Just to set the record straight Ringo ~ I never actually owned an M1 Garand. My Country only let me borrow one of "theirs" for a few years back in the 1950's but then told me that I would have to give it back to 'em if I ever wanted to be discharged from the Army. That was a no-brainer for me.
And I do also remember seeing those short barrelled 'Tanker Garands' you said you once owned but then you had to sell it for what ~~~ an air conditioner??? What in the hell were you thinking ~ a good ol' boy from Texas like you? That surely must have been one helluva damn HOT Summer to give up something as beautiful as a weapon like that. 
Although ~~ since you are considerably younger than all of my own grown children are now ~ then I'm willing to forgive you for that knowing that your own 'head' was probably where their heads were also at the time too ~ but thank God, they all got over it and eventually came to their senses. 
As for my own trusty ol' .30-40 Krag/Jorgensen Carbine ~ I bought mine from a friend in the early 1950's about a year before I was drafted into the Army. $25.00 cash money including an almost full box of cartridges is all that it cost me back then. It too, also had the original leather shoulder strap which really came in handy 'cause it was not an "un-heavy" rifle to carry when fully loaded for long "deer stalking" periods of time. If I'm not mistaken, I also seem to recall a small "raised icon" of a gold colored anchor somewhere along the right hand side of the forestock grip. This always led me to believe back then that my rifle may once have been part of either US Navy or US Marine inventory.
They sure as hell don't make "lethal weapons" as beautiful as this anymore do they?
Posts from Sterling Price in thread „Happiness is.........................“
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............... looking for something completely unrelated to what I was doing--and finding TWO boxes of Winchester 9mm ammo I forgot I had.
OK, I'll bite ~ So what was it that you were doing that was so completely unrelated before finding that 9mm "forgotten" ammo ~ and then made you so "Happy"?
In a similar way, my weapon of choice during my early deer hunting years (1950's) was a 1898 Springfield 30-40 bolt action Krag carbine. Never saw any reason to want to upgrade since all of my 'deer kills' back then were made one bolt action shot at a time. For me, anything semi-auto was "un-sportsman" like (plus as I recall ~ except for my old Army M-1 Garand ~ commerically produced semi auto sporting rifles weren't even available yet). As "luck" would have it, in 1960 my trusty Krag was stolen and as "fate" would have it, that was also the last year I ever went deer hunting.
Fifty one years later in 2011 I too found an old box of Winchester .30-40 cartridges that I had completely forgotten I still had. It brought back a hell of lot of fond memories for me. Maybe not the same kind of "happiness" you felt over your 'lost' ammo ~ but it still put a "warm glow" over these tired old bones of mine when I think back on those early days. Thanks for the reminder Ringo.
