M1 Garand question

[growr]

A widowed lady friend of mine gave me an M1 Garand that her deceased husband bought at a yard sale. It is a Harrington & Richards but is missing a number of parts.

The barreled action is HRA vintage 1953, the op rod is RA NM, the bolt is SA, the trigger group is gone as are all of the parts that control the cartridge, the op rod spring and follower , Gas cylinder lock and plug are gone as well. The stock is SA with pretty good cartouches on it and is in very good condition.

My real question for you M1 gurus is ....Would I be best served in replacing the missing parts with all HRA parts so that the gun is all HRA correct or treat it as an armory rebuild and use whatever parts I can find.

I know that many M1 builders seem to drool over HRA Garands....I know I can sell the non HRA parts to offset the cost of buying all HRA parts.

Would an all correct HRA M1 Garand have that much more value that a rebuild like and arsenal rebuild would be.

What do you YOU guys think?

Randy

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Sounds like a parts gun! It is still s shooting machine, once you get it up and running!

Ivan

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Even if you bought H&R parts to finish it out it still wouldn't "original" to a collector.......I'd contact Fulton Armory/James River armory or Numrich for available parts to get it running again.........And then have fun!!!!!!! BTW I have a H&R garand from 1957 that is as new that I got from the CMP years ago.......

 

[jack the toad]

I'm not a guru but if what you have is pretty good shape (barrel, bolt, receiver, wood, etc), I'd try to put one together, if costs weren't too high and not go the total HRA route for reasons that Mike stated.
If replacement parts costs as much as a complete similar rifle, I'd likely salvage what you have and go from there. Most M1 stuff aint cheap anymore, whether buying or selling but I think the stuff that's missing typically is not the more expensive items.

 

[Targets Guy]

Get it up and running and just enjoy it.

 

[reddog81]

I'm no expert but I'm pretty certain you can't just buy HRA parts and pretend it's and HRA gun. You'd have to buy the HRA parts that were being used the exact time the gun was being made. At least that's how it would work with a Springfield. Of course I've heard that some manufacturers used parts from other manufacturers in able to be able to keep pumping rifles out the door. It might be easy to reconfigure to original condition or maybe not... If it was me I'd worry about getting it up and running and then go from there. A year or 2 down the road you can always swap out parts if you want.

 

[Model25Man]

Hi Randy. I've owned and built somewhaer between 100-200 Garands. FWIW, depending on the condition of the barrel (MW of 3 or less), I would build it with all HRA parts. Most correct grade CMP guns have the correct parts, but not necessarily the parts they originally left the factory with. A HRA with correct parts is worth considerably more than a non-matching Garand. I have bins full of parts, but I'm not sure if I have all the HRA parts you need. Send me a list of what you're missing and I'll check the drawing numbers and see what I have.-Steve

 

[growr]

Steve,
Your offer is very generous! I sent you a PM with needed parts.
Randy