winchester m1 garand

[missingthedead]

i am looking to purchase a 1943 winchester m1 garand. i found one but dont know what they are worth. it is in exellent condition wood is nice and metal has no pitting. help me out thanks,brian it is all proper matching original parts original leather sling and original cleaning kit

[Xracer]

Hi Brian.....welcome to TFF.

If this M1 is, indeed, a proper all-matching Winchester with a 1943 manufacture date (Serial # 1,282,762 to 2,364,642), the Blue Book lists it at:

98% - $2,100
95% - $1,800
90% - $1,600
80% - $1,400

(% = the % of original finish left)

The Standard Catalog of Military Firearms lists it at:

Serial # 1,200,000 - 1,380,000

Exc. - $2,500
V.G. - $2,000
Good - $1,800

Serial # 1,601,160 - 1,640,000

Exc. - $2,800
V.G. - $2,500
Good - $2,000

[inplanotx]

I seriously doubt that what you are looking at is an original Winchester as all M1 Garands were arsenal refinished during the period of the end of WWII and the start of the Korean conflict. What you may have is an arsenal refinish that was put back together using original Winchester parts. Now, if that were true, I would tell you that it is imperative that you have that rifle looked over by a Winchester expert who would be able to give you the correct answer.

[kalash]

get some drawing numbers for us, ill crack open my m1 books and tell you if its correct. ive got 2 of those winchester garands my self.

if your looking for a shooter go post war SA, there just now gaining popularity after setting on the back burner behind the ww2 guns for years. the post war production guns are better quality than ww2 guns. oddly enough winchester is the worst of the m1 garands BUT there worth the most, its all in the name.

i would check in to cmp if i were you, SG SA garands are like new rebuilt garands for 550 bucks. the same gun will sell at a gun show for 1000, ive gotten quite a few MINT rebuilds from them. you have to jump through some hoops but its worth it.

[LDBennett]

Pretty pricey! Do you really want a 1943 Garand or a Garand shooter? I have two Garands.

The first I bought nearly 20 years ago as a Korean re-import. Turned out that the receiver was SA and was manufacture in the last month of WWII. Now that's lucky! I refinished the stock, rebarreled it, replaced the operating rod with a match one, and mounted a scope on it (no modification to receiver required) and it shoots OK. All the parts except for those I replaced are well within Mil Specs for wear. Are they the "correct" parts? Probably not, but I don't care.

The second was a new US made receiver with all Beretta internal parts. I put a new laminated stock (black and white) on it. It shoots and looks great; much better shooter than my original. I bought it a couple of years ago at a Big Five Sporting Goods chain store for about 1/4 what a 1943 Winchester Garand cost today.

While neither of my Garands are collectable they are most certainly shootable. Garands are fun guns to shoot and it seems a shame so many have become wall hangers instead of shooters. Garand would roll over in his grave if he saw the prices of these collector guns and realize how many Garands have been put out to pasture and become wall hangers. I think he designed these guns to be shot not collected!

Just my opinion, for what it is worth.

LDBennett

[kalash]

they are shooters, i dont have a problem with admitting it but i beat the hell out of my garands. ive only had one ever fail me (doubble loaded ammo) and im sure even though it blew the stock in half we could have kept shooting it.