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International Harvester M1 Garand

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:10 pm
by Jeff in Pa
I picked this up in the mid 90s for cheap from the DCM ( formerly Civilian Marksmanship Division ). This was when it was a total "crap shoot" on what you ended up with. In my paperwork I included a hand written note asking for either an International Harvester or a Harrington and Richardson and thanked them for picking a nice rifle for me.

Below is the IH that I got. It was made about 1953
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DCP_1713A.jpg (32.28 KiB) Viewed 6815 times
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DCP_1714A.jpg (33.52 KiB) Viewed 6815 times
And yes, it shoots great. I used it for NRA High Power competition. Only upgrade was match sights on the back ( a military option )

Re: International Harvester M1 Garand

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:59 pm
by dag1450
Very cool and thanks for sharing! I never heard of these. Did ih make other guns and for how many years? Im not a big gun guy and only own one for home defense....or if things don't go so well with the next election ;)

Re: International Harvester M1 Garand

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 11:47 am
by Cyclops1862
This is the only firearm IH made. And they had MANY issues trying to get it right. They tried to produce firearms on standard machinery that they had, instead of procuring specialized machinery for firearms production. They outsourced barrels from line material Corp, because they couldn't produce them. Most of the IH receivers were produced by Springfield, or H&R, because IH lacked the tooling to mill the internal shapes correctly. The early IH garands had serious malfunction issues, due to improper spring tempering, they actually shut the production down for over 3 months to figure out the issue. And the wood was produced for IH by Winchester, Springfield, and H&R. IH was contracted to build roughly 2.5 million rifles for the Korean War effort, but only managed less than 100,000, making them highly desirable among IH and firearms collectors. The rifle, if in original condition, pictured above, is one of the early production IH rifles, and called the "arrowhead" due to the shape of the outline of the receiver markings. It's receiver was built by the Springfield armory, and should have the line manufacturing barrel, stamped "lmr" on the right side of the barrel, assuming it's in its original condition. These were produced in the Evansville IN plant that IH purchased after WW2, and is where they also made most of the refrigerators and freezers.

Re: International Harvester M1 Garand

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:26 pm
by dag1450
Wow you know the whole story. Thanks that is interesting stuff.
I guess someone high up really wanted to go all different directions with the company. From implements and tractors.... heavy equipment...then guns and refrigerator...cars and lawnmowers. When you say it like that ..no wonder they fell.

Re: International Harvester M1 Garand

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:18 am
by Cyclops1862
Yeah, they had there toes in about 80 different pools. I've heard, not sure if it's true, that the reason IH got the contact was because all military arms were made in the north east, at that time. And when we unleashed the atomic era on the world, the government decided that our arms and munitions production needed to be spread across the country. If we made rifles in Massachusetts and Indiana it would be hard for an enemy to destroy our production capability. A good theory, but not executed very well. My grandpa and father both worked and received pensions from the IH plant in Fort Wayne IN. on the Scout line. So to say IH was bread into me, would be an understatement. I guess the plant closed around the time I was born, and I've heard many stories from my family about it.