I called one of the gunshops I frequent about .22 ammo for my daughter (she of the purple .22 AR) and asked the standard, "What's new". Instead of the "Nuth'n" I expected I was told that there was a batch of Garands that had come in. I immediately perked up and inquired if they were from Springfield or Century or some batch of imports and was told, "Nope. Some estate we're consigning. Look pretty nice". No further information was available, but that didn't stop me from getting all excited like a puppy seeing it's favorite chew toy.
I bounced emails to a couple of friends that might be interested and fidgeted. It was all I could do to stay at work for the next couple of hours, but I was out the door like a shot at 1700. On the way I called another buddy of mine that doesn't have an M1 to get to the gunshop ASAP.
The guy I had called was already there when I walked in the door and he was holding what looked like a nearly mint M1 Garand. On the rack in front of him was 3 more and an M14SA Fed Ord. Oh frabjous day! There were 3 SA Korean War vintage Garands and 1 H&R along with a WWII SA Garand. The Korean vintage Garands looked perfect and had what only looked like handling dings. The metal was perfect. The bores were perfect. The cartouches were perfect. The DCM "flying chicken" was clear on them. There didn't appear to be any rebuild markings at all. The WWII SA looked pretty good for an old warhorse also. Good golly! What to do? I grabbed my phone and called one of the guys I had emailed and when he answered I simply said, "There's 4 minty Garands here and you better get here now!".
To cut the story short they were all Collector grade or nearly so. They were a fraction of what I would expect to pay. My buddy that was waiting on me got the H&R M1 Garand and the Fed Ord m14SA. AND, CMP South can reissue data sheets based on the serial number!
I've got a great WWII SA M1 Garand so the only thing that would have made me jump on one of the minty goodness rifles is if it had the Winchester on it, but boy was it a joy to wallow in them while they were all there to fondle.
BTW, they all sold in less than 24 hrs.
I bounced emails to a couple of friends that might be interested and fidgeted. It was all I could do to stay at work for the next couple of hours, but I was out the door like a shot at 1700. On the way I called another buddy of mine that doesn't have an M1 to get to the gunshop ASAP.
The guy I had called was already there when I walked in the door and he was holding what looked like a nearly mint M1 Garand. On the rack in front of him was 3 more and an M14SA Fed Ord. Oh frabjous day! There were 3 SA Korean War vintage Garands and 1 H&R along with a WWII SA Garand. The Korean vintage Garands looked perfect and had what only looked like handling dings. The metal was perfect. The bores were perfect. The cartouches were perfect. The DCM "flying chicken" was clear on them. There didn't appear to be any rebuild markings at all. The WWII SA looked pretty good for an old warhorse also. Good golly! What to do? I grabbed my phone and called one of the guys I had emailed and when he answered I simply said, "There's 4 minty Garands here and you better get here now!".
To cut the story short they were all Collector grade or nearly so. They were a fraction of what I would expect to pay. My buddy that was waiting on me got the H&R M1 Garand and the Fed Ord m14SA. AND, CMP South can reissue data sheets based on the serial number!
I've got a great WWII SA M1 Garand so the only thing that would have made me jump on one of the minty goodness rifles is if it had the Winchester on it, but boy was it a joy to wallow in them while they were all there to fondle.
BTW, they all sold in less than 24 hrs.
I miss my granddad's Garand
