Retired Marine reunited with his M1 after 56 years

By Chris Eger

Farmer, now 74, last saw the rifle when he turned it back in to the armory in 1961. (Photo: CMP)
A North Carolina military retiree recently got to wrap his hands around a rifle he hasn’t seen for a long time and is now destined to be passed on his to grandson.
Pat Farmer shipped off to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego at age 17 in 1960 where he was soon issued an M1 Garand which, as vouched for by the custody receipt he signed, was serial #4305638. He and the rifle parted ways the next year as he went on to aviation training and by that time M1s were being replaced in front-line use by the M14.
Nevertheless, he contacted the Civilian Marksmanship Program in 2013 as a lark after finding the old custody receipt to see if they had come across his gun in their surplus stacks transferred regularly from the Army.
It turns out, as reported by The First Shot, CMP’s magazine, they had Farmer’s gun in inventory. The non-profit federally chartered corporation does, in fact, handle requests for those looking for special guns, such as in Farmer’s case. They have 32 such requests on file, but it

Source: Guns.com