Any Chance of Identifying a Relic M1 Garand?

[G-Company]

Just a few weeks ago, i purchased a dug-up M1 Garand Rifle. I bought it from a friend who has found it himself about 28 years ago in the Kiekberg forrest.

It is a very well conservated rifle, considering the 40+ years it had spent in the soils of our not always dry country. The metal parts have been conservated, the stock and other wooden parts are as found.

The previous owner has deactivated the rifle according the rules of our country, that meens that all the moving parts haven been removed or have been welded together...

 

On the stock are words, names scratched into the wood which i am hoping could be matched or point out to the liberator who carried this rifle.

 

I do hope someone on this forum has an idea on how to identify this M1.

 

 

 

[G-Company]

 

 

Ordnance wheel with crossed canons

 

 

Circled P on the bottom of the stock

 

was .72" in diameter.

.72" in diameter.

 

[G-Company]

On the other side;

[G-Company]

[tommatt3]

"Norma" could be a soldier's wife, girl friend or a name he called his rifle.... even with the complete serial number of the rifle tracing it back to the soldier it was issued to is next to impossible. Issue records for units in WWII are long since gone. Another expendable piece of combat gear.

[Ronald]

I have doubts on this rifle. Considering the age on the metal, you would expect the wood to be in worse shape. I doubt that stock was in the ground the same amount of time as the metal.

[G-Company]

Ronald,

 

i do, did, also. But however, more findings from that specific area have been found in a similair conditing.

That said, the man i bought it from is a very respected collector, I don not doubt or question his story or honesty.

[G-Company]

[G-Company]

Any idea's about the square print? It is only on the right side of the stock.

[268th C.A.]

I've dug a lot of relics in my day....the pitting and condition of the metal, does not match the wood. A guy I knew found a M1 in the Orr river, No wood. but the metal was pitted, he freed the action and re stocked it too shoot blanks. It worked, we used to laugh about the rifle...

[Chris_B]

Respectfully, I do not believe the lower handgaurd retaining clip to be WWII vintage.

[earlymb]

The triggerguard seems to be the post-war model as well, although it does have the lock-bar rear sight.

[Orlando]

There are two types of stamped trigger guards, stamped with stamped hook used Post War and stamped with milled hook used the end of WWII 1945. Its possible the guard is correct but cant tell without disassembly

I also do not see how the metal can be so heavily pitted but the stock is in fine condition

[KRIS FORD]

Any idea's about the square print? It is only on the right side of the stock.

 

 

That is a patch job..a bad part was cut out and a new piece of wood was fitted.

[Longbranch]

The wood is surprisingly nice, and the stampings incredibly crisp, especially for something claimed to be "ground dug". I'd certainly be skeptical, but then again who knows what it looked like before conservation, or the actual conditions it existed in while "buried".

 

Wood is actually surprisingly resilient and hardy under the proper conditions. Just do a Google search for "shipwreck muskets" and see what the joys of marine archaeology has brought us. Including 200 to 300+ year old firearms... though typically the metal parts are almost entirely corroded away... and only the wood remains...

[G-Company]

Longbranch, and others

 

thank you for your comment and thoughts about this rifle, which i am very pleased to own and display in my small 82nd collection now.

 

I understand that your skeptical, as said i am/ was also. I was, because i fell in love with this beauty, and as we all now love makes blind .

 

Then again it is not my concern if it is 100% original and/or WWII vintage, i believe only what i see, and the previous owner in this case.

I am glad we have the upportuniy around here to find any gear burried after beeing lost or left behind by its carrier.

 

I was hoping anyone could give me some help regarding the name's on the rifle stock, even though it is a long shot.

 

Whether it is 100%authentic or not...... who can tell?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ccyooper]

can you read any of the serial number? As mentioned earlier the square is a modification or repair. The stock and parts shown are commensurate with a late war rifle, 44 or later. The wood appears to have been replaced. It would be nice if you could post a picture of the whole rifle so we could see the forward handguard and gas cylinder, etc, because it is always nice to see period relics. The rear handguard clip is very thin stamped metal and based upon the rust and pitting on the major parts I would suspect that this part would be heavily rusted or gone as well as the front handguard ferrule, etc. Thank you for sharing. While there is a very slim chance you can determine who the rifle belonged to, if you know what unit fought in the precise location of the recovery then you could possible try to start narrowing it down by unit rosters, etc. Thank you for sharing, regards,