[Jersey Devil]

Hello friends,
It's been a couple of years since I've had the chance to really spend much time with my rifles and parts. Thankfully, the pendulum's swinging in the other direction now and I'm able to at least start digging through parts and roughly piecing them together for future restoration projects.

Today I had the chance to focus on a nice barreled receiver that I purchased a while back, from the CMP I believe. The serial number is 79869 and it carries a barrel dated 10/40. Interestingly, Scott Duff's "little blue book" states the approximate "month end" serial number for October 1940 as 78306 (page 3), but if you check out the data sheet on page 19 it outlines serial number 79115 as an October 1940 example. Either way, my barreled receiver is a mere 754 numbers higher and I believe this barreled receiver would have been assembled in very late October to maybe the first week of November, 1940. Therefore, I'm going to follow the data sheet provided for 79115 since it's always best to err on the side of early with these projects.

After a quick cleaning I gaged the barrel, TE=3 and ME=4. The bore is bright and shiny, and I believe that the barrel has seen little use overall. The chamber is in the white, and the finish is uniform overall. Impossible to say that it's original to the receiver, but I do believe that it's authentic and in as new condition as you could ever expect to see a barrel of 1940 vintage.

Next I tackled the rear sight. Duff's data sheet calls for a flush nut rear sight, so I dug through my stash and assembled what I think is a sight that's "good enough" for now. I'm not entirely happy with the windage knob and elevation cap, but checkered examples of either are not exactly cheap nor common so they are what they are for the time being. Here's a breakdown of the rear sight's parts:

Rear Sight Base - early, unmarked, with extra "1940" cut.
Aperture - early, unmarked, no tracks w/ SA profile.
Cover - unmarked, no ribs, blued.
Pinion - short, unmarked, blued (real).
Spring - without finish (in the white).
Spanner (flush) Nut - blued (real).
Windage Knob - checkered, closed arrows.
Elevation Cap - unmarked, checkered, closed arrows.

After the rear sight, I went ahead and selected a clip latch. It's important to note that 79115 lists a rounded clip latch, of course, but you need to be careful when selecting a clip latch. The rounded appearance is not always the way to identify them. You must look at the front end of the latch to ensure there's not a small square-shaped cut out where the pin enters the body of the latch. If no square cutout is present then it's a true rounded example. Finish doesn't matter much, but I selected one that was reasonable to what could be found on my receiver in late 1940.

Next is the bolt. The data sheet for 79115 lists a 2SA C12A bolt. I sorted through a pile of bolts and no luck. This is were erring on the side of "early" helps. SA 67935, September 1940, is reported to have a 2SA T1 bolt and so is a later example, SA 89934, which is a November 1940 example. Thankfully I have a few 2SA T1 bolts to choose from, so a T1 it is. Using three different sets of authentic USGI headspace gages, I was able to confirm that the bolt I chose out of the group is safe to use in this barreled receiver. The bolt closes nicely on 1.940 (GO), not quite closed on 1.946 (NO GO), and not even close to closing on 1.950 (field reject).

That's all for today's progress. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the project a bit more later this week.

Cheers, and Happy New Year to all of you.
----Brian

 

[RDS]

Brian
Sounds like a very interesting project. Please post follow ups as you work on the build. That is one heck of a nice receiver. The heel stampings jump right out at you. I wonder where it spent its duty time at?

 

[Random Guy]

Very nice Brian, glad you are back into this hobby. A 10-40 barrel is rare, only Bubba seemed to have that stuff... That is a very challenging restoration, so good luck with it.

Digressing somewhat, but back in 2012 I called the South Store to ask if they had any CMP Specials in 308W with a 5-digit serial number, and they had one, so I was able to purchase it. It's serial # 81449 (Nov 1940). It was for informal shooting, etc. Fast forward three years later and in 2015 and I spotted for sale on the CMP forum an unused CMP Special in 308W with an 81888 serial number, so it was only 439 digits apart from my rifle. I decided to buy it as future 'matching' gifts for my two sons. Just for the heck of it, to give it some late 1940 details, I did put some early sight covers, early milled rear HG clips on them, round clip latch releases, and a couple of early "SA-1" trigger guards on these M1s.

What's nice is these receiver's are both what I call 'grade A' condition with no pitting or blemishes.

Anyhow, welcome back, and what stock are you going to use for your 79k restoration? That's a neat project for sure. Keep us posted.

 

[Jersey Devil]

Rich,
Thank you very much. I'm really excited to work on it. I'd love to know where it's been hiding all these years.

William,
Thank you, too. Your rifles are outstanding! What great heirlooms you've built them in to. Your sons will be honored!
As for the stock, tricky. September 1940 rifles generally have SPG-marked stocks (w/ 2-equal-sized holes), while November 1940 rifles generally have GHS w/ large wheel stocks. I always tend to err on the side of early, save for the fact that SPG stocks are exponentially more expensive than GHS stocks....so.......

Cheers to you both,
---Brian

 

[Jersey Devil]

Hi all,
Today I had some time to work on the restoration of SA 79869 a bit more. I decided to focus on the internal parts, which make up the receiver group.

The data sheet that I'm following for SA 79115 (October 1940) lists the following parts:

Bullet Guide - B8875-1SA
Follower Assy - early
Op Rod Catch - early
Follower Arm - single bevel

I was able to dig through my collection and find matching examples that had reasonable wear and coloration to the receiver, in my opinion anyway. It should be noted, of course, that these parts don't have to match in color, and in reality probably shouldn't since original rifles would have never likely had parts that truly matched in color. The finishing of parts was done in huge batches, and the chances of color shades matching from batch to batch are basically zero. A wise friend has taught me, however, that it's "my car so paint it the way you want" and that's exactly what I'm doing. I find that it's more pleasing to my eyes when things match--or closely match-so that's kind of the approach that I'm taking. After all, these rifles were really only original once and that was a long time ago!

Anyway, have a look at the pix and let me know what you think.

Cheers!
---Brian

 

[96coal449]

I'm not OCD on stuff like that but she's gonna be a beautiful ole war horse.

 

[dhazel74]

Nice JD,
What will you tackle next on your pre-war rebuild ? Looking forward to it !

 

[WaM14gunner]

Who doesnt like a good Garand project?

 

[Jersey Devil]

Hi All,
Some more progress on restoration project SA 79869 today.
I figured now is a good time to tackle the firing mechanism (trigger group). The data sheet I'm following calls for the following parts:

Housing = -1
Guard = -1SA
Trigger = unmarked w/ tooling hole
Hammer = -2SA
Hammer Spring Assy = early w/ blued spring (which may actually be of WRA manufacture)
Safety = -6 w/out tooling hole (early round top)

So that's exactly what I built, but with one small caveat.....the -2 hammer is a side-marked example, which is the earliest of the -2 hammers and marks the transition from side-marked hammers to face-marked hammers. These are fairly uncommon, but not exactly "rare" so to speak. Please note the finish on the parts and how the trigger group differs from the receiver group, but they both wear a distressed finish with reasonable wear.

I'm thinking of changing out the hammer spring assy. I do believe that the blued hammer spring is either of super early vintage or of WRA manufacture. More research needed. The plunger is w/ wings but could be more "in the white" and I feel the same for the housing. I think I have better, more appropriate examples of this assy in a stash somewhere. Thoughts???

Thanks all!
Cheers,
--Brian

 

[MuleSkinner88]

I have to say Jersey Devil that you have a great build ahead. Press on and Good Luck to you in your quest for those parts that seem to be gone or forgotten. They are out there only most are in jungles and buried in the fields of war many years ago.

As you know the early Rifles were the first to go and seen the first to know how valuable they truly were, in combat. Most of the early Rifles were left in countries far away. Doing the job of Freeing the world from oppression.

Thanks for bringing back a Veteran that deserves, has the Right to be seen as she once was, a tool for Freedom.

 

[Jersey Devil]

I have to say Jersey Devil that you have a great build ahead. Press on and Good Luck to you in your quest for those parts that seem to be gone or forgotten. They are out there only most are in jungles and buried in the fields of war many years ago.

As you know the early Rifles were the first to go and seen the first to know how valuable they truly were, in combat. Most of the early Rifles were left in countries far away. Doing the job of Freeing the world from oppression.

Thanks for bringing back a Veteran that deserves, has the Right to be seen as she once was, a tool for Freedom.

I appreciate those words very much, thank you kindly.
Next will be the gas system and a few other small parts. Sadly, while I do have a correct -1-SA op rod (uncut / unmodified) it's been refinished, and just won't fit the bill for this restoration. So, in the end I'm short a suitable op rod and a correct GHS large wheel long channel stock. Those will be pricey units to acquire, for sure.

I'll post more updates as I make progress.

In the meantime......I may have uncovered some other incredible parts while searching through the stashes.......stay tuned!!

 

[Jersey Devil]

Update: An unmodified original finish -1-SA op rod is en route. Fingers crossed that the finish works with this project!

 

[MuleSkinner88]

Very nice Brian, glad you are back into this hobby. A 10-40 barrel is rare, only Bubba seemed to have that stuff... That is a very challenging restoration, so good luck with it.

Digressing somewhat, but back in 2012 I called the South Store to ask if they had any CMP Specials in 308W with a 5-digit serial number, and they had one, so I was able to purchase it. It's serial # 81449 (Nov 1940). It was for informal shooting, etc. Fast forward three years later and in 2015 and I spotted for sale on the CMP forum an unused CMP Special in 308W with an 81888 serial number, so it was only 439 digits apart from my rifle. I decided to buy it as future 'matching' gifts for my two sons. Just for the heck of it, to give it some late 1940 details, I did put some early sight covers, early milled rear HG clips on them, round clip latch releases, and a couple of early "SA-1" trigger guards on these M1s.
View attachment 467748
What's nice is these receiver's are both what I call 'grade A' condition with no pitting or blemishes.

Anyhow, welcome back, and what stock are you going to use for your 79k restoration? That's a neat project for sure. Keep us posted.

Yesterday their were 2 consecutive serial numbered Garands that were over 4,000.00 clams, for the pair on CMP Auction. 2 SA M1C Rifles at 4,156.00 with 4 days left.

 

[Jakerou]

I thought I had a decent parts stash, but no early parts like you have! A barrel that early is pretty uncommon to find.

I’ve got all of the major parts to restore my 243,036 and really appreciate the work you are doing on this one! Still find I incredible that you had a lot of the parts as spares!

 

[Jersey Devil]

Yesterday their were 2 consecutive serial numbered Garands that were over 4,000.00 clams, for the pair on CMP Auction.

Yes, those are very nice and very collectible rifles, for sure. Someone is going to be very happy with those in their collection.

I hate to add up the price tag of what I have invested into this restoration, but if I had to insure it right now I'd put a value of about 4K on it. The barrel alone is around $1K and the rear sight is another $700 or so, then the other parts. Just wait until you see the rest of the parts! Labor of love, for sure!

I thought I had a decent parts stash, but no early parts like you have! A barrel that early is pretty uncommon to find.

I’ve got all of the major parts to restore my 243,036 and really appreciate the work you are doing on this one! Still find I incredible that you had a lot of the parts as spares!

Thanks very much! I'd love to see your 200K receiver. What do you figure, May of 1941 or so? I have a July 1941 barrel for a future restoration. The late 1941 barrels are DIFFICULT to find!!

Cheers!
---Brian

 

[Jakerou]

Yes, those are very nice and very collectible rifles, for sure. Someone is going to be very happy with those in their collection.

I hate to add up the price tag of what I have invested into this restoration, but if I had to insure it right now I'd put a value of about 4K on it. The barrel alone is around $1K and the rear sight is another $700 or so, then the other parts. Just wait until you see the rest of the parts! Labor of love, for sure!


Thanks very much! I'd love to see your 200K receiver. What do you figure, May of 1941 or so? I have a July 1941 barrel for a future restoration. The late 1941 barrels are DIFFICULT to find!!

Cheers!
---Brian

I did not plan attempting to restore 243,036, and in truth I am not being totally accurate with this restoration. I bought it as a field grade from the CMP. I think it was a Philippine return. It came with the correct unfinished op rod catch and milled bullet guide.

Duffs Datasheet book has 345,088 with a 4/41 barrel. I figure the correct barrel for 243,036 would be 4/41 or maybe 3/41. However, I stumbled upon a decent 5/41 barrel at a normal used barrel price (under $200), so that is what I am using. I already have a suitable GHS stock collecting dust but paid market price for a flush-nut set. Most of the rest of the parts were found easily enough.

My only problem now is that I have no more room in my safe, and have found it easier to store in pieces!