A visit to CMP North

[GooseGestapo]

The Specials don’t have “new” parts except for the barrels and stocks.
The barrels are by Criterion. Very good barrels. Better than original new WWII production, but “legal” for shooting CMP matches.
The stocks are mostly new production by Boyds. They will be darkly stained Walnut. A few will have used stocks.
I have a Special in .30/06. Shoots great! Under 2” at 100yds with a handload of H4895 and Hornady 155gr Amax.
Hardware will be refinished miscellaneous WWII.
I suggest reading up on various contractors for the M1’s before going to the north store. That way you’ll have an idea of what you are looking at.
The CMP website/forum is a treasure trove of info.
I’m only 1.5hrs from the south store. I have to avoid going in there when traveling that way. I’ve already got 2-M1’s, a 1917 Eddystone, a 03-A3, and 4- Daisy 853’s I bought for a youth camp.
It’s a candy store for firearms enthusiasts...

 

[1911 guy]

So I have all the ducks in a row. Membership in the Garand Collectors Association, enhanced driver's license and CCW. If I read the checklist correctly, that will meet the requirements. I also have an appointment at the CMP. My wife made the call while i was at work and mentioned the rifle as actually for our 15 y.o.son. She said the woman on the phone got excited that it was a kid interested in history. She said to call when we are 15 minutes or so out and they would meet him at the door, give him a tour of the facility and help him pick out his rifle. Pretty cool. And my son has no idea yet.

 

[1911 guy]

So the boy has his rifle now and he's tickled pink.
We arrived at the store a few minutes early and were ushered in. He was still in the dark until his eyes got past the rack of 03 Springfields and settled on the M1's. Then he got excited. We looked through the service grades but didn't find anything with 2/2 erosion or less, so we went to the CMP Special rack. Ben picked one out that caught his eye. After we got to the motel room, I looked up the serial number and it was made by Winchester in November of 1941. Well, the receiver was, anyway. I picked up a case of S&B M2, also.

They treated Ben like a rock star. Asked him about his interest in history and guns, gave him a T-shirt and challenge coin, answered a ton of questions he had, offered advice on caring for the stock and several places in the owners manual were pointed out and he was told to pay special attention to them. After we got home, we found an e-mail from their staff writer with interview questions for Ben. He and I sat down last night and answered them. So there may be an article about Ben in the CMP newsletter.

We went fishing on Friday and got home late Friday evening. I showed him how to strip the rifle down and grease it, put a light coat of tung oil on the stock and then we loaded clips. Saturday we went out and he put about 50 rounds through it. I even got to shoot one clip. Cleaned and re-lubed Saturday evening and another light coat of tung oil. In a day or two we'll buff it with cheesecloth.

The clips seem a little hard to seat, I'm looking online for possible causes.

 

[1911 guy]

An article has been written by one of the CMP staff writers. It will apparently be on the website and possibly in "On The Mark", the junior newsletter.

 

[Garandimal]

I am aware of that, but thank you for the reminder. I'm looking for both commercially available M2 and handload data. It looks like Privi Partisan and Federal have new M2 loads.

PPU M2 ball by the 500 rd. can is a good way to go.

TargetSportsUSA on line is a good bet.

The Army technical manual [TM 43-0001-27] describes M2 ball ammunition as being loaded with 50gr of IMR4895.

M2 ball was 152 gr. at 2805 fps at the muzzle.


And don't worry too much about Std. loads.

This is a good reference site for outliers.

The M1 Garand and Commerical Ammunition




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GR

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