Just completed a restoration...

[Johnny Peppers]

Beginning in August of 1943 Col. George A Woody became the Commanding Officer of Springfield Armory, and the stocks of the Springfield M1 Rifle had the acceptance stamp SA/GAW. While in that capacity Col. Woody became ill and died in November of 1944. Brig. Gen. Norman F. Ramsey had been appointed Commanding Officer of Springfield Armory in October of 1944 to replace the ill Col. Woody.

For some reason the SA/GAW acceptance stamp of Col. Woody was used up into 1945 production before it was replaced with Gen. Ramsey's SA/NFR stamp. By the time the SA/NFR cartouche was put into use, M1 Rifle production was being scaled back slightly. December 1944 production ended at approximately serial number 3.36 million, and production ended in June of 1945 at just over serial number 3.87 million with cleanup running to almost 3.89 million.

Where there were approximately 2 million M1 Rifles with the SA/GAW acceptance mark, those with the SA/NFR acceptance mark probably total no more then 350 to 400 thousand.

[bigschuss]

Beginning in August of 1943 Col. George A Woody became the Commanding Officer of Springfield Armory, and the stocks of the Springfield M1 Rifle had the acceptance stamp SA/GAW. While in that capacity Col. Woody became ill and died in November of 1944. Brig. Gen. Norman F. Ramsey had been appointed Commanding Officer of Springfield Armory in October of 1944 to replace the ill Col. Woody.

For some reason the SA/GAW acceptance stamp of Col. Woody was used up into 1945 production before it was replaced with Gen. Ramsey's SA/NFR stamp. By the time the SA/NFR cartouche was put into use, M1 Rifle production was being scaled back slightly. December 1944 production ended at approximately serial number 3.36 million, and production ended in June of 1945 at just over serial number 3.87 million with cleanup running to almost 3.89 million.

Where there were approximately 2 million M1 Rifles with the SA/GAW acceptance mark, those with the SA/NFR acceptance mark probably total no more then 350 to 400 thousand.

Interesting. That's a nice stock! To buy that would cost a pretty penny no doubt!

Mine is a 3.39 million. I just went back and checked Poyer and Riesch and see that Jan. of 1945 ended with 3.45, making mine a Jan. '45 rifle, not a Feb. or March as I first posted? I think my brother's was Feb or March of 1943.

I restored an IHC 5 years ago. It came with a matching LMR barrel, so I just had to find the correct components and a stock. The stock set me back quite a bit. That was also a fun project as the Garand was built by IHC in the same year that my Farmall tractor was.

Restoring Garands is a lot like restoring old tractors, except you don't bust your knuckles, there's no need for paint, and Garands have a max. effective range of 440 yards.

[james m]

I used to work for IHC and you may find it interesting to know that they built Garands in their Louisville Plant which is or was located across the runway from the Convention center where the SOS is held. They had one on display in the lobby.
Jim

[Johnny Peppers]

The rifle shown in my post was a DCM purchase from the early 1990's when it was a once in a lifetime M1 Rifle purchase. While there were no different "grades" of rifles at that time as it was just luck of the draw, the rifle was totally correct and virtually unfired. It has some op-rod and sight knob dings in the stock, but was otherwise in beautiful original condition.

I was not the original purchaser, but was the second owner. The original owner paid $165.

[bigschuss]

I used to work for IHC and you may find it interesting to know that they built Garands in their Louisville Plant which is or was located across the runway from the Convention center where the SOS is held. They had one on display in the lobby.
Jim

Interesting. Didn't know that.

[bigschuss]

The original owner paid $165.

Unbelievable!!! Nice rifle!

[Wilhelm]

You did a great job on that piece. Enjoy.
Wilhelm

[MauserCollector]

Nice job restoring this iconic rifle
Would love to shoot one sometime.. Semi-autos are just a bit hard to get on your license, since they changed the laws a while back..

Now go shoot that beast!

Best
Morten

[Tony T-S]

Glad its a good shooter, great when you do all the work and it comes together like that.

[robcox1]

I used to work for IHC and you may find it interesting to know that they built Garands in their Louisville Plant which is or was located across the runway from the Convention center where the SOS is held. They had one on display in the lobby.
Jim

I believe this is incorrect. The IHC rifles were produced in the IHC plant in Evansville, IN. Scott Duff's book on post-war Garands documents this pretty thoroughly. It was the same plant used to produce P-47 Thunderbolts during WWII. IHC sold it at the end of the Garand production run and it became a Maytag plant after that. It was located next to the Evansville airport. It has been a few years since I have been down that way, so I have no idea if the building is still there. I would guess that IHC displayed a Garand rifle in the Louisville plant simply because they no longer owned the Evansville plant where the rifles were manufactured.
Rob

[Johnny Peppers]

I have to agree with Rob that the IHC rifles were made at Evansville, Indiana. The barrels were made by the Line Material Co. in Birmingham, Alabama.