I don't think the average armorer cares about trying to match up the correct manufacturer.

Additionally, and again just from what I gather, just because the manufacturer parts don't match doesn't mean that that wasn't how the rifle was originally made. I think most of the manufacturers at some point shipped their parts to another manufacturer to maximize overall production. In this case, I believe that most IHC garands used LMR barrels; however, I've read that Springfield Armory also sent several barrels to Evansville for IHC to use. By serial number, my rifle was manfactured in 1954. The barrel is a Springfield Armory barrel dated 4-54. I would guess that there's a chance this is the original barrel, or it might be a replacement; in the end, it's probably just a crap shoot.

The other thing that I don't know is how much part changing goes on at the CMP. I know that they inspect and measure the rifles and test fire each one. On Field Grades like this, I don't know if they change out parts or not.

I do like that I've got enough of the wrong parts on the wrong rifles so that I can swap them around to at least make them match enough to suit me. Again, not that the rifles care...but I do!

Good luck and take care.

 

[LouNY]

Sort of...

I was finally able to roll enough pennies to pick up an International Harvester M1 Garand from the CMP. This particular unit is a Field Grade, but it has a TE/ME of 2. I'm guessing it was demoted to Field Grade because of worn finish. I believe the stock is a Turkish replacement, but that's just a guess.

This one came with a Springfield bolt and HRA trigger - luckily I have a Springfield with an IHC bolt and a HRA with an IHC trigger - so now I can make them all happy (actually, I don't think they care...)

It needs quite a bit of cleaning, but I think it will become one of my favorite farm implements!

View attachment 557448View attachment 557449

Nice, enjoy and have fun. I keep looking at them and considering one but I want it for Marine Corp League matches so the pric of the rifle and the custom shop work to get to NM condition is a bit steep. Now I use my M1A1 NM.

 

[davrow]

Love my SA correct grade from CMP. It was so much fun receiving it in the mail! Had never experienced a non-FFL delivery before.

Okay, where's Garandman? (TBN member here for those who have not noticed him)

 

[rtimgray]

It is gun getting the Big White Truck to show up and drop off a box with a Garand in it. And I, for one, actually enjoy a little bit of the unknown when buying a rifle from the CMP. It's not quite a pig in a poke, because I believe you can be confident that if the rifle does not function, they will work with you to correct the issue.

I've been fortunate enough to make the trip to the CMP South Store last year when they were releasing 1903A3s for sale and picked up one of those. I wish that I had gotten to go to the South Store at it's old location during its heyday when there were Garands, Krags, Carbines, 1917s, etc.

Good luck and take care.