Another M1 Garand question.

[wv109323]

I have been asked to help a widow dispose of her husbands guns. In the mix is an International Harvester M1 that has the correct parts.( barrel, trigger, op rod). I have not fully disassembled the rifle to evaluate the rest.
The rifle is in great shape and may attract collectors.
The bad news is that it is stamped by Fed. Ord. And the stock has no cartouche marks. This rifle is not a Fed. Ord. Receiver and is not a re-weld receiver.
In my search FO reassembled rifles with their receivers or re- welds but this rifle does not appear so.
My questions are: Did FO ever sell part correct rifles with correct receivers ?Did all IH stocks have cartouche marks? How much does the FO stamp affect value?
I have read all Korean rifles were accepted and some stocks were not marked.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

About 1992 (that is an appox.) Fed Ord sold some original receivers which they advertised in the Shotgun News. I bought two of them, which I just got around to building into complete rifles two winters past. Mine are both Springfield and had been refinished with a black oxide. They are stamped "Fed Ord, S. El Monte, CA" in very small letters on the right side receiver leg. I believe they had intended to assemble them into rifles but perhaps ran out of available parts, or could see the closure of their company in the not-too-distant future, and just decided to liquidate the receivers and end their M1 program. I also have one of their M1s made with their replacement receiver, but it is marked Fed Ord on the top rear of the receiver behind the rear sight where all manufacturers marked them. It is not a reweld, and appears to be investment cast. I used to watch Fed Ord pretty closely and was unaware that they made any rifles using re-welded receivers. Down to the very last part of your question, as far as I know all stocks accepted for use by the government were stamped with an inspector's mark, the circle P, and later the Defense Eagle. I'm not sure what you mean about the Korean rifles. They got the rifles from us and the stocks would/do have the same markings as they were originally U.S. Military property given to the Koreans. The Koreans used them long and hard and got into the business of making their own replacement parts including stocks, so it may be that you have seen or heard about stocks made as replacements in Korea which would naturally not have the U.S. inspection markings. But, because a stock doesn't have any markings doesn't mean that it isn't an original G.I. stock. Many original issue stocks were refinished more than once and the markings removed in the process. I believe that most of the Korean replacement stocks were birch. Here's some photos of Korean marked stocks that came off "Blue Sky" rifles. They're all walnut, heavily used, and not a single U.S. marking on them.

147311147312

[Der Gebirgsjager]

As a "P.S." to the above post: I do not recall Fed Ord specifically selling "parts correct" rifles, but they may have done so. At this point I think it's impossible to say whether or not the rifle in question came as a "parts correct" rifle from Fed Ord, or whether perhaps the deceased owner bought
just a receiver and built up a "parts correct" rifle himself. Either way, it doesn't have the parts originally assembled on that receiver at IH; a matter which seems of little concern to "true collectors". You should be able to easily sell it on the CMP Forum or an internet auction.

[lancem]

The Fed Ord stamp will kill the collectors interest, I have one myself, import marks are a downer to collectors. Consider it a "shooter" grade, you will still be able to easily get $800 out of it, though if it is totally correct except for the stock it may be worth a bit more to a collector to part out and "fix" a receiver he currently has. I bought mine as a barreled receiver, the barrel had no markings except for a couple of letters that I don't remember stamped into the bottom, does the one you have show to have a US barrel or an aftermarket?

[Scharfschuetze]

Original International Harvester (IH) used barrels marked with "LMR" and a date between 1953 and 1956. This is seen under the op rod forward of the receiver on the barrel. Most other parts are marked with IHC. IH rifle stocks generally have the Defense Acceptance stamp that replaced the previous cartouches and initials of WWII rifles.

Early IH M1 had receivers made by Springfield Armory (SA) due to early manufacturing issues at IHC.

Serial numbers for IH rifle are in the range of 4,400,000 to 5,200,000

Many IH rifles came back from South America in the 70s where they were initially sold only to police officers at a reasonable price. I bought one that way.

[wv109323]

By Korean Rifles I mean Rifles built after WW2 in the 50's for the Korean Conflict. The barrel is marked "LMR" and a date that is acceptable for the S/N 50233XX. (5-54) Near the date on the barrel is a stamp of So. El Monte Ca. I might have overlooked a FO stamp on the receiver legs.
The stock is walnut and has no dings, scratches or cracks along with the handguards. i just did not see any cartouche marks. The stock appeared not to have been refinished. The metal work had no marks or wear on the edges of the parts. I will re-examine the rifle. It is the second best Garand I have seen.( I own two, a SA and a H&R) My Cousin got a SA from the DCM in about 1982 that appeared to be unissued.

[thekidd76]

Check for the Julian date in the barrel channel of the stock. It's possible the small cartouche was sanded off, but the 4 digit Julian date would still be in the channel under the barrel.

[wv109323]

As an update I have disassembled and inspected this rifle. The barrel only is stamped Fed. Ord. but it is the LMR correct one for the receiver.There is no FO marks on the receiver. All parts are correct for the rifle except for the stock and buttplate. There are no Cartouches or Julian mark on the stock. It must be a commercial Walnut stock. I spent about 4 hours going over this rifle.
It has very little wear. The bore looks new. The only place where there is any rust marks( I won't call them pits) is on the side of the trigger housing where the botton edge contacts the wood.
Apparently FO did have some correct rifles that they sold. I also know my friend did not assemble it from parts.
Also in the mix is a FO "tanker". This rifle has a SA receiver, SA Op-Rod(modified), WRA Trigger Assm. and a FO barrel.