Re: Change of interest
Eclancy--There are a zillion Garand owners out there already. Many of them use and like their Garands for competition, as well as informal shooting. They aren't about to change their affiliation. Many of them just love to hear that "Pling!" as the clip is ejected.
CMP has 30,000 M1Carbines currently. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the number of Garand owners. (It is to be hoped that more will turn up, but don't bet on it, especially if Hillary gets elected president.)
Go to CMP's website and check out what they have to say about carbine sales. For the present, they are limiting sales to one (count 'em, 1) carbine per maker per year, and they are currently only selling the Inlands--the commonest maker by far.
Surely the collectors will want one of each maker as those become available, but at 500 bucks a pop, the casual shooters won't be buying a bunch of carbines, even if/when they can do so.
Another thought--The carbine won't replace the Garand in military rifle competition, either. At 100yd the carbine will be spot-on--with xlnt ammo, quite a bit of babying, and a careful shooter. But at further distances, well, the carbine just isn't a .30-'06. It runs out of steam pretty quickly.
Not knocking the carbine--it is what it is: An easier-to-aim-than-a-pistol, handy, short-range weapon designed for non-combat troops. And some combat troops found it suited them, too. For street fighting and building clearing, it worked great, I understand. But it isn't a Garand.
So, I don't think anyone will be throwing their Garand in the garbage and replacing it with a carbine, anytime soon. Just my opinion.
