International Harvester M1??
 

In my quest for a M1 Garand i forgot the whole reason i wanted one... I want a "matching" rifle for my International Harvester pickup and Scout. Now that ive desided to stick to my guns (pun intended) and only want a IH M1.....
How rare are IH M1's?
What kind of prices am i looking at? I seen 2 on gunbroker, and almost lost consciousness when i seen the prices...1,100-2,500!!! Is it possible to find a "shooter" IH M1, or are they all collector items? A lot of you said 1,000 was too much for a WWII SA one.... I dont see why a actual WWII M1 would be worth less than a post war IH one....
I was reading that many of the IH M1's came with a LMR barrel, which is suppose to be very accurate, near match quality, is this true?
Thanks again for all the info!!

IH weren't the "rarest" of the Garands, but if you find any Garand with matching parts, much less matching numbers I think that would be significant feat.

I can't offer any expertise, but I was an armorer in the Coast Guard in the late 90's and we had several hundred "demilled" Garands with the barrels filled with lead and welded to the receivers. We had them all, Springfield, Winchester, IH. Some with three, yes THREE digit serial numbers. Even at 22 years old looking at them made me want to cry. What a shame.

THAT makes me want to cry.

I have an IH Garand, but do not want to get rid if it. Right now it is on loan to our Sheriff's Department to test bullet proof vests.

There were piles upon piles of them. They were issued to recruits to practice D-N-C and basically as a punishment tool because they were so heavy. I cringed every time a boot came in with one with a broken stock or bent op-rod.

I did however learn quickly as a low end E4, from a salty Senior Chief (advancement in the Coast Guard is or was, very difficult) that the proper way to pronounce it is Gar-And with a hard "A" like "errand" not Gar-and like in the gay French way. One of the only things I kept in my knowledge bank from those days. I did several "tours" of the beach repeating "Gar-And" thanks to that rifle.

I like the Army much better. You can't **** up "M4"

Trez
If you want a IHC just plan on spendig the money unless you find one that sombody needs to sell and you're in the right place at the right time. If you want a good M1 Garand you can buy a HRA or a Springfield from the Civillan Marksmanship Program and you will get an excellent rifle with customer service that is next to none. I would suggest a "Service Grade" rifle. Hope this helps. MC