SPRINGFIELD ARMORY M1D

he M1C and M1D are one of the classic US sniper rifles of the 20th century and while it did not see much combat during World War 2, it did see combat during the Korean War and was tested out and used sparingly during the early years of Vietnam. The M1 Garand was the first semi-automatic battle rifle adopted by the US Military and when the need arose for snipers during the second world war, the weapon engineers quickly got to work on a sniper variant, which ultimately became the M1C and M1D rifles.

In terms of collectibility, they are both very collectible sniper rifles, with the more rare early M1Cs bringing the most money due to the scarcity of the rifles. The hard part about these rifles is that there are no easy ways to determine if they are real military sniper variants or if they are well made reproductions using factory parts. There is no known listing of serial numbers or special markings on the rifles themselves to determine if they are real. So original Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) paper work is critical in order to bring the full value of the rifles when determining the worth of a specific rifle. The CMP brought a number of these real sniper rifles to the market over the years through lotteries, auctions, and open sales which is where this one came from in 1996. It was actually won in a raffle at a fund raiser and sent to the owner whom we purchased it from. He had kept it in his personal collection for over 20 years without firing it, which is when we acquired it.

Our rifle in the Sniper Central Collection came in the original CMP box with all of the proper CMP paperwork, which you can see in the images below. The rifle appears to have not been fired as it is in excellent condition with just some minor markings on the metal finish. All of the tags in the box from the accessories are from 1974 which is when we are assuming the US Army packed it up for storage. We do not know if it was refurbished by the Army at that time or if it was just never used in its original life. As you can see in the paperwork from the CMP, it is labeled as a “Service Grade” rifle, which usually is not this nice. Perhaps some M1C/D experts out there can let us know if this is typical for these rifles. This is a Springfield Armory receiver with the correct M84 scope.

Because of the excellent condition the rifle is in and its value, we will likely not fire the rifle. Though that opinion may change over time. It was a unique opportunity to find such a fine specimen with all of the supporting accessories and documentation and we paid market value for it. Sometimes you just have to when the right ones show up. We are proud to own such a unique part of US Sniping history.

Estimated Value: $4500