A friend has an WW2 era Garand that he wants to sell. I would hate for him to get ripped off. Apart from condition, what factors are important that impact the sale value? Thank you for any guidance.
Thats a nice 1941 but lockbar sights are not correct for it. Should be spanner or flush nut sightsAs others have posted, alot of variables will dictate and influence the value of a M1.
Arsenal rebuilds are less in value than say one that has all the correct parts. In the rebuild process, all the parts from multiple M1's were put in large vats with cleaning solution, cleaned, inspected and re-assembled, with no concern over what parts came from what M1.
There are some that retained features that are desirable to collectors and M1 fans. Those are items such as Lock-Bar sights, early gas plugs and gas cylinders, un cut op rods, etc.
M1's with matching numbers-meaning that the part numbers on parts like the trigger, trigger housing, bolt, trigger guard, etc match the serial number range are also highly sought after as are M1's with original barrels.
My M1 was made in January of 1941. It has lock bar sights, matching parts for the serial number range. The only thing that it does not have is a matching barrel. It was re-barreled in 1953. It has the discoloration on the heal where they dipped it in lead to stop the receiver from cracking.
I have had people offer me 4 times what I have in it. I refuse to sell. I bought this from a Veteran that was walking in front of me, at a gun show 10 years ago, less than 5 minutes after I walked into the hall. His price was low and I even told him that, but he said that was what he wanted for it. I bought it.
I was harassed non stop by the ubiquitous M1 table guys you see at every show. I had beat them to it and they were none too happy about it.
Who makes it? If it's a Winchester, those always command a premium over Springfield's, since they made more of the Springfields.
Thats a nice 1941 but lockbar sights are not correct for it. Should be spanner or flush nut sights