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Lend Lease M1 Garand


anton67
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The fact that it went to England and then was returned to the US.

You can tell by the export marks in this photo on the side of the barrel.

Not import marks but EXPORT marks from England (London to be exact).

 

O.k..... I see that it has gone through a British Proof house... but what is it you are calling export mark?

If this had been in British service there should be a broad arrow or two I would think.... I am not trying to start a pissing match I am not saying it isn't what is said .....just trying to get more info..... It is a very fine rifle by the way,,,,

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but what is it you are calling export mark?

 

I believe he is calling the proof marks export marks. Just a guess on my part.

 

Lend lease are known by SN's and not just proof marks. Just because a Garand has proof marks does not mean it is a lend lease weapon. It has to fall in the SN range which this one does. As far as broad arrow marks very few Garands have been found with those marks. They are very rare. At one time this rifle would have had red stripes on the stock indicating it as a lend lease. For the most part those were all sanded off after being returned.

 

If you truly want to learn more about these rifles I would pick up V1 & V2 on the Garand that Scott Duff wrote. He has done a tremendous amount of research on these rifles and sells pretty choice examples for a lot of money. If this came from Scott Duff as a lend lease, it's a lend lease.

 

Beautiful rifle.

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Johan Willaert

At one time this rifle would have had red stripes on the stock indicating it as a lend lease. For the most part those were all sanded off after being returned.

 

I thought these red stripes were only applied to the M1917 Rifle which were lendleased to Britain to indicate the difference in calibre between the M1917 and its British counterpart P13 & P14 which were .303

 

My April 1918 Winchester M1917 has the red band towards the front of the wood and a black 30-06 marking on both sides on the red...

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Hi,

 

I've not seen a Garand with a red band, has anyone got a photo of one? I too thought that this was only a P14 .303 / M17 .30 cal thing.

 

cheers,

 

-John

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Hi,

 

I've not seen a Garand with a red band, has anyone got a photo of one? I too thought that this was only a P14 .303 / M17 .30 cal thing.

 

cheers,

 

-John

 

Look at the photo of the magazine cover in post #21.

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Lend lease rifles were all banded just like the one pointed out in the photo.

 

38,001 between the serial #'s of 300,000 and 700,000 are considered lend lease rifles. Mine is a 321,XXX, 8/41 pre Pearl Harbor with flush nut sights.

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As mentioned, the 1903 lend lease rifles also had red striped HG's. I say run a patch through it, grease it, and shoot it!.........

 

just kidding... great rifle..

post-2641-0-13850700-1360695107.jpg

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All the British lend lease Garands were marked with a Red Band and were also marked with the calibre. About 10,000 came over to Britain and spent the whole time in storage. Royal Marine Commando's did use them in Korea.

 

Rich

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For the record my post does say EXPORT marks.

I am not being smart or negative, just bringing that to the attention of the forum.

Also, yes my rifle did at one time have the red marks.

You can not see from my photos but there are very small red paint chips in the grain of the wood.

The red paint marks were not ALL removed by the US Govt upon return as I have seen LL Garands and 1917s with the red marks.

Many were removed by civilian buyers and some simply wore away.

I would believe that the rifle would need to have the export mark on the barrel for it to be a true LL Garand but somebody may know more than me on the subject.

Obviously Duff wrote the book on this stuff and he sold me the rifle so I am fairly confident that this is a true LL Garand.

What makes them spectacular is the fact that many were returned in excellent condition due to non-use.

So you have a brand new (for all intensive purp.) Garand from 1940s.

As for shooting it, I would never shoot this rifle.

That would be like driving a 1967 Mustang that had only 3,000 miles on it.

post-63438-0-91280000-1360725486.jpg

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For the record my post does say EXPORT marks.

 

Out of Duff's book, WW2 Garands. Among the small arms transferred to Britain under the Lend-Lease Act were 38,001 M1 rifles. British proof law requires application of "Proof" marks to the barrels of all imported foreign weapons using smokeless gun powder.

 

They are not Export marks, they are proof marks. I suppose if you wanted to get picky you could call them Import marks since Britain put them on.

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All of my de-activated US WW2 firearms have the crossed-swords proof mark stamp on them somewhere. It indicates that they have been officially de-activated by the government's proof house. A de-activation certificate is also issued with these weapons.

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Thank you fellas for the kind remarks.

And to answer your question M1Grandy, it is a short channel stock.

Here is the data sheet which I don't usually share but WTH.

 

Thanks much.

 

Not many clean L-L rifles out there anymore. The last few I have seen locally had the wrong wood, wrong rear sights, bolt, etc and were WAY overpriced.

 

Any traces of red paint on the front handguard?

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Speaking of Lend Lease, who actualy was sent M1 Garands, and used them during the period of the Second World War? (not the post war period). Chinese Nationalists? only seen them with Enfield P17 rifles correct? Soviets?? French, they seem to be using only the Springfield 03s.

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  • 2 years later...

It's really rare to find the British lend lease Garands with the red band still in place as said when surplus the red paint band was removed by the new owners.

 

I have a 1,085,000 EMCF SA in mint condition and correct from Scott Duff. I actually like it better than my all correct Winchester 1944 Garand.

 

The barrels are standing in tons on the British Garands its a super nice rifle.

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Mine has the Birmingham proofs, but on top of the barrel behind the front sight. 1-42 barrel date and serial numbered 479,###. No trace of the red band any more.

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All the British lend lease Garands were marked with a Red Band and were also marked with the calibre. About 10,000 came over to Britain and spent the whole time in storage. Royal Marine Commando's did use them in Korea.

 

Rich

WW2 use of the Garand by the British included:

Army No. 1 & 6 Commandos during operation Torch, and in Burma

 

No. 42 Royal Marine Commandos far east

 

RM Commandos in Korea used Garands direct from US stocks, along with webbing and M43 Jackets and fatigues.

 

 

No. 6 Cdo during Operation Torch was also issued US M1 Helmets and field jackets in an attempt to disguise them from the French (there was much bad blood since the French fleet was sunk with heavy loss of life by the Royal Navy at Mers-el- Kebir in summer 1940

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