Mandatory Credit: Photo by Bou/REX Shutterstock (4962649h) The transit paperwork for the Springfield M1 Garand rifle Personalised John F. Kenndedy rifle to be auctioned, Illinois, America - Aug 2015 *Full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/qtgl A military rifle owned by doomed US president John F Kennedy has emerged for sale for GBP 65,000 - more than 50 years after he was assassinated. Kennedy was a rising star of the US Senate when, in 1959, he forked out $169 for the sought-after Springfield M1 Garand rifle, buying it from the US army's surplus stocks. The future president's political clout had seen him singled out by the army-run Division of Civilian Marksmanship to receive the gun in a surplus military equipment 'lottery'. Experts at Rock Island Auction Company in Illinois say the gun could fetch $100,000 - around GBP 65,000 - when it goes under the hammer on behalf of a private collector in September. Despite his liberal principles, Kennedy was a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, and before the gun was handed over it was given a bespoke tune-up worthy of such a VIP.