Have a Sprinfiled Armory M1 Garand Ser# 22721XX with all GI parts and stock. The 18" BBL is marked Genesco,Il. 30-06 and dated 10-64. All parts SA GI except trigger housing which is WRA. Op rod also marked SA .

It is in excellent condition. I have had it for 20 yrs, When I bought it from the guy I did not ask where it came from. The receiver is not a reweld nor has any other names or Mfg's on it.

Anyone have any suggestions on things to look for to help answer any ???

WTK any info on it. Value?. Shoots great never jams. If asked will post some pic's

Here's a fact sheet from the Nat'l Park Service, Springfield Armory Nat'l Historic Site. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...g63Og4Fe1gkzfg (the link is a Word document)

It's in Springfield, MA, location of the original Springfield Armory.

After it closed in 1968, the current Springfield Armory Corp. opened in Geneseo (the "-eo" is correct, IIRC), IL.

The tanker is likely USGI quality but not actually an issued item (tankers never were . . . just experiments by the Army, and then commercial modifications of existing M1's). The stamp you described makes me think it was made in '64 by the SA Corp. (in Geneseo) as opposed to the Army (in Springfield), but then again the Army still ran the original armory in '64, and the current SA Corp. didn't start until the 70's. In short, I'm confused, but hope this info will help.

Not sure of the value, but Gunbroker, etc. ought to give you an idea. I'm quite sure it's worth a lot more than what it was 20 years back.

Please post pictures.

More than likely SA (in IL) hacked up a perfectly good 1964 military arsonal rebuild, to crap out another one of their Clankers for the tourest trade.

To the OP, if you get the idea that I don't care for "sporterizing" good samples of classic rifles (Mausers, 1903's, Enfields, Garands, etc) you would be correct.
I can (and do) understand why it was done with the bolt guns, in the 50's and 60's (supply and price), but that has never been the case with the Garand platform (not to mention that the odds of getting one that works properly are very poor)

I thought about that, but it didn't make sense to me bacause:

1. Why would SA (IL) mis-date the barrel? (Assuming it's not a counterfeit, but even so . . .

2. My understanding of the Tankers is that they chopped the barrels rather than replace them. Also, did the originals have similar marks on the barrels? If so, how would SA (IL) obliterate it?

Joe
When the military arms depots rebuilt them they would often replace eroded/worn barrels, stocks, sights, any other parts that required replacment or updating and reparked (they were than put into storage as "ready to issue"). In the early 60's a high percentage of them were rebuilt just this way (Korea put a lot of wear on a lot of rifles) and several arms depots were fully involved in the work.

Mine is a Rock River (RRAD stamped) rebuild, with a IIRC 1963 (might be 64) dated barrel and a contractor made Beech stock (Obermeyer?)

SA purchased a number of these rebuilds, when they were surplused. IOW all they did was take a hacksaw to a otherwise "like new" rifle. They simply added their "stamp" after they finished hacking.

I re-read not long ago a biography of Chesty Puller, and he bitched mightily about many of the M1's issued when they headed to Korea in a hurry. NO QC . . . just broke them ot of cosmoline and issued them . . . ungraded. A lot had sewer-pipe barrels, and after the fighting I'll bet a lot more were just as bad. So the rebarreling, even into the 60's, makes sense.

But I still don't get how the '64 got stamped along with SA in Geneseo when it didn't exist yet. Maybe the '64 was already there (when it was rebarreled), and SA/Geneseo was added later?

Just guessing, and realizing it may be unknowable. I no longer suspect it was a counterfeit because counterfeiters probably wouldn't do something so confusing.

That's what I think happened.

Well have pic's but having trouble loading. Shows BBL marked 10 64 and Genescco, Il or whatever on it. Still trying to load. Reciever is not cut and it is 1944 or 45 SA reciever

Cannot load Pics. sit says security token missing???????

Open a (free) account at www.photobucket.com , upload your photo to there, than select & copy the 4th line of code (IMG) and paste that into your post. WaaLaa your photo will appear in the post.