Barrel help ... M1 Garand?

A

alvrez

Inactive
I have a barrel that I found in some of my Grandfather's stuff. Maybe one of you can tell me what I have and whether it is worth keeping. The barrel has "HRA D6535448 5-52 RS9"stamped on the breech end and along the muzzle has "Blue Sky/ Arlington, Va." stamped.
I am no expert at appraisals but this has marks like it may have been on a weapon at some time but does not show much signs of being fired much. The gas port is still quite clean, and the chamber has very few scratches. there is no evidence of wear on either muzzle or breech end threads.
Any help you can give would be appreciated.
 
You have a Harrington & Richardson M1 rifle barrel, made in May of 1952.

This particular barrel WAS fitted to an M1 rifle that was given to the South Korean military, and was re-imported back into the US about 10 to 15 years ago, by an importer named "Blue Sky".

Obviously, someone removed the barrel from the rifle, for some reason.
Often, people removed importer-marked barrels, and replaced them with non-import marked barrels, and sold them for higher prices as a non-import rifle.

In other words, the Blue Sky imported rifles sell for less money, and this was a way of basically cheating a buyer by making him think the rifle wasn't an import.

Due to the "Blue Sky" stamps the barrel will have less value than an unmarked barrel.
 
Wow, nice work Dfariswheel. Would you be able to tell me where I put my cleaning jags, I can't seem to find them. :p I have my old (Shot out) M1 Garand Barrel around somewhere, had some interesting marks on it. I'll try and post it when I find it.
 
Crosshair:
Certainly.
They're either in the absolute last place you'll look, or they're sitting on the bench RIGHT in front of you, but for reasons unknown to mankind, your eyes just refuse to see them.
 
A used M1 barrel, assuming it's in shooter condition (not brand new and not worn out on either end) is worth about $100.

Ty
 
Alvarez,
See if you can find someone with both throat wear and muzzle wear gauges to tell you what condition your barrel is in?

Dfariswheel,
What makes you think there is a difference between the last place one looks and sitting on the bench under one's nose? Circumventing selective blindness has always been the primary objective of any posession organizing system I have ever encountered. ;)

Nick
 
I was both a Master watchmaker and a gunsmith since the 60's.

I tell people this, but most don't believe it:
You can look at a workbench to find something.
It's RIGHT there in front of you.
But for some unknown reason your eyes just don't "see" it.

However, if you want to talk about finding missing things, try finding a watch spring thinner than a human hair on a workshop floor.

You spend an hour looking, only to find it....stuck to the BACK side of your own necktie. :confused:

Recently, I was giving a Kahr Arms it's yearly full disassembly and cleaning.
The extractor plunger slipped and the rear plunger and spring just WENT.

As usual with gun parts, I heard one of them hit.
Fortunately I found the plunger laying on the floor.

After using a flashlight to search EVERY square inch of floor and completely unloading a large book case, about 3 hours later, it turned up on the work bench under the tool I was using to hold the plunger. :eek: :eek:
 
I've seen two Blue Skys where the stamping deformed the bore of the barrel. Slug the barrel to see if there is a tight spot at the stamp.
 
Good point on the slugging. I've yet to see any standard contour barrel except the hand lapped Kreiger's that didn't exhibit some constriction below the lower band perchase. This is just because thining a rifled barrel blank allows stress relief to widen slightly. It is the cause of so many commercial light barrels getting wider toward the muzzle. This is a long and not-too-tight constriction, and can be removed by hand lapping or by fire lapping. The ones from the rolled-in Blue Skys stamp will be more abrupt and obvious and harder to get rid of. You just need to be aware of the difference so you don't trash the barrel over the normally present constriction.

Nick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top