Manufactured by the U.S. Springfield Armory model shop c. 1932-1934, as one of the first 80 pre-mass production "T1E2" M1 Garand semi-automatic trial rifles, popularly known amongst M1 Garand enthusiasts and collectors as the "model shop" rifles, with this specific example, serial number "5", being the first completed. Following the intervention of General Douglas MacArthur on the proposed adoption of the .276 Pedersen cartridge for the new semi-automatic rifle program in early 1932 and the successful modification of John C. Garand's .30-06 Springfield chambered T1E1 prototype (which suffered from a cracked bolt) with the T1E2, the U.S. Ordnance Department placed an order with the U.S. Springfield Armory to manufacture 80 of the rifles for troop trials in March of that year, for a total of $80,000. Work on manufacturing these rifles commenced in 1932, with each example, numbered "1" through "80", machined, fitted, and assembled by hand in the armory's model shop, as the jigs and tooling that would later manufacture the M1 rifle for mass production had not yet been developed, leading to the "model shop" nickname. As such, the process of completing the model shop rifles took well over a year and did not occur in numerical order, as the components for each required varying levels of hand fitting and adjustment. This specific rifle, serial number "5", was the first of the model shop rifles to be completed in early 1934 as discussed and photographed on page 59 of "The Gas Trap Garand" by Billy Pyle, with this rifle formerly being a part of the author’s personal collection. This is further corroborated by an included Springfield Research Service letter, dated August 2, 1995, and addressed to Billy Pyle from Chief Researcher Franklin B. Mallory, which confirms the rifle by serial number as the first of the 80 trial rifles completed and ready for testing at the U.S. Aberdeen Proving Grounds, with the rifle shipped to the proving grounds from the U.S. Springfield Armory on April 10, 1934, returned to the U.S. Springfield Armory on April 24, 1934, for modification, and then sent to the U.S. Ordnance Department Office in Washington, D.C., on July 3, 1934. The letter references and includes seven copies of U.S. Ordnance documents found at the Washington National Records Center that provide specific references to the whereabouts of serial number “5” from April to July 1934. These documents also provide noteworthy details on the completion of the first five Model Shop rifles, with the first one, an April 11, 1934, dated “IMMEDIATE ACTION” letter addressed to the Chief of Ordnance, Washington, D.C., from the U.S Springfield Armory Commanding Officer Lt. Col. T. J. Smith, noting that serial number “5” was shipped to the U.S. Aberdeen Proving Grounds with three other rifles (serial numbers “1”, “3”, and “4”) along with 50 clips per rifle and “Notes on Material” (which detailed the action, proper methods of disassembly, assembly, cleaning, and adjustments), that each of the rifles had been tested with 200 rounds prior to shipment from the armory, that one of the rifles in the intended first batch of five to be completed (presumably serial number “2” by process of elimination) was damaged during the preliminary testing and could not be included in the shipment, and that during the completion of the first five rifles it was found necessary to make a number of minor adjustments which were implemented in the completion of the remaining 75 Model Shop rifles. The 80 model shop rifles were extensively tested over the following years as the M1 Garand design was further developed and improved, but were subsequently considered “unserviceable” by U.S. Ordnance once mass production was underway. As a result, many of the model shop rifles were discarded and destroyed by U.S Ordnance, making surviving examples today extremely rare, especially in T1E2 configuration such as this rifle. Other surviving examples include serial number "1" in the U.S. Springfield Armory Museum collection, serial number "2" in the U.S. Rock Island Arsenal Museum collection, and serial number "3" in a private collection, as photographed on pages 105-107 of “The M1 Garand Rifle” by Bruce Canfield, with serial number “5” also photographed on pages 99 (along with the early T1 pattern experimental .30 caliber en-bloc clip included with the rifle) and 104 of that publication. The receiver showcases several early features, including a rounded lower front edge, angular receiver “leg” profiles (only found on the "model shop" rifles), the early “model shop” five-line "U.S./SEMIAUTO. RIFLE/CAL. .30 M1/SPRINGFIELD/ARMORY" receiver heel legend above the single-digit serial number "5", and without the seventh round stoppage fix to the internal front guide rail. Features a T1E2 profile wingless blade front sight and "flush nut" adjustable peep rear sight assembly with early pattern spring cover and base along with later pattern knobs, an original and very scarce early pattern “gas trap” gas cylinder with lighting cuts on the sides and marked "R" on the bayonet lug, first pattern gas cylinder plug with small hole in the front, milled and grooved lower band (modified with two front handguard screw holes, retaining pin absent) and rear handguard clip, shorter 22 inch barrel with parkerized chamber ring and "D28286 C-1-2-B" gas trap drawing number under the rear handguard, bolt with removed drawing number and heat lot code, modified slant-cut profiled operating rod (with faint remnants of a drawing number on the side) without relief cut and with weld scars down the bottom of the rod body, round front clip latch, milled round-body follower rod with reproduction keystone flat-wire compensating and operating rod springs, an early pattern operating rod catch, milled narrow-slot bullet guide, double beveled milled follower arm, an early “long tail” patterned follower and steep-angle slide, along with an early pad-less trigger housing without a drawing number, unmarked hammer with early profile hooks and fixture hole, first type trigger with hole, flat-top safety, and unmarked early profile milled trigger guard without the rear eyelet. Fitted with a set of highly figured burl walnut handguards and a burl walnut stock with early ferrule and door-less checkered steel butt plate, marked with a circled serif "P" firing proof on the grip and small "R" on the underside of the grip. Also included with the rifle is an early T1 pattern experimental .30 caliber en-bloc clip with triangular lightening cuts, a hard copy of Billy Pyle’s “The Gas Trap Garand” (with a picture of Russian policeman Vladimir Makarov presenting AK-47 inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov with his own copy of the book inside the cover), a June 1996 issue of the NRA’s Man At Arms with a centerfold article on the rifle, a copy of “The U.S. M1 Garand Rifle in Pictures: WW2 & Korea” signed by the author Robert Bruce to Pyle, along with two typed letters to Pyle from Art H. Tuttle, a U.S. Springfield Armory specialist and personal friend of John C. Garand who was involved with M1 rifle development from 1937 to 1946. In his first letter, typed out on U.S. Springfield Armory Research and Development letterhead, Tuttle recounts that he was assigned to the U.S. Springfield Armory in 1937 and given the title of “weapons specialist”, working alongside a long time previous friend John Garand as his "troubleshooter". Tuttle notes that serial number “5” turned up in a shipment of discarded parts sent back to the U.S. Springfield Armory from a “test area”, and after someone noticed and suggesting saving it from the scrap pile for the museum, they were rebutted that the museum already possessed serial number “1”. John Garand was present himself that day, and also spoke up in regards to saving serial number “5”, of which Tuttle states: “result of which was – without an act of congress, without fanfare, without ceremony – No. 5 was given to John and became his “Showpiece””. Tuttle further details in the letters that he had a “tiger” stock made up for the rifle from rejected spiral, cross grained, and burl grained walnut blanks. In his second letter addressed to Pyle, dated March 28, 1990, Tuttle discusses that despite John Garand being officially presented with serial number “1,000,000”, serial number “5” was the rifle that Garand personally shot, accurized for “free-for-all targeting”, and preferred to show off as an “original design” since it had the older” gas-trap” gas cylinder. The letter further details: “This was considered John’s gun and was kept in his private vault. It was a “SPECIMEN” gun- used for displays when v.i.p.s visited the Armory. This guns was photographed and drawn up in print form for illustrations such as on PLATE #1, set of 7, ORD. No. 9079A (Chief of Ord. Office).” At the end of his second letter, Tuttle recounts that when he was recommended by Garand to “do” the “National Match” job and left as his troubleshooter in 1946 to work on a "new breed of automatics and machine guns". He asked Garand if he could still use serial number “5” as his “control weapon” for basic targets, to which Garand said: ““It’s yours, Keep it.”” With that, serial number “5” is not only a true treasure given its status as the first completed M1 rifle, but also due to the fact that it was rescued and adopted as the personal pet of its inventor, passed on as Tuttle so elegantly stated at the end of his second letter: “So - FROM THE SCRAP PILE/TO JOHN/TO ME/TO YOU”. Provenance: The John C. Garand Collection; The Art Tuttle Collection; The Billy Pyle Collection

Very fine as completed in T1E2 "model shop" rifle configuration by U.S. Springfield Armory specialist Art Tuttle for inventor John C. Garand, retaining 90% plus parkerized and 80% plus blue finishes with some light edge wear, brown patina showing on the buttplate, some limited pitting under the finish, faint remnants of the original drawing numbers on the operating rod and bolt, some filing evidence on modified parts, and scattered light handling marks. The stock is excellent as hand selected and fitted for the rifle with crisp markings and striking raised tiger-stripped, fiddle-back grain. This is an extremely rare and historic rifle that would be impossible to obtain again, being not only the very first M1 model shop rifle completed, but also John C. Garand's own personal show piece that he saved, making it undoubtedly a true "National Treasure", the highest pinnacle addition of all M1 Garand and U.S. Military small arms collecting.