M1 Garand: WHY is it so expensive?

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kBob said:
The Director of Civilian Marksmanship (then actually a part of the US Army) began selling National Match M-1 Garands to qualified individuals in 1955.

One had to be an NRA member, affiliated with the DCM, and competed in sanctioned high power matches.

By the Mid 1960's non match grade rifles were available through the DCM.

Since the DCM had a limit of one rifle sale per life few made it to the "civilian" market.

With the Post Office-ization of the office into the CMP the life time limit went away and some people bought multiple rifles and sold them at profit at gunshows or in their shops. While this was "good" for the CMP it has reduced the numbers of M1 available from the organization.

At one point DCM even sold M1911a1 pistols to NRA members as well as M1903 series Springfields.

There was a law suit against the DCM/USA for requiring NRA membership that technically (though not practically) did away with that requirement. I think this was about 1964. Afterwards a person belonging to a DCM affiliated club meeting all other requirements could purchase a once in a lifetime M1 Garand.

I tried hard to get my Dad to qualify for a DCM Garand ( I was under 21 so not qualified, most folks forget 21 was the age of majority in most states until 1972) in the mid 1960's but was unsuccessful.

-kBob
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They also sold m1 carbines, 1917 enfields, and once in a while a Krag-Jorgensen. I believe they still will let an individual buy up to 8 m1 garands a year.
 
okay - maybe a little off topic.And I'm probably missing something. But - is there anything preventing someone from making new garands from scratch? What about simply going to work and machining/casting/CNC brand new ones. If the demand is that high, surely you could make a profit on them.

Unless there's some sort of ban on ever duplicating the receivers.
 
At least two companies have made commercial M1 Garands over the years. Way back National Ord and more recently Springfield made some that if I remember correctly actually cost more than the M1A standard model of that time.

Notice neither still does.

-kBob
 
By 1930s standards manufacture of the M1 was very streamlined. Mr Garand not only designed it, he brought in from his job at Brown and Sharpe the latest in machining... the multi-tooth broach. A lot faster than single point cutters on lathe and mill.
 
I handled a nice new production Springfield Inc a couple of years ago. We sold it on GB for slightly over 1k if I recall. Cool gun but most folks buy these for the history, not so much for the technical capabilities. There’s obviously a market for new production but my guess is it’s pretty small. If GI supply dries up and the demand is there, people will produce them again I’m sure.
 
D.B. Cooper said:
I think only the market for clones and reproductions would be tanked by mass production of clones and reproductions; collectors aren't going to buy those. A guy who wants to own a piece of American history is not going to buy a Universal M1 Carbine or any of the newer copies. He is going to buy the real thing. Copies of carbines have been around a long time-at least since the 1960s, yet, genuine M1 Carbines are still selling for over $1200. Colt has recently brought back some of its DA revolvers, but genuine, early model Python's are still in the thousands. I'm fairly certain that this would apply equally well to the M1 rifle.
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I've always been of the opinion that the Mini-14 or Mini-30 does everything the M1 Carbine can at a very reasonable price using much more readily available ammo. Except they will never have the historical/collectible factor, except for A-Team fans :)
 
BreechFace said:
Not as painful as thinking about all the men that gave their lives that are at the bottom of the English Channel. And here we are almost 80 years later pissing away the freedoms many died for.
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That's true. Shows how much I know, I didn't even know we lost men in the English channel. I was referring to all the guns we gave them "on loan" with the explicit understanding that we would help them in their time of need during WWII but that they would return the weapons after, instead they dumped them into the English channel instead of giving them back.

I definitely place a soldiers sacrifice over and above lost "equipment", definitely wasn't trivializing their/our loss. My remark was specific to topic, but you are definitely right.
 
DustyGmt said:
That's true. Shows how much I know, I didn't even know we lost men in the English channel. I was referring to all the guns we gave them "on loan" with the explicit understanding that we would help them in their time of need during WWII but that they would return the weapons after, instead they dumped them into the English channel instead of giving them back.

I definitely place a soldiers sacrifice over and above lost "equipment", definitely wasn't trivializing their/our loss. My remark was specific to topic, but you are definitely right.
Click to expand...

Please study out the Normandy invasion and “Operation Overload”. Uncountable ally lives were lost in the English Channel during the invasion.
 
The whole premise of this thread is flawed. Straight from the CMP website:

RM1SERVICE M1 Garand, Luck of the draw for Springfield or Harrington & Richardson manufacturer. Orders will be filled with next available Service grade rifle. See above for Service Grade description. Rifle shipped in CMP hard rifle case.

Available
$750
Free S/H

8-12 Week Delivery
Confirmation of order could take up to 4-6
Click to expand...

$750 is a raging value for a very good condition USGI Garand. They were a great deal when I got one for $625 in 2012 and they are still a great deal. 9 years later and in the middle of a gun-buying panic and the price has only increased about 10%.

“Artificially inflated?” What a joke.

Aside from the SKS (which is honestly much less of a gun and is rapidly escalating in price) I can’t think of a single other semi-automatic surplus rifle that can be had for such a low price in such good condition as a Service Grade CMP Garand.
 
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