John F. Kennedy's M1 Garand Rifle Is Up For Auction September 2015 At Rock Island Auction Company

PR Web ^ | 8-13-15 | unattributed

[W.]

I remember seeing those oversize models for sale in the Shotgun News in the '70s, they were training aids used to show recruits how their weapons were disassembled. They were huge!

[Chode]

other than the fact that i am sure it is in pristine condition, a kennedy owning it is only a detraction of it's value as far as i am concerned

[MileHi]

The M1 you told me about recently is for sale.

[archy]

That was Dave Marshall Williams, aka *Marsh*, whose brother was my former Yugo mechanic when I spent a bit of time around Cumberland County, NC in the mid-1970s. It was the short-stroke gas system, not the feed/magazine unit for which he was partially responsible, and there's a very heavily fictionalized account of those events in the film Carbine Williams in which Marsh was portrayed by Jimmy Stewart. Williams also had quite a bit to do with the *floating chamber* used in the .22 conversion unit for the M1911A1 pistol and allowed the less-powerful .22 cartridge to function the slide of the larger and heavier .45; the same idea was applied to the .30 caliber light machinegun, a real ammo and money saver, and which allowed practice with the guns on indoor ranges at local armories. The system also turned up in some Winchester and other commercial semiauto shotguns after WWII, and the Ruger Mini-14 gas system is derivative.

I also got to bend elbows with some of 'ol Marsh's neighbors and kin, who showed me the half-inch holes in the ceiling of one local watering spot where Marsh had unloaded a pair of .45 Colt Commanders upward one New Year's Eve. Edicts about ex-cons with firearms were either not then in force, or were simply disregarded thereabouts, as were many other edicts from the King in Washington.

[archy]

The M1 you told me about recently is for sale.

I am very fond of Garands, and they work very well for me. The one I have is a good friend and companion, and though I wouldn't mind having a spare, I think the two of us make a pretty fair team.

You might find the same thing to be so if you find the right one, but I can't tell you if any particular one is the right one. Only you will know that.