Remnants of forging marks?
I know I haven't posted on here for a very long time. But this community was my go-to place for information 10-15 years ago, and I had to rejoin 4 years ago. I recently traded a buddy out of his just-received CMP Service Grade. I thought I had quit collecting Garands and had no plans to purchase any more from the CMP. But as my friend showed off his new Garand, I was immediately impressed with its condition.
He wasn't all that excited about it. He hated the Birch buttstock, and its mix of parts was a bit of a disappointment to him as well. So we struck a deal.
My first Garand was the nicest until now. I bought it at an LGS, knowing nothing about them. I have no doubt that it was a DCM Garand probably purchased back in the '80's. It was a late Springfield RRAD rebuild that I foolishly let go. Regretting that for years, I finally became aware of the CMP.
My first CMP Garand was purchased back when you were allowed one per year and could not specify manufacturer. I received an all HRA Service Grade in great shape--almost as nice as that RRAD rebuild and worth much more now considering its "correct" status. I bought some Danish returns when they hit the scene and even picked up two at the North store before there was ever a South store. They were pretty nice, but I had seen nothing from the CMP in person to rival that HRA or RRAD rebuild until now. Sure, there were guys posting all over the internet about their recently-received CMP Garands in fantastic shape, but I was never so lucky.
I haven't been paying attention to the CMP lately, or I'd know that they no longer specify "Greek". I also didn't know until now about the generally nice condition of the Greek Air Force rifles that they're encountering now. So my surprise at the excellent overall condition of this latest Garand has abated quite a bit (I thought it just had to have come from storage in the US somewhere after being used by the National Guard or something). Still, it is a very nice example of a 1942 SA rebuilt at Springfield in 1965 that was probably lent to Greece and used very little.
There was an ancient piece of masking tape on the bolt with writing on it indicating the serial number and rack number (51). The stock is also stamped with a "51", so I know that the stock has probably been with the rifle since rebuild. The tape was pretty brittle and didn't figure to last, so I ended up removing it during the initial cleaning. I did, however, photograph it beforehand.
Now for the question: The only odd thing I've noticed about this receiver is the bottom front--the area that was rounded on the early Garands and changed to an angled flat on later ones. This receiver has the rounded front, but that area looks really scarred up. It almost looked like it was old pitting that had been cleaned up during rebuild, but I'm beginning to think that it may have been left over raw forging surface. Perhaps the beginning cuts on the receiver were just a tad too far farward, shifting the whole milling operations forward enough to expose the rough forged surface? Or perhaps this is just some odd damage on an otherwise excellent-condition receiver.
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