winchester garand

[jamesob]

my dads friend showed me a 1939 m1 garand today that he purchased in the 60's before he went to vietnam. has anyone else seen one this old? i noticed the saftey was different and it had a really low winchester serial number.i would have taken a pic but my cell phone was missing.

[67Roadster]

Winny

How early of a serial number?

I don't believe they started making Winnies that early. Mine was made in 1941 and was one of the first 20,000 made.

[jamesob]

i'm thinking it was a 5 digit number. i will see him in a couple of days and will ask to take a pic of it. i did come up with this. but the serail number wouldn't be right.
Winchester Repeating Arms Co.

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Connecticut was the only other World War II era producer of M1 rifles. Winchester received an Educational Order on 4 April 1939 to produce 500 M1s. The first one hundred rifles, under that Order, were shipped on 27 December 1940. On 20 September 1939, Winchester received its first of many production contracts for additional rifles. Government records indicate Winchester delivered 513,880 M1 rifles between December 1940 and June 1945. The surrender of Germany in May 1945 resulted in termination of M1 rifle manufacture at Winchester as of 30 June 1945.

In addition to their name on the receiver heel, M1s manufactured by Winchester may be identified by serial number. Winchester's assigned serial numbers ranged from 100001 through 165500, 1200001 through 1357473, 2305850 through 2655849, and 1601000 through 1640000.

[locktime]

I believe Winchester production began in Jan 1941, with serial #100,000.