James River Armory

The James River Armory was founded to provide the skirmisher, reenactor and gun collector with the highest quality, best value reproduction Civil War firearms available. We re-manufacture the Italian Muskets produced by Euroarms and Armisport creating a more realistic appearance, providing proper contoured and oil finished stocks and for the skirmisher, Hoyt cut rifling to insure match grade accuracy. The reenactor heritage grade models will have the modern markings removed, creating a reproduction firearm that very closely resembles the original model.

With the huge success of our Civil War Era firearms James River Armory has now moved into the World War II, Vietnam and Modern firearms. We offer completely refinished M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, and German Mausers as well as a line of civilian versions of the M16. Please go to our Online Store page for a listing and pricing for these beautiful historical weapons.

We can also completely refinish your M1 Garand, Carbine or Mauser to it’s original “Arsenal Reissue” condition. Please check our Services Offered page for details.

U.S. M1 Rifle “M1 Garand”

Very few M1 Rifles can be found in “As Issued” condition from WWII.  The U.S. Government ran a constant rebuild program on this rifle during the war and up to the 1970’s.  Barrels and stocks as well as components, such as rear sights, were replaced and the metal was refinished.  It has been estimated that almost 98% of all M1’s went through this rebuild program at least once.  At James River we do exactly what the Government Arsenal did, only we take much more time and care.  Barrels are gauged and inspected, head space checked, gas cylinders and oprods are gauged.

We use the original zinc phosphate gray-green parkerizng and add a new American Walnut stock set, correctly cartouched for the receivers serial number.  We also have the ability to add the correct barrel date.  Lockbar sight were the type used during WWII and are very rare today.  We have the ability to provide originals or a fine new production lockbar sight.  We utilize very good to excellent condition GI barrels but those desiring to shoot in the CMP Garand Match can substitute a new Kreiger/Criterion barrel.  Pricing on these models is dependent upon barrel condition expressed as Throat Erosion (TE) and Muzzle Erosion (ME).  Essentiallly new barrels will gauge between TE of  0-1 and (ME) under 1.  The higher the number the more wear.  The USGI standard replaced barrels with a TE=8 or an  ME greater than 3.5. We have a much stricter standard.  We want our restorations to be a rifle that John Garand would be proud of.  All of these rifles have been test fired and are ready to go.

U.S. M1 Carbine

During World War II the U.S. produced more M1 Carbine Rifles than any other firearm.  Originally designed as a replacement for the sidearm the carbine became extremely popular among our troops since it was a light weight handy weapon with quite a bit of firepower.  Never intended to compete with the 30.06 battle rifle it has been criticized for it’s lack of stopping power, but when compared to a handgun it easily wins.  This rifle was originally designed by Winchester but the manufacture of this weapon was undertaken by ten different prime contractors and dozens of sub-contractors.

The M1 Carbine was originally issued with a flip type rear sight with no provision for a bayonet lug.  Did not begin production until late in the war.  Virtually all of the carbines in service were retrofitted with these features and carbines in “AS ISSUED” condition are a very expensive collectors item today.

We provide restored carbines in both the original configuration and the more common Type III version with adjustable sights and bayonet lug.  For the original variant we use new production rear sights and bands.  On both versions we provide new correctly shaped and finished American Walnut stocks.  Pricing is based on the manufacturer of the receiver.  All barrels currently are USGI and are in very good condition.  The metal is all refinished in the correct WWII parkerizing.  All other parts are original USGI (we don’t however try to match up all the codes).