Early pre WW2 Winchester fancy walnut M1 rifle stocks

[RCS]

When Winchester started production in Dec 1940 there has always been some
speculation that wood set aside in their custom shop was also used to complete
rifles. Springfield documents called for straight grain black walnut on M1 rifle
stocks.

Early examples (still machined for the solid butt plate) show deluxe fancy grain
wood P1010007_0007_007.jpgP1010045_0045_045.jpg

[Allen]

Strange I've seen a lot of M14 fancy walnut and birch stocks but rarely a fancy original Garand stock.

[Johnny P]

Fiddleback was allowed, but that normally only shows up in quarter sawn blanks, which was the best cut. Friend has an early Winchester with some crotch grain near the toe, but not that much.

[RCS]

The sunlight will really bring out the figure in a nice stock in these photos. Years ago I
found a front hand guard with the sharp bottom edges like Winchester used in their hand
guards. It is very fancy and not common to find in hand guards.

I told my friends that this hand guard blank was set aside for a Winchester M12 deluxe
pump handle but used up in the early production ! Makes a nice storydscn2510.jpgdscn2507.jpgdscn2506.jpg

[DeWayne Hayes]

Sorry, just came upon this old thread, but it reminded me of my Uncle Lee who fought with the 32nd Infantry Division out of Wisconsin/Michigan in WWII. They were down in New Guinea.

He was not a gun nut or anything, so didn't have a fetish for things like this, but when I started getting interested in Garands in the 1990s, he was telling me about his. He distinctly recalled the serial number and that it was a Winchester, and that it had a "beautiful, figured walnut stock." He said he had to be checked into a field hospital at one point, and check the rifle in with the arms room. He said when he was checking out, someone had taken the stock off his rifle and replaced it with a plain jane stock, which infuriated him. He remembered it (and was still mad about it) 50 years later! I can't remember if he sorted it out and got his stock back or not before he had to leave the hospital, but that was a dirty bit of thievery by someone running, or with access to that arms room.

So, yeah, Winchester was using some nice figured blanks to meet their production requirements.

DeWayne

[RCS]

The rifle is an SA 80K rebuild with a Buffalo Arms revision 19 barrel, stock is
an original SA SHM not a rebuilt stock. Nice looking walnutDSCN0187.jpgDSCN0207.jpgDSCN0209.jpgDSCN0210.jpg

[High Plaines Doug r]

A pretty stock to be sure. I can't see any acceptance stamps. I have an aftermarket stock that is almost that pretty, also w/o cartouches. ?

[RCS]

here are some additional photos of the SA SHM cartouched stockDSCN0188.jpgDSCN0193.jpgDSCN0202.jpgDSCN0203.jpg