After a long process of doing the requirements, my dad took a 5 hour drive to Anniston, AL in the Mustang, and came back with these two beauties

Two 1943 Manufactured vintage M1 Garand rifles

I'll start off with boring info:

Both the receiver and my stock have matching serial numbers (that's all I have checked so far)

My dad's receiver was manufactured in February 1943, mine was manufactured in October, 1943.

Keep in mind they are both "Field Grade" rifles, which means they are by no means mint condition, these rifles have been through a lot of work and have had some parts replaced over time, but all of the parts are USGI, and we have not cleaned the cosmoline off yet (which is a preservative goo they put on), and the pictures suck because it's a shitty camera, my brother has our good one in Louisiana. Will get better pics when he's back, because these certainly do no justice

Now the pics

Mine on bottom


Mine on right


Mine on bottom


Mine on left

 

Mine on left


Mine on left


Both of the rifles are in pretty good condition, by far the two best in their "grade" at the store that day, mine had the best Muzzle Wear (determines accuracy) reading and my dad's the best Throat Erosion (determines about how many rounds have been fired) reading, the parkerizing (protective finish on the metal parts) is fair on the receivers, his is slightly more worn, the stocks are both in decent/keepable condition, just some nicks.

I've wanted an M1 garand since I first saw Saving Private Ryan, and now I finally have one, the fact that my dad bought one as well is all the more sweeter, I'm very appreciative to own one of the finest pieces of US equipment ever built

 

They look good...

 

very nice

 

thats a trap door loader right?

 

the garand has one of the most unique loading/clip assembly mechanisms out of all firearms. It's function is pretty basic, standard gas operation semi automatic rifle, 8 rounds fit into a clip "en-bloc" which is loaded into the rifle through the top, when the bolt is back, of course. After all 8 rounds are fired the "en-bloc" ejects with the last spent shell through the top of the rifle and the bolt locks back ready to be loaded with another clip. The clip/en-bloc can be taken out of the rifle without having fired 8 rounds, though - there is a button on the left side of the receiver "clip release button" which you can press when you have the bolt back to eject the clip with all of the remaining rounds in it, but if you want to keep them you'll need to have your hand covering the bolt to catch them because they will go flying away, lol

Trap door loaders are uh, muzzle loaders hehe
Here are the other toys between my bro, my dad and myself


bring it on zombies haha