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CMP Garands

V

Vandal

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I am very seriously considering adding a CMP Service grade M1 Garand to my small, but growing collection along with some of their surplus ammo. The price for the Garand is pretty hard to beat at $595 with 20 bucks S&H to my front door.

Does anyone here have any experience with the CMP, good and bad? I would like to hear it. So far I have heard and read nothing but good.

To make this OC related I had another uneventful day OCing around Pullman and Moscow.
 
V

Vandal

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The one thing I am slightly concerned about is the "shootability" of the rifle. I am not against having to put a little work in, but I don't want to have to get myself a new barrel or other parts for it right out of the gates.
 
amlevin

amlevin

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Vandal wrote:
The one thing I am slightly concerned about is the "shootability" of the rifle. I am not against having to put a little work in, but I don't want to have to get myself a new barrel or other parts for it right out of the gates.
Click to expand...

From the CMP website:

Each M1 Garand rifle sold by CMP is an authentic U.S. Government rifle that has been inspected, headspaced, repaired if necessary and test fired for function.
Click to expand...

The M-1 is a well built rifle and even if it has been shot a lot in military service it will keep on working just fine for many years to come. Accuracy will sufffer as the barrel wears and it does have a fussy appetite when it comes to reloaded ammo. Mil-Surp 30-06 works fine but avoid "Uncle Lesters Special Target Load". When I was in ROTC (1961) I qualified with an M-1 that had probably trained several hundred troops before me. It was still pretty accurate out to 250 yards.



If you do decide to re-barrel at some later date plan on a couple of hundred $$ for a replacement.
 
H

heresolong

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amlevin wrote:
If you do decide to re-barrel at some later date plan on a couple of hundred $$ for a replacement.
Click to expand...
You can save some money however, by doing the swap job yourself. All you need is a receiver wrench and a barrel vice. There are plenty of people around (myself included) that have those tools. I have swapped out the barrels on several M-14s, and the Garand is functionally identical so it would be an easy job.
 
John Hardin

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heresolong wrote:
amlevin wrote:
If you do decide to re-barrel at some later date plan on a couple of hundred $$ for a replacement.
Click to expand...
You can save some money however, by doing the swap job yourself. All you need is a receiver wrench and a barrel vice. There are plenty of people around (myself included) that have those tools. I have swapped out the barrels on several M-14s, and the Garand is functionally identical so it would be an easy job.
Click to expand...
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convert an M1 to shoot 7.62x51?
 
H

heresolong

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John Hardin wrote:
heresolong wrote:
amlevin wrote:
If you do decide to re-barrel at some later date plan on a couple of hundred $$ for a replacement.
Click to expand...
You can save some money however, by doing the swap job yourself. All you need is a receiver wrench and a barrel vice. There are plenty of people around (myself included) that have those tools. I have swapped out the barrels on several M-14s, and the Garand is functionally identical so it would be an easy job.
Click to expand...
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convert an M1 to shoot 7.62x51?
Click to expand...
Who said anything about converting the cartridge size? They were talking about replacing a shot out barrel.
 
shad0wfax

shad0wfax

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heresolong wrote:
Who said anything about converting the cartridge size? They were talking about replacing a shot out barrel.
Click to expand...


Ah, true. I missed that when I replied to the guy talking about going from Garand to .308 Win. Yeah, a barrel swap is easy and relatively inexpensive. You could even order a Krieger barrel if you wanted to get nice stuff for competing with. :)
 
H

Helter

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Vandal wrote:
The one thing I am slightly concerned about is the "shootability" of the rifle. I am not against having to put a little work in, but I don't want to have to get myself a new barrel or other parts for it right out of the gates.
Click to expand...
A Service Grade rifle will be perfectly shootable. I know more than a few people whose rifles would have been listed as Correct Grade if not for some relatively minor cosmetic wear of the finish and stock. At worst, I think the most you'd have to do is get the barrel recrowned, and even that's very rarely necessary.

In short, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll be more than happy. I plan on ordering a Service Grade HRA or maybe an Inland M1 Carbine myself later this year if I can be bothered to gather all the necessary paperwork for CMP eligibility.
 
V

Vandal

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As I am sitting here going through the CMP website putting my paperwork together to send in on Tuesday the following hit me. I know that SA means Springfield Armory but what is HRA? Is there any real difference between the two? I am leaning towards the SA for when I pick up a SA M1911 GI.

I am also planning on picking up some ammo from CMP with my order. Any good or bad experiences with it? I am thinking about picking p some of the Greek made stuff in enbloc clips 192 rds in 24 clips and some of the Lake City made 30-06.

ETA: I am also going to pick up a Turner Saddlery 1903 leather sling for it.
 
H

Helter

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HRA would be Harrington Richardson Arms. These are all post-WWII production (most of the Service Grade Springfield Armory guns available now are also post-war production, but there might be a few wartime recievers still floating around in there). I've heard that the HRA guns tend to be of slightly higher quality, but the differences should be fairly negligible overall, especially considering the guns are all mixmasters parts-wise anyway.

As far as the ammo goes, I've only heard good things about the Greek stuff, so it should be worth it for the clips at the very least. Lake City is always quality, of course. No surplus .30-06 is corrosive, so there's nothing like that to worry about.
 
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Phssthpok

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I so desperately want to get a CMP Garand, but I dunno where my birth cert is, and I absolutely REFUSE to join the Negotiate Rights Away in order to gain membership to any 'clubs' in my area just to meet the requirements.:cry:
 
H

Helter

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Well, the birth certificate thing is solved easily enough, you can just head down to the county courthouse and get a new one printed up.

As for club membership, if you're a WAC member, that should count. Another very popular option is to join the Garand Collectors Assosciation for $25 a year (they put out a nice quarterly journal, too).

No NRA requirement for either of those.
 
Bill Starks

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V

Vandal

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Spokane, Washington, USA
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Phssthpok wrote:
I so desperately want to get a CMP Garand, but I dunno where my birth cert is, and I absolutely REFUSE to join the Negotiate Rights Away in order to gain membership to any 'clubs' in my area just to meet the requirements.:cry:
Click to expand...

I am applying to the Garand Collector's Assoc. to meet the club req. as my DD214 shows a Uncharacterized Medical instead of Honorable. I may still call them about that and see if it works to save me 25 bucks. I try to avoid the NRA whenever possible.
 
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