The WW2 Garand M1 Rifle guide

You will find on this page a guide to help collectors to :

- determine at the time of purchase if the Garand offered is an authentic WW2 Garand rifle, a reconditioned, a post-war and even a faked one.
- to refurbish modified Garands and thus have a coherent WW2 weapon.

Our only goal is to give the necessary knowledge base to collectors for them to be able to find their way, nothing more.

original m1 garand rifle

How to date a Garand rifle ?

First of all, it should be known that the Garands manufactured during the Second World War were made by Springfield Armory and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Harrington & Richardson Arms and Internatinal Harvester Company manufactured the Garand after 1945.

Total production for the war period is 4,040,800 units, broken down as follows:
. 3,526,922 for Springfield Armory,
. 513,880 for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company

 

Serial number of WW2 Garand rifles

Here is the summary table of the serial number ranges affected until 1945 for 'Springfield' and 'Winchester Repeating Arms Company Garand rifles.

Summary of Garand rifle serial numbers assigned during the period 1940-1945

WW2 Garand rifle serian numbers :

From To Manufacter End of contract

1

100,000

Springfield Armory December 1940
100,001 165,500 Winchester May 1942
165,501 865,500 Springfield Armory September 1942
865,501 1,199,999 Springfield Armory February 1943
1,200,000 1,261,260 Winchester November 1942
1,261,261 1,357,473 Winchester July 1943
1,357,474 1,387,XXX Winchester (1) August 1943 ?
1,357,474 2,305,849 Springfield Armory December 1943
2.305.850 2,655,982 Winchester (2) January 1944
2,656,149 4,100,000 Springfield Armory (3) October 1945

Notes :

(1) Serial number in duplicate with Springfield numbers (approx. 30,000 copies)
(2) Actual serial numbers assigned up to 2,540,000
(3) Actual serial numbers assigned up to 3,889.xxx (actual number not known)

 

Parts of the M1 Garand rifle

Now that we have a serial number for your Garand, we will see which are the good elements that must constitute this one.

Indeed, it is not uncommon for weapons that have been reintegrated after the war to have undergone a number of modifications that distort them. I am not talking about weapons that have been tampered with to make people believe that "It's an original WW2 Garand".

It is true that if your Garand is 100% Winchester parts (WRA marked), you are lucky. It is still rare, especially nowadays.

Here are some schematics presenting the main parts of the Garand rifle

garand-rifle-parts.png

 

Garand rifle markings, drawing numbers and revision numbers.

Theoretically, all the parts of your Garand must have a manufacturer's marking (except the very small ones).
This is called the Drawing Number and the Revision Number.
Here are some examples of parts and their drawing numbers from World War II.

garand-drawing-numbers.png

It should be noted that according to this number and its revision, we can know when the part was manufactured.
What we will retain (but it is an approximation) is that the numbering system evolved after the war. We pass from this type of numbering: D28287-12 SA to this one : D6528287 IHC. So if the number is D65XXXXXXX, it is a post-war Garand.

garand-serial-number.png 

 

List of Garand rifle manufacturer abbreviations

Here is the list of abbreviations of US manufacturers:
WRA for Winchester Repeating Arms,
SA for Springfield Armory,
HRA for Harrington & Richardson Arms,
IHC for International Harvester Company.

It should be noted that many NATO countries manufactured Garand after the war. So be suspicious about spare parts.

Here is a recapitulation of the nomenclature numbers of the parts of Le Garand.

Drawing number of M1 Garand rifles

Each part of the Garand Rifle have specific drawing numbers. To check if your Garand has original drawing numbers, please check this table:

garand-part-drawing-numbers.png 

 

Focus on key WW2 Garand rifle parts

The Garand rifle receiver 

The name of the manufacturer and the serial number are on it. Here are the types of markings you should find on SA and WRA receivers :

garand-receiver-marking.png 

 

 

Garand rifle barrel markings

Garand barrels are marked and dated. For Springfield Garands, it's simple, there is the date. But for the Winchester's, it's a WRA XXXXX reference (partially visible, because hidden by the handguard).

m1-garand-barrel-markings.png

 

Garand rifle rear sight types

There are 3 types of Garand Rifle rear-sights : the "flush-nut", the "lock-bar" and a post-war rear sight :

garand-rear-sight-type.png

Garand rifle stock markings 

Like all the other parts of the US Army Garand, the wooden parts have undergone many modifications. It has been listed about 14 stock variants.
Some peculiarities are still clearly visible, such as the length of the barrel channel, the shape of the grip and the shape of the lock housing.

It is still possible to determine the production date based on the markings that have been affixed by the Ordnance Corp. inspectors.

garand-stock-marking.png
An example of a Springfield Armory cross marking

Here is the list of markings affixed on the stocks until 1945 :

- Springfield Armory Garand markings : 

garand-rifle-markings.png 

 

- Winchester Garand markings : 

winchester-garand-rifle-marking.png

 

We hope that this guide will have been useful to you to check if your Garand rifle is indeed a WW2 rifle. It is more and more difficult to find complete originals nowadays. 

Good books about the M1 Garand:

If you are interested in Garand M1 carbines, I warmly recommend Jim Thompson's book : "Essential M1 Garand: A Practical and Historical Guide for Shooters and Collectors". This book is a mine of information on the Garands of WW2 and the Vietnam War. Indispensable if you want to know everything there is to know about the Garands. 

essential-M1-Garand-guide.png
 

Another good book recommendation is "The M1 Garand Owner's Guide", written by S.A. Duff. A lot of useful Information for ANY M1 owner. Well-written, excellent illustrations, a must-have!

M1-Garand-Guide.png

 
These 2 books are "must-have" if you like M1 Garand ! 
 
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A great guide about the M1 Garand :

essential-M1-Garand-guide.png 

More info here