doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com A couple LeFever rifles that were interesting

M1-D
Found the auction I was thinking about. What is interesting is that I also found a number of old auctions in which Garands sold for many many more thousands, I mean like $65K range and even higher. Oh my, I am not a Garand expert or amateur, just surprised.

Pretty amazing price, when to my knowledge the only 1" diameter scopes used in conjunction with M1 sniper rifles were the Kollmorgens used by the Marine Corps, and the only Weaver scopes used were the Model 330. The K series Weavers didn't come on the market until 1947.

Seems that if that Garand "sniper rifle" was purchased on site, thne someone should have had a close look at it before bidding? I'm not M1 expert either, but thought M1 sniper rifles were all based on NM marked rifles? I see no NM stamps on the action?

When were the D models available and used?

In WW11- in both TO's--the Springfield 1903 and the variant 1903-A-4 (mainly produced by Remington)-- were the principal .30 M-1 cal. sniper rifles- but as the war was winding down- a few M1-D Garands appeared- they saw greater usage in the Korean Conflict--

The biggest "problem" the armorers encountered was getting an accurate scope mounting on the Garand-which was never designed for a scope- (same thing for the 1903)--

My M-1D sniper rifle was a USMC issue in Korea- Springfield Armory production- star gauged barrel 10X scope (no-vari-power) and it has the muzzle "cone" flash suppressor.

A few years ago, son-in-law and yours truly were on a private 200 yard range-with the M-1D- when a "County Mounty" stopped by (most likely looking for guys with full "rock and roll AK-47's) and when he saw the M1-D-- with the flash suppressor, he told me I had an "illegal weapon"- with a silencer--

I told him to lay down on the ground, head under the front of the bench, and listen for the 'silence" when I touched off a round--

He declined, turned out he was never in military service-- but I guess he believed me-- My M-1D is close to a MOA weapon with 172 grain Ball ammo-- but the trigger pull is nothing like you would find on a "tuned" 1903- IMO!!

For those of you interested in learning more about M1-C's and M1-D's
you may find this article interesting

American Rifleman article

I've enjoyed these videos from "Forgotten Weapons"

M1-D

M1-C

and here is an article about National Match M-1's

American Rifleman M-1 National Match Article