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**Fact Sheet #1**

**THE M1 NATIONAL MATCH RIFLE**

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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.

**QUANTITY PRODUCED**

Year New Rebuilt Total Year New Rebuilt Total

1953 800 800 1954 4184 499 4683

1955 3003 314 3317 1956 5050 550 5600

1957 4184 499 4683 1958 1295 731 2026

1959 2877 2652 5529 1960 8663 8663

1961 1410 1410 1962 4500 4500

1963 3639 3639

**BIBLIOGRAPHY**

**Hatcher, J.S. [The Book of the Garand]{.underline}, Sportsmans Press,
1948.**

**U.S. Army Materiel Command, [National Match Rifle
brochure]{.underline}, 1964.**

**Springfield Armory annual reports, 1953-1964.**

For additional information, contact:

Curator

Springfield Armory National Historical Site

One Armory Square, Suite 2

Springfield, Mass. 01105-1299