Got a CMP Garand today! So excited.

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chrissmallwood

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Hi all. I just got back from the CMP North store a few mins ago with my new prize:D. I was just going to order it but I decided I didnt want to wait for it so I took the day off and drove up there with the wife in tow(gotta love her for putting up with me like she does, it was a ten hour drive round trip). It took me awhile to find the one I wanted, I had originally planned on getting a service grade HRA but instead I walked out with a field grade HRA that was in nicer condition than most of the service grades they had. It gauged just a hair over 1 on muzzle erosion. The metal was in excellent shape but it had a black finish instead of being parkerized. It had a fairly decent stock on it with only a few dings. I also got 2 240rd cans of Greek M2.

Heres some pics of her.
DSC00496.jpg

DSC00495.jpg

Here is a pic of the markings on the stock.
DSC00491.jpg

Heres a pic of me holding a service grade SA M1D that was in very good condition with a beautiful stock on it.:) Would be nice to have but a bit out of my price range($2300):eek:.
DSC00482-1.jpg

They had so much too look at it was like being in heaven. They had a bunch of service grade WRA's, some 1903's and 1903A3's too. There were guys buying thier limit on carbines and garands at the same time with a truckload of ammo to go with it. Made me feel poor in comparison. All in all I had a good time, got to look at and handle a bunch of nice rifles. The service was excellent. Hopefully Ill get to go again sometime.
 
Nice Rifle...Is that grade higher or lower than the service grade, I saw
service greades were at 595.00..does that sound right? I believe I will join the Garand Rifle
Association to become CMP an go over to OH. Need a CMP card an drivers liecense, did you need anything else......sounds like they will all be gone before summer!!!!
 
61chalk- The field grade is one step lower than service grade but looking over the rifle and the way it gauged you would've thought it was a service grade. The field grades were 495 and the service grades were 595 except for the Winchester Garands which were 695 for the service grade. It does really pay to shop in person if that option is available to you.
Youll need a few more things before you can get one. Heres the CMP's eligibility requirements page, it will show you everything you need to get a rifle.
http://www.thecmp.org/eligibility.htm

Its really neat to go there especially when you can see the troops on the shooting range just letting loose with thier rifles on full auto.

Dr. Tad- Schweetness is an understatement. I cant wait to go try her out.
 
Congrats on the purchase, that's a nice looking rifle! Looking at purchasing an M1 next year through the CMP myself so this is encouraging.

BTW- I see we're from the same area. Small world eh?
 
take off the wood and see if there is any corrosion. Though it looks good from what you can see it may have had some moisture under the wood that classified it as a rack grade. Hopefully it is just a lucky one that snuck by. The wood looks like birch. Good find. Im still waiting for my m1 carbine that i ordered in december. Shouldn't be too much longer. My m1 turned out to be march of '44. Cant beat a pre d-day gun.
 
I've had a rifle for just over a year. You're going to have trouble getting that grin off your face...you are still grinning, aren't you? :D looks like that!

Good lookin' rifle. We expect range trip photos!

Have fun.

Mark
 
280shooter- You can find the prices on the cmp's website.

longdayjake- I took the wood off right after I got home and the metal underneath was in just as good condition. I think they classified it as a field grade because it didnt have any matching serial #s which doesnt bother me since its in nice condition.

hardtarget- Ill try to remember to take some pictures when I go.
 
Hey man, I see you made it up to the north store and was able to pick out your Garand, good job. By the looks of you with you're rifle you look tickled to death.

Looks like you got a good one also, Good Luck to you, and am Happy for
you.

BTW did you pick up a manual on how to lube the rifle with grease? Old timer told me thats important.
 
jcwit- They gave me a manual when I bought it. I havent looked through the whole thing yet, I spent most of my time last night fondling it.
The rifle that im holding in my hands isnt the one I bought. That one is a SA M1D they had priced at 2300.
 
Yeh I saw the one you're holding didn't have the numbers on the stock. $2300 WOW!!! Out of my range for sure!!!

Still it looks like you got a nice one, can always restock it sometime if you would ever want to (I wouldn't).
 
I think im going to leave the stock as is. The numbers give it character in my opinion. Some of the characters on the stock look Greek which along with the black finish makes me wonder if it was a Greek return.

Gus- If its dangerous I should learn how to control the bloodthirsty beast. You should send a bunch of ammo so I can learn how to keep it under control.:D
 
The markings DO look like they might be Greek. A lot of the rifles, if not most or all, that CMP is selling these days are returns from being lent to Greece.

If those marks aren't stamped or burned into the stock you should be able to remove them, maybe with a cleaner, maybe with steel wool. That is, IF you don't want to keep them.

I'd guess that those markings were part of the reason for downgrading to field. The other would be that even though it might look nicer than the original metal finish they grade on the amount of original finish remaining. A refinished rifle would not have the original finish, obviously, but might very well look better in the hand like yours does.
 
krs- It looks like the markings are underneath the finish if you look closely at it. Id prefer to leave them there. They give the rifle a bit of uniqueness.
You might be right about the cmp downgrading because of the markings and the finish. Im not too concerned about having a factory orignal finish on it as long as its in good condition and it runs good.
 
Some of their 'original finish' rifles can look pretty bad and it only matters on the true collectable rifles anyway. I like a dark parkerizing like yours has so I'd be happy with it too.

The overall appearance of the rifle is nice and evenly colored. Lots of people, myself included, have received rifles which had very seriously mismatched stock pieces and they look pretty weird. I've spent a lot of time and some dollars getting my CMP purchases to look good again - they must send out the worst and keep the nice ones in the stores!

Dunno' about those markings though - I doubt I could live with them even though they're kinda' like one of those travel stickers that you get on your luggage when you fly somewhere. Your rifle is wearing it's life in Greece as a badge of honor!
 
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