A veteran collector will recognize the terminology as a description of the stock cartouche utilized during the period of October 1944 through November 1945. M1 stock cartouches prior to the adoption of the universal "Defense Acceptance Stamp" in November 1953, utilized the initials of the Commanding Officer of Springfield Armory at the time the rifle was manufactured. The Springfield Armory Cartouches normally took the form of "SA" over the initials of the Commanding Officer. The initials were  surrounded by a box and had the crossed cannons/ordnance wheel stamped slightly to the rear of the box: The initials in the box would appear essentially as shown in the illustration. The "NFR" Rifles are unique in that they represent the last WWII production of the M1 Rifle. The initials themselves stand for Brig. General Norman F. Ramsey who had been assigned as the commanding officer of Springfield Armory upon the untimely death of Col. George A Woody. The total production of M1 Rifles during General Ramsey’s tenure as Commanding Officer was approximately 645,584 – not making the so-called "NFR Guns" exactly a rarity, but more properly marking the end of an era at Springfield. Serious production of M1 Rifles was not to take place again until 1952 with the gearing up of the Armory to produce rifles for the Korean War.

     Some few guns have been observed with the "George A. Woody" cartouche that should more properly have the "NFR" stamp judging by the barrel date and serial number, but these were no doubt fitted with the next available stock as they came off the production line. As in any manufacturing process, there will always be some overrun of production. Since we were then engaged in a rather serious shooting war, little time was taken for the niceties of ensuring that the stocks exactly matched the current Commanding Officer. There was a shortage of good walnut, and rather than throw away a perfectly good stock, the overruns were utilized without thought of the confusion that future collectors would experience do to some apparent contradictions. If you find you have a Springfield M1 in the approximate serial  # range of 3,24X,XXX through about 3,3XX,XXX and the stock has a cartouche that reads SA/GAW, don't immediately start looking for a replacement stock, the stock is probably correct!

     Strangely enough, although the M1s produced during General Ramsey’s tour are quite commonly referred to as "NFR M1s" (or more commonly "NFR Guns"), it is a terminology that is seldom, if ever, used to describe M1s made during the regime of any other commanding officer. For instance, the term "GAW M1" is not a common description for a rifle made during the years Col. Woody presided as the Commanding Officer of Springfield. An M1 made by Winchester during the time that (for instance) Col. Robert Sears was the government inspector, is almost never called an "RS Winchester, etc.

     Certain collector’s terms become common to describe a particular rifle or pistol, for reasons that do not necessarily follow a thread or pattern common to the entire set. For instance, virtually everyone knows what a "Gas Trap" M1 is, but it’s successor is not (very) often described as a "Gas Port" M1. We have the "Win-13s", but few other Winchesters have nicknames. In the collecting of 1903 Rifles, everyone has heard of the illusive "Rod Bayonet Springfield", but the later production never became known as "Blade Bayonet Springfields".