I saw 1 Golden State receiver in the early 1990's, which had a beautiful sunburst logo. Apparently these receivers were made by Beretta for the civilian market when Garands were not available to the general public, except 1 per lifetime from the DCM. Beretta made Garands for about 66 different countries after WWII. Do not confuse these with welded receivers, which were made up by National Ordnance & later Fed Ord from demilled receivers & surplus parts.Originally Posted by garandguy10
Gman366 is correct.
That is right at the time that Beretta was divesting and making runs of BM59, BM62, BM69 parts. They offered a BM62/69 style front gas block that hangs down fo Golden State. One set of tooling went to SAI/Reese. He spent way more on that project than he ever planned to. The broaches he was shown vs what he received were... um... different.
PS: Beretta made new Bolts in seal until 99. New mags in paper wrap until 1997- for the 59/62/69.
The Garand parts that Brenner of GSA was able to get at least partially came from Italy. He had somewhere between 50-300 of the Sunburst logos run until the mid 90's by Beretta. He also had some of the Beretta's not fully machined and they were marked under his Fed Ord-Nat Ord brands. The way to tell is the heel.
Beretta Cardone VT and Brenner had continual spats over Brenner's creative accounting and kiting of checks. But that was how he ended up with a lot of Garand parts kits when other people had none.
Brenner and Mr. Arnold before him had Breda make a receiver for their Alpine/Ital/Tipo offerings.
When Brenner died, there was a whole mess of 7.62x51 CETME small ring Spanish Mauser's show up on market in Miami for $95-$150. They are only intended for 7.62 CETME, though.
Brenner had friends in high places.
Thank you all for the information.
Good Day All,
Here are a few examples of Italian Beretta and Breda manufactured M1 rifles in the collection. The Santa Fe Division of Golden State Arms, California purchased the receivers in the 1950's and assembled rifles. The one I own is in caliber 30-06. Another was imported/built by Springfield Incorporated and later sold by Reese manufacturing the late 1990's. It's in 7.62x51. Danish examples have been discussed before.
Regards,
Mike
Italian Garands-top to bottom, Springfield Inc, Danish, Santa Fe.jpg
Italian_Garands_Santa Fe_Danish_Springfield_Inc.jpg
Italian_Garands-top_to_bottom_Springfield_Inc_Danish_Santa_Fe_profile.jpg
Last edited by FlightRN; 12-29-2020 at 02:19 AM.
American Rifleman magazine Feb. 1994 issue page 22 has an article titled M1 NM sights. Photos of the M1 Garand in the article is a Beretta
Santa Fe Golden State Arms M1. The American Rifleman magazine June 1999 issue page 23 has an article titled Beretta/Golden State M1s. Auction Arms on March 20, 2004 listed a Beretta Santa Fe Golden State Arms M1 Garand in 30-06. Receiver was marked same as poster. Serial number was P 0014. The lister stated M1 was part of a small batch imported in the late 1950s by Golden State Arms. Rifle was all US GI parts except the Beretta made receiver.
Thank you all for the information.
Thank you for the information and photographs. Your Golden State Arms M1 type rifle is the second one I have seen. It looks like they imported at least 57 of these receivers.
"American Rifleman magazine Feb. 1994 issue page 22 has an article titled M1 NM sights. Photos of the M1 Garand in the article is a Beretta"
I do not have that issue. If you do, and the rifle is a Golden State Arms Beretta M1, do the photographs show the rifles serial number? If so what is the serial number?
Photos in article clearly show it is a Santa Fe Golden State Arms M1 Garand. There are three photos of the receiver. Unfortunately the serial number is not visible in any of the three photos. The article appeared in the Question and Answer section and only the authors initials appear. They are O.R.C.
Thank you for the information. Based on my rifle and what you have said, at least two were built into match rifles.
My rifle appears to have been built according to early 1950's NM specifications at least as far as the barrel, sights and hand guard modifications.
When the receiver was imported, or when it was assembled into a working rifle or by who I do not know.
Last edited by garandguy10; 03-26-2021 at 02:26 AM.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote