The British Garand Story (Why Your Grandpa Didn’t Want This Lend-Lease M1 Rifle, But You Do)

This week, lets talk C&R/Milsurp again. and tell the tale of the so-called British Garand. This long, yet interesting story is about some M1 rifles that went from very undesirable back in the 1960s; to sought after today by collectors. Why is this and how did it happen?

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#M1 Garand
#WWII
#Korean War
#England
#Britain
#British
#Interarms
#Sam Cummings
#history
#story
#import
#.30-06
#Springfield
#Winchester
#BSA
#London
#Lend-Lease
#M1 Carbine
#Trenchgun
#shotgun
#M1911A1
#L1A1
#SLR
#C&R
#Military
#Surplus

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Hi Misha here and back when these came in these so-called Russian capture German car 98ks I said once they dry up they’re going to be worth almost as much as most others but people poo pooed it they have import marks they’ve been refinished but the real reason was they

Were available they were coming in they were current and yes as they’ve dried up over the years they’ve almost gone up in value as much as other k98s but the subject of today the rifle we’re going to talk about today well it started off in a similar path and has

Actually become worth more not less than more standard examples meet the so-called British M1 grand rifle yes when these were first available at the tail end of the 1950s collectors of the day poo pooed them and even into the 70s and ‘ 80s they weren’t really thought of that

Highly but in the 21st century that attitude is done a complete 180 not unlike Chinese AKs too why is that what does this have going for it why have collector attitudes changed and also why originally was it uh kind of marked as undesirable for sure it’s in good shape

Enough and we do have an original style rear sight that’s pretty cool early style machine trigger guard but otherwise it looks pretty normal right pretty standard well that is until you do this until you look under the barrel these markings here really lead in to a very interesting

Story and also a story about why being here versus here can matter with these guns so today let’s talk about the British Grand the Lyn least Springfields from 1941 and 194 too and why I picked this one up last month besides I love talking Mur and if you do to please do

Talk below and I’ll reply if you could at least uh liking the video sharing subscribing and if you’re really like to help support us maybe get some 30 out6 ammo check out the link to patreon how about it this video is of course going to really focus in on British service

Ownership use of the grand the actual history and development and the very interesting story of John Grant himself Canadian that’s for a different video but needless to say that when the US officially did adopt the original gas strap Grand in 1936 it it was very ahead of its time

Along with the Soviets going to the ABS 36 and Britain did take notice I should also point out and yes that ping was completely intentional earlier that being a sim a was nice but what held it back was this yes the on block clip system the eight round system

Pros and cons to it but overall I think we can all agree at detaching M even and if it was only 10 rounds and more or less a flush fit but you know early days but the cartridge inside the 30 6 M2 ball also was a thing in fact originally

They were going to chamber this for a all new smaller diameter higher velocity 276 Pon round which would have really brought this gun and to the 20th century in a real big way and the cartridge was good but Logistics the US had so much 30 out 6 knocking

About that they had to kind of revert back to it and this is actually relevant to the British story later but yeah adopted in 36 and the British did take note a little bit they acire a few not because they were really going to adopt it but because they wanted to evaluate

It so you do see some in British hands in the late 30s into the 40s and of course When The War Began but while the US adopted this in 1936 in 1939 leading in 1941 the British won a very different direction not only did they stick with

The Bol action they stuck with the another infield the number four which I’m sure you know and they stuck with their traditional 303 cartridge and the big deal with it was it was a rimmed round plus originally that cartridge was meant for late black powder early smokeless although it had

Been improved over the years so this is kind of um where they were at and these were barely getting into production before the war anyway I guess I should point out this does have a detaching MAG and it holds 10 Rounds versus eight so I guess in

That one way we could consider it a little superior to the Grand and earlier in the decade they went to a new pattern of sidearm but they stuck with a revolver of course this is the infield number two mark one this is a mark one star but we the infamous with the whole

Thing with webly and Scott this is chambered for 38200 instead of 455 webble or eely I want to show you where British armorment was these are kind of the two main guns as they went into World War to of course they had machine guns A Galore as

Well after the still war or the silent War for a few months there was the invasion of France in 1940 and things he Ed up very quickly culminating in the essentially Apollo 13 of World War II the Battle of dunker the the evacuation at Dunkirk and the reason

I say that it was very much an object failure I mean France was overrun but on the other hand over a third of a million troops were successfully rescued at great effort and risk the troops are rescued but most of their equipment Small Arms included infields older ones some fours revolvers

Machine guns they had to be left behind because of weight savings they had to get all the all the bodies on board the ships they could and just you know people move faster this means by late spring of 1940 it was very much recognized that well Britain didn’t have

Enough guns to go around and well the Germans had just overrun France in a record setting period of time it was expected they may very well cross the channel and invade the British Isles next and even though they rescued a lot of their soldiers they didn’t really

Have much to give them except maybe some old longbows from museums and some rocks few other things and so they were in desperate need of anything that shot bullets because who knows when the Germans may be knocking at their door thus enter the United States of

America but of course at this period in time 1940 they’re still nominally neutral but of course everyone knows they’re leaning very much towards the allies and doing all they could in the short term the White House and Congress worked together and kind of found some loopholes and things in the laws that

Allowed them to give Obsolete and surplus to need guns to Britain and other allies so the first guns sent over were Old World War I era 1917s and 1918 bars and a few 1917 water cooled the 1919 air cooled machine guns but it was very much a hodge podge in condition varied

And something well something better definitely needed to be done so after a brief negotiation and working together March 1941 what we know today is the Lyn Lease Act was passed by Congress and signed into the law by President Roosevelt and this would allow America to extend loans and ship war material to

Essentially the allies and this would kind of start the whole arsenal of democracy thing and the initial funds allocated by Congress were $7 million but that was just the first and that was a huge chunk of change when you look at how much the US had been spending on their military

Before the uh the war keep in mind we’re still pre Pearl Harbor at this point and it would go on from from there but in particular Britain was the main focus it would end up being beneficiary along with other Commonwealth nations of over 2third of Len

Lease and they needed guns well this so happens that Winchester and Springfield were producing essentially the most modern advanced infantry rifle in the world and really production was just now ramping up to any kind of quantity with the authority of the new L lease one of the first things done on

March 27 was to issue the first requisition appropriation of M1 Grands to go to the UK and this pretty much gave emergency Authority immediate authority to take whatever you need from stock piles with you know reason numbers and things and also acquire a certain percentage from from current

Manufacturing and this would be codified later on in 1941 I don’t actually know the percent numbers but let’s say 5% of monthly production could be allocated towards Lend Lease deliveries and of course the rest going to uh US service and then of course you start to see manufacturing of

Infields in America by Savage which was another interesting element to Len Lee and honestly one that was probably more useful to them but um yeah that was the first appropriation and they would ramp up and then the second appropriation would come 7 months later October 28th and kind of just at this point

You’re mostly taking a slice off current production from what I’ve seen these were Springfield I don’t know if Winchester anyone out there know if Winchesters were sent over or was it just Springfield if nothing else Springfield was definitely making the line share of Grands at this time and uh deliveries would uh soon

Commence and how would that go well frankly as fast as Congress and the president acted by the time the Grands got over to the UK the need was not as great throughout 1941 the threat of a German invasion would lessen in 1942 when it definitely didn’t look

Possible in fact at the end of that year you’d see the invasion of North Africa followed by the invasion of Italy and of course culminating in D-Day so the tables were turning so that immediate need wasn’t there another problem and this was obviously known but you know

Any gun that shoots bullets is better than nothing in an emergency but 30 out 6 was not a standard round 303 was which actually meant that by British rules and regulations these guns would have to be easily identified as not being in a standard cartridge we’ll get to that in a

Minute even though soldiers did like them you know it wasn’t dogged against they they lik the gr it just firing a non-standard round is always a detriment and of course the US would be engaged in the war itself after December 7 1941 meaning that the US would need all the

Grands they could get to the credit for the first 3 months of the war they continued to send the percentage of GRS over to the UK as previously agreed but then in March of 1942 the US decided that okay any weapon chambered for 30 OD 6 because really No Other Nation

Has that cartridge that’s going to be reserved for American forces and other guns and different cartridges they can go over there so this would kind of put the kabash on the British Lyn lease M1 Grands really just a year after the program started but how successful was

It how many successfully made it over between May of 1941 and June of 1942 roughly 38,000 in one Grands successfully made it to the UK and of course these would be identical to US service models at least when they left America and the first batches were even

Taken right out of US service stockpiles keep mind this is a very new gun at that point and others were just requisitioned throughout production we don’t know exact serial numbers especially for some of the ones just kind of randomly taken from other sources but roughly between 300,000 and

600,000 which works well this one has a 500,000 seral so towards the end in fact it was probably in one of the very final batches sent over the barrel is Springfield marked of course and it’s dated 3 of 42 so March 1942 so right around the time of decision

Changing there’s other markings here that we will get to later on but yeah that’s the time period that checks out for these guns so since they would not be receiving near as many Grands as it originally had been planned for to go to the UK well what did the British do first and

Foremost now we’re 2 years after Dunkirk they had given them time to recover ramp up production domestically I already mentioned the Savage Lyn lease guns and there were also number fours made in Canada like this one here and they did simplify the design a bit for wartime expediency so they were

Already kind of catching up on their 303 infield both actions so the troops were replacing their losses which is good because as I mentioned earlier they were getting ready to start doing some invading of their own so that was an old gun or at least you know old design that

Was ramped up but actually a whole new design came to be because of Dunkirk the quid essential British machine gun or at least submachine gun in yes YouTube this is a semi-automatic only ATF approved this then they didn’t make many Mark 1es they made quite a few Mark iOS they made even

More later on in the war of course you had the Mark III the mark 3s y y y but this was a gun that they could just crank out anywhere anytime and it would give anyone a machine gun in their hands originally really made to uh protect against the invasion

They would soon find use and paratroopers and other things so between having the heavy hitting 303 bolt action and the lighter hitting yeah 9 mm but still rapid fire stin gun they were pretty well covered yeah they didn’t have that kind of Gap in the middle of a

Semi-automatic full power gun but for the most part they made do so there just wasn’t a need for the grand but well they had nearly 40,000 of them and they weren’t going to just dump him into the ocean while the British definitely respected John gr’s brainchild it fired that on standard

Cartridge they had a relatively small number who knows where replacement parts are so it meant the fate of other similar guns including the previous 1917 yes they were unpacked they were modified in some small ways we were about to get to for the British many were just left in storage

And reserve and in Depot others were loaned out to homeg guard units very important especially early on in the war and very patriotic of many English citizens even in the countrysides and uh many were used for training drill practice that kind of thing and some were taken by the

RAF and used for guarding air bases or airfields or aerody dromes if you prefer which is kind of a cool term I don’t know if the British Navy ever had any I couldn’t find any but there are accounts of these being used in combat in World War

II but they’re very vague they’re very generalized if anyone actually has pictures and individual battles I’m not saying they weren’t ever used but I couldn’t find them so I’m I think the use as uh guard Guns by the RAF kind of confuses cuz some sources claim that they were used by

Paratroopers I don’t know why they would they had S Guns I think the RAF connection is a little kind of misleading there but I could very well be wrong I’m always happy to learn I think it’s safe to say the majority stayed in their boxes those that got out didn’t leave the briti

British home Islands if any did they were individual units probably ones working very very closely with the with the Yanks where they could get more ammo and more spare parts and then of course after the war they were just kind of put back up into storage now speaking of Yanks when the

Korean War kicked off in 1950 some British Marine Commando units did carry the M1 grand but these were ones again that us who worked very closely with American units I should also point out that in the Korean War 30 out6 was more of a standard round for example Belgian forces use

These but this was pretty small pretty limited use and a couple of Articles even claim that the guns seen in British end and Korea weren’t even the 38,000 Lin lease that they were actually sourced in dependently separately from other places that’s not hard to believe after World War II since over you know

Well ultimately 6 million will be produced after Korea but the US gave GRS to a lot of friendly Nations they they were very common so I could easily see the British getting their hands on a few hundred more just for Special Forces Commando type units but they do send to

Have seen some British use early on in the first stages of the Korean War you know speak speaking of Belgium they used the fn49 in Korea going back to World War II when C was kind of an exile in the UK he was working on his self-loading rifle which had ultimately

Become the fn49 when he looked for a chambering he didn’t do 33 that rimmed round and that relatively light loaded round just wasn’t good for cycling a gas system but he didn’t go to 30 out 6 in the UK in 1943 44 he actually turned to 8 mm Mouser n

7 9 mm because British were making those rounds already I just find that kind of interesting considering they had any1 grands in their inventory that they didn’t make or at least use 30 out 6 I guess sa just felt that 8 mm was better for his purposes I don’t know little

Tangent just that I would share but after Korea well that was the last gasp of what small service the grand would have in Britain so while it is yes a historical footnote it’s a cool one and I’m quite confident this gun is an authentic British

Grand I’ll share with you why and I also share with you why collectors initially poo pooed these but now today look for them them so in the second half of this video we’re going to talk more about features and markings and less about history which uh thanks for bearing with

Me because you know I’ve always got to get out of my system right and the talk features and changes I brought out my Korean War era from H&R HR a it’s actually a lot harder to do that with an empty on block clip and single-handed than you might think

Anyway as I said the collectors today kind of value these British guns and one reason is because of their features in configuration the1 Grand of course changed over time obviously it started off as a gas trap going to a gas piston that’s a huge one and the rear sight

Actually changed during the production run the earlier Grands sent to Britain like I said they were first authorized in March of 41 so some were existing guns the ones that were right off the production line mostly have Barrel dates starting in September of 41 running through around May of 42 again from Springfield

And during that period we went from the original flush nut to the type one lock bar bar and of course late in the war and postwar we would go to the style most see without the lock bar and this also has a long opinion and other changes and there’s a really good reason

For the change I mean the flesh nut was required a tool for essentially locking things down this you could do by hand but the problem with the type one it used the short pinion and you could actually just unscrew the lock bar you had to unscrew it quite a few

Turns but still so the type two lock bar went to a longer pinion and it was staked in place but it came out after this era this is the type one and then they went to the style we all know and love here they kind of self locks but

Doesn’t require anything and most all of your US service guns had the rear sites updated post World War II but the British ones did not for pretty obvious reasons so having the original sites is a big plus especially if you were lucky and get one of the flush nut versions

But I’m happy this one even has the log bar a change done late in the war was going away from this mil machine trigger guard to the stamp steel the Spring Steel type now this H&R has the older style in it cuz it you know refurbished gun that’s fine I thought about

Replacing it but I don’t know that matter but a lot of Grands during rebuild would have that swapped out the gas cylinder lock screw originally was a single slot designed later they went to kind of a two slot like a Philips had design and that was done in

1944 for use with the what was it M7 grenade launcher because of the gas valve but your British ones would have the single slot and there were also some changes in the uh front sight base there’s a lot of little changes in manufacturing Styles and most of your British guns

Still have their original Springfield parts now I’m not going to say they weren’t ever refurbished or reworked and I’m sure some had Replacements parts put in for various reasons but you’re much more likely to find one in an authentic 1941 42 configuration versus getting one from

Say the DCM or CMP in America or one of the guns say brought back back from uh Korea uh not Korea War but actual you know Korean imports like by a century so that’s why and collectors really do enjoy them and they typically have their original walnut furniture with the

Original markings although the markings are pretty much by necessity worn like this one it does have its P not too bad it’s still visible but you know it’s been handled and moved around over the years this one has a much crisper P if I can get my sling out of my

Way that’s cuz it’s a lighter stock and there’s also a difference if it’s a high or low stamp a square versus a circle usually means original versus refurb stamp again I’m enough of a person when it comes to actual Market cuz I can’t see them they’re not my

Speciality contining on with the stock flipping it over the H&R has the dod stamp which was a late use this it’s there but it’s very much kind of worn down maybe it was always lightly struck has the uh ghs inspector Mark which was uh Gilbert stur who was the inspector During the

Period that these were sent over so that should be there pretty well standard the British used a few different types of slings I don’t know if this is original probably isn’t trapo cleaning kit again there are a few differences like this has a rear band with the kind of Notch cut in

It this doesn’t just little things like that that are pretty cool and I do like that they have their original Furniture original barrels and yeah when they went over to England they were just straight us guns but they were immediately modified not to beat it

Dead horse but yes 30 out 6 7.62x 63 Springfield as it was known in Europe was a non-standard cartridge in the UK and per military regulations and even law any gun chambered for a non-standard cartridge had to be readily marked easily identifiable as such and you see this with some

1917s they were ly Lee and some other things and the way they did it on the grand was actually up here they added roughly a 2in strip of reddish paint color could vary to you know say hey this is different jumping in as if they had 303

GRS it made okay it made more sense on the 1917 because they have they did have p14s which were 303 okay okay these are all that but still it it was the rules so they did they took them out of the crates and they slopped some red paint

On them and I do mean slopped and they also caliber marked them I I believe they used a stencil and it was in a type of black paint and they would mark them actually one of four different ways they would do 30 or just 30 No period or 300 for 30

6 to denote a difference from 303 cuz I guess one could argue that3 could be mistaken for 33 and then finally they they did just a 300 no period um at least that’s according to the uh quite good article online over at uh the NRA not much out there on YouTube about

These guns which is why I’m doing the video but there are a couple of good articles fled around on Google I encourage you to go check those out so you might be wondering why this one doesn’t have the red paint it actually does but just faint traces they put them on they painted

Just directly on top of the finished walnut furniture so it didn’t adhere very well the paint wasn’t particularly high quality and just years of handling and preservatives grease cleaning storage and of course coming over to the US most all the paint has been worn off some still have it today original but

Others it’s fake so if you see one of these with red paint take it for what it is but yeah this one has a few faint traces cuz it was in this area it’s just mostly just been worn off for one reason or another so those were the modifications that were made in

Britain in 1942 when these came around that’s really about it and again we have correct World War II era guns so why did collectors kind of poo poo these originally after all after the Korean War the idea of martial arms collecting started to gain steam traction it was a slow but persistent

Process and people wanted Grands but keep in mind this was the the col M4 carbine but say this was the current issue rifle in 1955 let’s say people wanted them but not very many were on the market because the government hadn’t turn loose so you would think one of these would be desirable

But you know everyone thinks import Mark started 1968 they didn’t ironically the very same markings that make these worse something today under the oops notice my finger is nowhere near any of this here are what kind of dinged it back then these are its import marks or rather export marks yeah let’s talk

About these here’s the barrel shank on the H&R and originally that’s what would have been on this too just the Springfield and the date code and of course the the lot number all that so why all the other gobleg did the British add it in the ‘

40s no and I’m sure most of you know that but you know it’s worth talking about why it’s here how it got here how these guns got into the country and of course when you’re talking export Imports you always come back to Sam Cummings Cummings import company inner

Arms was like the Century Arms International of the 1950s only more reputable I really first came to know them because of all the cool guns they brought out of Finland including lahy pistols the early valets and really some of the first Mosen neant and SVT 40s we

Saw in America cool stuff but they also brought on new guns from places like West Germany they had the license for Walter for example yeah a lot of old guns were in arms and uh Cummings and his company very interesting they were also involved in the armorite and the

Netherlands holding AR10 situation story for another day but just that I mention it and cummings was a businessman and he knew there was a demand for grands in America and heck there was uh you know 30 40,000 really pretty great condition sitting in the UK they didn’t want them

They didn’t need them why not well there were a few hurdles first and foremost even back then the British government was quite restrictive on Firearms right or wrong that’s what they were and they would not sell firearms to a foreign entity there might have also been some weird stuff

About ly lease too I really don’t know legalities get strange but they would sell they could be transferred to a British an English company so you know Cummings does what any red-blooded American entrepreneur do he simply bought a British company and he bought it on the cheap because they were uh they were

Going out of business or even out of business they were they were basically in default they were in bankruptcy and uh it was Cogswell and Harris I keep wanting to say cogsworth some of you might get that joke but yeah he he uh worked on buying them and the deal was

Finally Inked and done and he got got the deed and everything in 1957 and one of the first things he jumped on were the British GRS with importation to America in 1958 at least that’s when it was started but that’s still not explaining the markings well that’s more British

Law before guns could be sold transferred they had to be proof tested and and all that stuff and that’s what all this gobble means on the barrel and there were two proof houses that did the work at least on these you had the Birmingham house and you had the London

House the London house or proof house also known as the gun makers company according to that excellent NRA article would actually have somewhat simplified markings as we’ll see compared to Birmingham but they both test said to the same standards and the the first marking was a Nitro proof test

And they just simply put in P but that’s not what this is this one is a Birmingham also known as guardian company proofed gun and they went just a little bit step further and they put B NP B for Birmingham and this is where we start to see the markings really D

Diverge they use somewhat different proof symbols as well next just like modern import marks the caliber had to be there in London went pretty simple just putting 30 whereas Birmingham they put actually 30 OD six and this would extend over to the case length as well the the Birmingham

Marking is a more precise more detailed case length compared to the London next we have the proof tonnage markings for the test cartridge and again the Birmingham is slightly more ornate a little more character going on compared to London and as far as the London house goes that that’s the end of

It but according to the article the Birmingham has a um I a date code marking but kind of a a code marking that includes the uh date code and the inspector number plus uh a B for Birmingham so it’s kind of a try thing so just an whole additional marking that

Uh lendon did not do you’ll notice yeah it’s on the chamber that’s another piece of evidence showing that these this one came from the Len lease batch and not later batches in addition to what’s marked on the barrel British laws and regulations required that the receiver and bolt also have a proof

Stamp yeah and you thought US law since 1968 was much at least we only have one marking however if your British Grand doesn’t have these marks don’t worry too much London would stamp a GP proof on the side of the receiver and Birmingham would use B

NP on top of the receiver above the chamber it might have been the same die as they used on the barrel and both would stamp the bolt on the right side of the log area GP or BNP but like I said if yours doesn’t have either of these markings or both or

Whatever don’t worry wor too much because the requirement wasn’t really practical this one near here does have something a little smudge here and that’s about the best as they could do the tooling they used was commercial and they using it over and over this is harden steel bolt and Barrel very

Hard it wore the tools out and they didn’t strike very well so rarely did the GP or BNP come out clear and crisp best case it was kind of a muddled up smudgy and sometimes it just didn’t come out at all just barely dinning the surface literally so much so

That the proof houses seem to have kind of abandoned it at some juncture or maybe they just lightly tapped it so if it’s not visible or is just just kind of like a there little ping that wouldn’t worry me too much but if you do see either of those on your

Bol to receiver that’s that’s why they’re there congrats yet more evidence it’s a British proofed Grand so yes these very slight modifications to the barrel hidden by the oppr rod anyway offended The Collector sensibility back in the 50s and 60s when these were on the market as I started the video off kind

Of talking about the Russian capture so many people turn their nose up of them even though a lot of the rifles were in good shape and still an original unrefurbished condition too now this being on the barrel is neat here because while cuming started with the linle guns they were definitely not

The only Grands he imported and in fact they were a pretty small minority he found gr’s around the world because of the US giving so many away and he would have them sent to England that would be where the major Depot warehouse would be for the European sector for in arms and because

They were trafficked through England they would all have to get the British testing marks even if they weren’t British guns but these later guns as far as I know all of them or at least the vast vast majority we’re actually marked up here in this area of the barrel

Between the rings of the gas cylinder so they’re going to have British proof tons Birmingham London what have you but if you see him here that means it probably came most likely from somewhere else so this is an instance where the import Mark being here is a good thing and actually tells

Us something kind of reminds me of of another gun where the import marks actually a positive come on we’re talking Birmingham BSA and England and imports you know I had to bring out one of my favorites just for a second the L1 A1 SLR and this having the century import

Mark under the barrel from the ’90s actually makes it legitimate and you know it came in as a proper title one gun so in both cases here the import marks are good they tell us when and where also I do think it’s not a bad idea to have a gun marked with the

Proper caliber and chamber information because having an unknown caliber gun is a pain in the ARs you have to slug the chamber and do all that try to measure the board it’s a it’s a whole thing so I don’t mind that and I really didn’t mind the old ’90s style under the barrel

Markings half of them are covered up by cleaning rods with bolt actions anyway but English guns also kind of find it funny that when they finally did replace the infield bolt action they went with a semi-automatic version of a rifle instead of select fire and you know size and weight wise

Not too far from the M1 grand anyway moving back again as I said cuming started bringing over gans’s and I 1958 and they appeared in his catalog sales catalog in early 1959 and he had basically two grades two conditions you know rat grade standard grade uh stand and he wanted

79.95 or mint condition for 8995 those numbers sound amazing to us today but I’m sure you’re intelligent folks you understand inflation so in today’s money you’re talking roughly $840 or $940 still not bad really not so they were priced quite reasonably and uh the competition was Windfield another importer the only

Reason I bring them up they they brought over some Grands and they sold them for just under1 they also sold over 15,000 1941 Johnson rifles and guess what they sold those for starting out at $100 for the lower conditions and kind of going up from there so in the late 50s

Winfield valued GRS and Johnson’s the same oh if only that were true today right guys I did own a Johnson going to be honest with you when the prices went bananas is a few years back I I had to move it h that’s kind of the downside to being in my line of

Work speaking of line of work though well how did Sam sell these just to keep things visually interesting for you here’s some other us martial arms from the World War II period And while many of these were not available in the’ 40s by the 50s and 60s they started to

Really flood the market thanks to the US releasing some domestically like the DCM today the CMP and again interarms Winfield and a few others and Sam Cummings had a retail store in Virginia Ye Old guns where he would sell outright to the public that’s perfectly fine he also would do

Wholesale and it’s kind of fun because he sold M1 grand to Sears Montgomery Ward and others and I Sears has gone it that I died pretty recently but my gummy W’s been gone a while but it was the thing when I was a kid again good businessman really was

From from beginning to end and that’s kind of the story here of uh this Grand is just how Clever Sam was and how many obstacles he had to overcome to bring these to Market and they bringing to market for $79 a gun retail I don’t know what wholesale price

Was even if collectors back then sometimes poo pooed these opting for unmolested ones today we really like them because of the features you’ve already talked about now on the market the Len lease guns and they seem to have been in inventory to interarms through at least the early 60s but interarms

Would continue to sell in with Grands through at least the mid 70s even into the 80s but these would be you know the the barrel marked guns and interarms would continue but after Cummings passed away the company would soon fall apart effectively going out at the end

Of the 20th century there are still some in arms marked guns in the early 21st century Winfield had died before and this really made the way for the um the importers we know and love today Sentry arms PW arms you know IO Royal tiger even importation has its own

History and the British gun here really does emphasize that and that’s really why I wanted it most all GS you find today have been refurbished especially the ones from American stockpiles that’s not a bad thing but years and years ago the family I ended up with this M1

Carbine and pretty much correct World War II configuration and I always thought it would be nice to have a grand similar and this one checks out for the most part I’m sure some parts have been swapped out as they wore out I mean after all these were sold and

Everything else civilians might have done something but overall it’s correct and what isn’t I can swap so I thought that was cool I also found that story cool I love history you might have noticed and it does go well with my other collection members here by the way

A lot of the rising stuff actually ended up with numeric guns Parts up in New York and by the way the CMP is still offering 1911a ones so if you don’t have a military one get on their list good things not plugging them YouTube they’re not a company they’re a government entity so

Yep and one more flip I’ve done videos on pretty much all of these including the shotgun here that came from a good friend years ago it’s fun collecting us guns but you do have to be careful you really do especially when you’re like mean you can’t see visual

Markings so I tend to get guns from usted individuals when possible and then I love learning about them and you’ll you’ll always have some error there’ll always be something that makes something not 100% perfect that’s okay that said though this Grand does checkout Barrel dates in the range

Cereals in the range traces of red paint we’ve got the proof marks including what seemed to be on the receiver as best they could the features are correct especially the rear site so as best I can tell it’s authentic enough with the understanding that it might have been reworked a bit

In British service and US private owner might have done a thing or two for it it has been test fired it does run still works but if you’re going to fire an M1 grand obviously use 30 out 6 but more importantly you need military specification M2 ball if you try to run

Some other rounds you could very easily destroy your op Rod it is one of the weaker points of the grand so with military ammo it’s fine but with commercial other Target ammo don’t don’t do it and on block Clips they are reusable but understand it’s a wear part

So have a few different clips available don’t just rely on one or two over and over and over eventually that Spring Steel does wear out slings are cool pretty well standard and of course it has the two pocket storage in the butt for a cleaning kit

This one does have it so another thing to check for and of course it takes a few different patterns of bayonet long and short yeah I picked this up and it did come in a cost I can’t keep everything guys I had to sell and it’s already sold my 19 45 February

Dated Springfield in1 Grand that was a nice condition Grand especially the boar I didn’t really want to do it but between a 1945 nearly end of the war and an early 42 this is March again gun with the lck bar sits and all that plus the cool story I just couldn’t help myself

And I still have my H&R as you saw plus couple of BM 59s and what have you still would my mind getting an Italian Beretta or breida Grand in 30 out 6 one day yeah I just wanted to share since the story isn’t really on YouTube but again I plug

There are a couple of really great articles on uh on Google so check those out but they’re old print articles so I wanted to bring this over to YouTube so what do you think do the markings bug you or you more like me and they kind of

Just add to the story let me know in the comments in fact let’s talk about import marks in general in the comments good bad ugly which ones you can tolerate which ones you just can’t bear cuz we’ve all got those anyway again if you’d like to know

More about such guns check out the channel do searches we’ve got videos and pretty much everything and if you could please do like share subscribe and if you would like to help us out check out patreon and or participate in our live streams in fact I would uh cleaning up this gun

A bit getting some Cosmo and crap off when we did our live stream last night with that this is Misha and catch you very soon G