M1 Garand...Lend Lease?

[Johnny Peppers]

Never heard of a 30.06 being used by British military I guess imported into the UK for sporting use after ww2, hence the British bnp proof, then sent back to the U.S. Probably after the automatic rifle ban

The M1 Rifles were shipped to England in late 1941 and early 1942 as Lend-Lease aid. While most of the rifles have had the band removed, most had a red band painted on the upper handguard with .30 or .30-06 on it to distinguish it from the British .303 caliber.

The British commercial proofs were applied when the British government started selling the Lend-Lease small arms in 1952.

While the OP's rifle was produced in 1941 it was not proofed and sold commercially until 1955.

[Alan Smith]

Johnny,

In general, how does the collector market treat the British commercial sale markings applied to the Lend-Lease guns (M1 rifles; M1911A1 pistols) that were surplused and sold in the early 1950's? Do these markings seriously detract from value?

With the Lend-Lease M1's being the only source of correct early guns (other than maybe an occasional item that somehow slipped through the US rebuild system), I'm sort of assuming that the post-war British commercial proofs are not much of a factor in pricing given the scarcity of otherwise unmolested early issue M1 rifles?

[Johnny Peppers]

Johnny,

In general, how does the collector market treat the British commercial sale markings applied to the Lend-Lease guns (M1 rifles; M1911A1 pistols) that were surplused and sold in the early 1950's? Do these markings seriously detract from value?

With the Lend-Lease M1's being the only source of correct early guns (other than maybe an occasional item that somehow slipped through the US rebuild system), I'm sort of assuming that the post-war British commercial proofs are not much of a factor in pricing given the scarcity of otherwise unmolested early issue M1 rifles?

Alan,

For many years the collectors ignored the L-L M1 Rifles because of the British proofs. As collectors became more interested in acquiring totally original rifles they came to realize that the L-L rifles were totally original early rifles except for the British proofs, and unless altered after commercial sale were normally found in very nice condition. Early M1 Rifles that remained in the U.S. military that did not go through rebuild and are still excellent and original are extremely hard to find, and in comparing prices of rifles in excellent original condition the L-L rifles do not have the value of the non L-L rifles.

One of the most beautiful L-L M1 Rifles I have seen belonged to Maj. Bob Whittington (the author), and was in 99% original condition. It couldn't have looked much better when it left Springfield Armory.

JP