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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE M1 .30 SN# 1616152
Maker/Manufacturer:	GARAND, JOHN C.
Date of Manufacture:
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 5604
Measurements:	OL: BL:

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE M1 .30 SN# 1616152
Manufactured by Winchester, New Haven, Ct. - M1 rifle damaged in accident at Camp Drum, N.Y. Barrel spilt due to using a ball round instead of an M3 round to launch a rifle grenade. Barrel badly damaged. Bolt and internal parts missing. Stock separated from receiver. Three G.I.'s were killed in this accident. This is a WIN-13 rifle. It was manufactured sometime between January and June of 1945.

Markings:
Receiver: U.S. RIFLE/CAL..30 M1/WINCHESTER/TRADE MARK/1616152.
Stock: 192 in white paint.
Barrel: S-A-10-49.
Operating rod: 6535382-SA.

Weapon transferred to the Museum on 8 August 1963.

The web site photo is a staged U.S. Army photo.

Notes: "I don't know if it is recorded, but the story I heard concerning this weapon when I first got here (1977) was that it was being fired in the 1950s by a NY State Nat. Guard unit someplace in western NY State. They were firing grenades and instead of using the regulation blank round for that purpose they fired a grenade using a live round. According to the story I heard, a sgt. and two recruits were killed in the resulting explosion. I might note that in cleaning the weapon I found traces of earth, particularly in the butt plate, but no trace of blood or anything else of human origin. Watch out for sharp edges on the metal - any blood on this thing is mine - Type O Pos." - William E. Meuse, NPS Curator.

"Improper Use of Ball Cartridge. Use of a ball cartridge instead of a special cartridge when launching a grenade is likely to explode the grenade, which will damage the weapon and cause serious injury to personnel." - TM9-2210

"World War II M1 Service Rifles
Winchester Repeating Arms Company - Serial number ranges from approximately 120,000 to 2,520,000.
'Winchester' marking on receiver.
Barrels marked 'WRA D35448' on top of the breech end (only visible with the handguard removed). Barrels also marked with the typical Winchester 'proof' marked on the right side of the barrel under the operating slide. (Note: WWII WRA barrels were not dated.)
Stock cartouche: 'WRA over the inspector (usually GHD).
Trigger guard usually milled type (marked 'W.R.A.')." - Canfield, Man At Arms, January/February, 1986.

"WIN-13 Rifles. The final contract for M1 rifle production was granted to Winchester in February 1945 and was a bit of a departure from the previous WRA contracts in several respects. This last production run of rifles was assigned the serial number range of 1,600,000-1,640,000. This was unusual because this serial number range is much lower than the prior block of serial numbers assigned to Winchester. This is an obvious departure from the typical practice of ascending serial numbers as production continued. In other words, these rifles have much lower serial numbers than Winchester M1 rifles manufactured months, or even a couple of years, earlier. These final contract Winchester M1 rifles also had the receiver drawing number changed from 'D282591-2'' to 'D282291 WIN-13' and are referred to by collectors today as 'WIN-13' rifles. The reason(s) for the large numeric jump from revision No. 2 to revision No. 13 (and the addition 'WIN' prefix) on the receiver is not known. Another difference between the earlier Winchester M1 rifles and the WIN-13 rifles was the change in the receiver bolt recess from a square to a round profile configuration.
Since the WIN-13 contract came in late in the war, Winchester wished to use up any remaining M1 components on hand in order to keep from having unusable (and un-saleable) parts left over if the contracts were cancelled due to the winding down of the war. To this and, the WIN-13 rifles were assembled using a mixture of early and late vintage parts. To put it simply, whatever serviceable parts the company had on hand at the time were used to assemble these late production rifles, regardless of the vintage.
Winchester's M1 production contract was cancelled in June, 1945, and the WIN-13 represented the last production variant of the Winchester Garand. By the time Winchester ceased M1 proAlthough the company did not manufacture any M1 rifles after World War II, large numbers of the refurbished Winchester M1s were issued during the post-war years. When the M14 rifle was adopted in 1957, Winchester received a production contract in 1959. It was initially believed that the company's prior experience manufacturing the M1 would be helpful, given the similarities between the two arms. As events transpired, this perceived advantage did not materialize and Winchester had as much trouble as the other commercial contractors (Harrington & Richardson Arms Company and TRW) in getting into mass production of the M14 during the early 1960s. Eventually Winchester produced 356,501 M14s, just over one-quarter of the total production.
The days of the M1 as a front-line, state-of-the-art service rifle are long past, but it has garnered much popularity in recent years with collectors and still enjoys success on the target range. Any M1 rifle can be a valued and desirable collectible, but the examples manufactured by Winchester will almost certainly continue to attract attention - and fetch prices -well out of proportion to their scarcity. The Winchester Garand is a great example of how America's civilian arms makers assisted this nation's efforts in time of war. Some may think of the Winchester lever-action as 'The Gun that Won the West,' but it should also be remembered that the Winchester Garand (along with its Springfield Armory counterpart) was the gun that helped win World War II." - Bruce Canfield, American Rifleman, April 2005.

“W.R.A. FRADULENT BARRELS” by Toni Pucci. I have been surprised recently of the account of Winchester WWII barrels, stocks, and other parts that my friends and good customers have been turning up. I have listened to may excited phone conversations where the person has finally found that mint barrel or stock and arranged for our company to install and headspace the new acquisition.
During the week of October 11-17 alone, we received three barrel installation jobs involving W.R.A. barrels. ALL THREE WERE COUNTERFIET!!! To date we have seen ten of these barrels, and they all had some common denominators: 1) all barrels were advertised in Shotgun News: 2) 80% of the barrels came from the Southeast directly, and the others came from there indirectly; 3) All barrels had the correct W/P in oval proof on the forward part of the chamber. Upon careful examination of the chamber area, one could see that the original side markings had been peened and belt sanded. The oval proof was added along with an undersized P and a number (usually 5) marking. The top of the barrels were stamped with W.R.A. D35448 in the usual manner and correct size characters. Because late style barrels (S.A. and Marlin) were used, the mill marks on the top scalloped portion of the barrel were intact and undisturbed. All barrels had chromed gas ports, or once had chromed gas ports and nice bores. All barrels were reparkerized smooth dark gray. The barrels looked very good and fooled many experienced and – of course – inexperienced collectors. THE FAKERS FORGOT OR DIDN’T KNOW THE FOLLOWING:
1) W.R.A. barrels from all periods (at least according to my personal knowledge) have an indexing line of the underside of the barrel at 6 o’clock. These indexing lines are found on production and replacement WWII vintage W.R.A. barrels alike;
2) W.R.A. barrels from all periods (at least according to my personal knowledge) DO NOT have a groove just behind the lower band pin cut where the barrel diameter steps down. All other barrel manufacturers (inMy friend Dave McClain has told me to never say never and to be careful when you say ALWAYS when talking about the Garand. However, the above traits of W.R.A. original barrels have been reliable 100% of the time on KNOWN ORIGINALS and barrels that I have examined from D.C.M. and loose barrel from known legitimate sources.” – Garand Collectors Association Newsletter. Vol. 7. Number 4. Fall 1993.

“MYTH: SA and WRA never swapped M1 Rifle parts during WW2 except in a few instances.
FACT: SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MONTHLY REPORT OF PROGRESS ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS dated 20 September 1943 under Interchangeability Tests provides:
‘Monthly interchangeability tests of ten rifles at Winchester and Armory manufacture have been completed. Rifles as received fired without malfunctions. One Winchester rifle was under 1.942 min. headspace. Protrusion and bayonet fit were satisfactory. On interchanging, only binds caused by insufficient machining or by burrs were encountered. These were corrected by stoning or grinding. Improper timing was found on two rifles which was corrected by interchanging the two Winchester operating rods. All twenty interchanged rifles were fired and only one malfunction produced. It was impossible to reproduce this with five additional clips.” - – THE GARAND STAND REPORT, Winter 2006.


References:
Duff, Scott. THE M1 GARAND: WORLD WAR II. Scott A. Duff, Export, Pa. 1993.
Poyer, Joe & Craig Riesch. M1 GARAND: 1936 TO 1957. North Cape Publications. Tustin, Ca. 2001.
Pyle, Billy. ORDNANCE TOOLS, ACCESSORIES & APPENDAGES OF THE M1 RIFLES. G.S. Publications. Houston, Tx. 1988.

See, THE WINCHESTER GARAND by Bruce Canfield. American Rifleman, April, 2005.

See, TM9-2210 - SMALL ARMS ACCIDENTS MALFUNCTIONS AND THEIR CAUSES. Department of the Army and the Air Force, June, 1953.