The M1 rifle was first used in competition shooting in the Marine Corps Pacific Division Match held at Pearl Harbor on February 26-27, 1946. This was followed by other matches held by the Marines. Most of the early improvements to the accuracy of the M1 were developed from field experience and carried out by Marine armorers on selected weapons.
The Ordnance Dept. began studies by the Spring of 1948 to improve accuracy in the M1 rifle as an eventual replacement for the '03 Springfield in the National Matches. In March, 1953, the Ordnance Dept. was directed by the Chief of Ordnance to furnish 800 U.S. cal. .30” M1 rifles for use in the National Matches. The rifles selected were hand-picked from newly manufactured weapons that had workmanship and accuracy superior to the average service weapon. Since Springfield Armory was still making Ml's, only hand-picking of superior quality weapons and some minor gunsmithing were needed to bring the weapons to required standards.
A meeting at Springfield Armory in September 1956 resulted in the funding of an engineering program to improve the M1 National Match rifle. Improvements and changes were implemented by an evolutionary process from 1954 thru 1963, until the M1 was replaced by the M14. Weapons were built from newly made rifles, or rebuilt from previously made NM rifles. By 1959 production of new M1 rifles was phased out and all subsequent M1NM's were made by rebuilding existing rifles or from parts stock on hand. This explains some of the very low and very high serial numbers that are found. The rebuilding operation required considerable inspection, refinishing and refitting to eliminate parts which were excessively worn, or which had been altered in the field for some reason. Every rebuilt piece, however, was re-barreled and restocked.
In early 1959 the application of glass bedding to improve stock fit and accuracy came under study. Prior to this, the fitting of wood components essentially followed procedures developed by Marine armorers thru experience. Glass bedding was first used on M1 rifles made during 1959 for the 1960 National Matches, and was continued on the M14NM.The bedding compound was applied to routed-out areas at critical receiver contact points, assembled to the receiver and cured. After excess compound was removed, the stock was
stamped with the last four digits of the receiver serial number to prevent accidental interchange.
IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIMENS
Because of the evolutionary nature of the NM program, identification and verification of specimens is extremely difficult. The abundance of National Match parts, and the premium placed on the rifles have made "parts guns" and forgeries commonplace. The only positive way to verify a specimen is to have the original documentation for the rifle. (Of course, another clue would be to check the fits and accuracy of the piece. Few forgeries would have the accuracy of an NM rifle.) To the best of our knowledge, serial numbers of the weapons were never recorded until the actual assignment or sale of a rifle, and then apparently not retained for permanent records.
The earliest production National Match rifle had few identifying characteristics to set it apart from the standard M1 other than its precision assembly and its shooting ability. They did not have the front or rear "NM" sights, nor did they have glass bedding. Few, if any, components bore the "NM" stamp of later models. They would, however, have high serial numbers and barrels dated no earlier than about 1952, since they were selected from current production.
SERIAL NUMBER RANGE
The majority of the rifles were selected from new production lots in the 1950s and serial numbers of earlier specimens should reflect that. After 1959, many of the earlier weapons were rebuilt, always with a new barrel, and some used receivers were selected. (This accounts for low number NM rifles, but with barrels dated later than about 1959 and marked "NM".) Some new receivers were also selected from spares stock, thus accounting for serial numbers higher than 6084145, the last production M1 made at Springfield Armory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hatcher, J.S. The Book of the Garand, Sportsmans Press, 1948.
U.S. Army Materiel Command, National Match Rifle brochure, 1964.
Springfield Armory annual reports, 1953-1964.
