CMP Goodness

[vanfunk]

Winchester and Harrington & Richardson service grades arrived today.

WRA is a 2.3 million receiver, WRA bolt and trigger assembly, VAR barrel(!), SA op rod, CMP birch stock with some figure.

HRA is a 5.6 million receiver, ALL HRA PARTS except the gas plug, BEAUTIFUL tiger striped HRA stock.

CMP, I love you.

vanfunk

 

[Flatbush Harry]

Very, very nice. Congrats...and HRA Gas plugs can be found!

FH

 

[dmazur]

Nice looking Garands...

 

[vtail]

I would like to have an M1, but I know almost nothing about them.

The CMP store is out of Winchester's in Service Grade, but they have the SA's and HRA's available.

Which one would you M1 experts suggest I order and why?

Thanks in advance!

 

[paintballdude902]

mmmmmmmm.... tiger stripes

 

[az_imuth]

Congrats on the new M1's!

You should go get yourself a lotto ticket after a streak like that. Tiger striped USGI wood is few and far between. Getting two striped stocks in the same order is almost unheard of...so you did real good.

 

[depradio]

I would like to have an M1, but I know almost nothing about them.

The CMP store is out of Winchester's in Service Grade, but they have the SA's and HRA's available.

Which one would you M1 experts suggest I order and why?

Thanks in advance!

Would like to know this as well!

 

[1KPerDay]

Good heavens.... you lucked out on those stocks. Gorgeous! I'm green with envy.

 

[az_imuth]

I would like to have an M1, but I know almost nothing about them.

The CMP store is out of Winchester's in Service Grade, but they have the SA's and HRA's available.

Which one would you M1 experts suggest I order and why?

No expert here, but if I were ordering a service grade and it was to be my one and only M1, I'd go for the SA. If I intended to get others later on then I would get the HRA since they are quite a bit more scarce than the SA rifles. Both should be very similar in quality, depending on who you ask.

 

[Maverick223]

Congrats on a pair of great looking M1s.

Which one would you M1 experts suggest I order and why?

Not an expert by any stretch, but I know what I like. I would choose between the early SA (Springfield Armory) and the IH (International Harvester). I really like the SA because it was made and likely saw service during WWII, additionally it was made by an arsenal (basically made by the US Govt. not a private company). The IH is a neat rifle because it was made by a tractor company (would go great with my National Postal Meter/Union Switch & Signal M1 Carbine), but is also pretty rare as most were shipped to Iran IIRC. Additionally all of the IH rifles were produced after WWII if I am not mistaken, which tends to leave them in better condition, but with less history.

 

[MeanStreaker]

Good stuff.

One of the reasons I attended an Appleseed Project marksmanship event was because it satisfies the CMP "participation" requirement and it was so cheap ($70/weekend) for top notch instruction.

I may have to pull out ye olde credit card again after seeing your pics.

 

[Hacker15E]

Given the choice between the SA-SG and the HRA-SG, and if I didn't have any other Garands...and if it were probably going to be my *only* Garand....

I would buy the H&R.

Generally accepted thought among the Garand gurus is that the H&Rs were overall constructed with *slightly* higher quality and *slightly* better finishes than the "average" wartime Springfield.

Remember, though, that the H&Rs are going to be 1950s builds, so if you have your heart on a WWII rifle, then your only chance to get one (given those two choices) would be the Springfield.

 

[GRIZ22]

I have a FG with a VAR barrel I picked up at the North Store. The only reason I can see it was graded a FG is the finish wasn't quite up to SG standards. The barrel measures a 2 at each end and it is my best shooting M1. 2" at 100 yds with HXP ammo.

 

[SaxonPig]

Yup, another very nice looking rifle from the CMP.

Convinces me even further that they just hate me.

 

[CZguy]

I have a FG with a VAR barrel I picked up at the North Store.

What does VAR stand for?

Convinces me even further that they just hate me.

That's obviously true........but I wonder why. You must have done something. There's just no way that the rest of us can be sent these beautiful rifles and you get the ones that were run over by a tank, without some good reason. Come on, what have you done.....fess up.

 

[SaxonPig]

I wish I knew, dude. I must have pissed off somebody at the CMP big time. I see the beautiful Garands on the forum that members have bought and I can't stand to look at mine.

 

[BushyGuy]

@#$%^&! nice Garands ! i want one i pray i can find a Winchester in the future I love Winchesters!

 

[GRIZ22]

What does VAR stand for?


VAR stands for Vaabenarsenalet which means arms arsenal in Danish. The Danes adopted the M1 in 1950 and used American made ones and those made by Beretta and Breda in Italy. The Danes made their own replacement barrels for these guns and are marked VAR. M1 afficiandos have found VAR barrels to be more accurate than US made barrels as a rule. The Danes used the M1 as an issued weapon up to the early 90s.

Many will dismiss the Italian M1s but that is foolish. They were very well made (parts interchangability with all US made M1s). The Italians made M1s on the machinery used by Winchester in WW2. Wuinchseter mad ethe fewest number of Garands and this is what has made them more sought after. The fact is Winchester made fewer as they had a lot of quality control problems. While they are just as strong as the others WW Garands sometimes have a sub-standard finish on parts.

 

[CZguy]

Thanks Griz22,

I'm learning more about garands every day. I have a HRA SG with a LMR barrel that will easily out shoot my other two Garands.

LMR is for Line material Co. They built all of the barrels for International Harvester and several wound up on HRAs.

There are well known to be some really good shooting barrels also.

 

[vanfunk]

Thanks for all the comments, guys! My HRA is now completely correct, with the addition of an HRA gas plug. I'm still mulling over whether to strip the cocoa-brown stain off the birch stock on the WRA - maybe I'll re-do it as a blond?

The collection has now grown to include:
One service grade Springfield, one correct grade Springfield
Two service grade Winchesters, and a field grade Winchester (which now meets service grade criteria with the addition of a nice stock)
One Harrington & Richardson service grade, now correct with HRA gas plug
One match-prepped International Harvester

I can't stop

vanfunk

 

[vanfunk]

I wish I knew, dude. I must have pissed off somebody at the CMP big time. I see the beautiful Garands on the forum that members have bought and I can't stand to look at mine.

I've bought some dogs from the CMP over the years, too. The CMP really grades their service grade rifles and carbines with a heavy emphasis on barrel condition, not % of finish, parts matching, or wood quality. I've gotten some really beat-up metal and wood over the years, but all have been excellent shooters with great bores. SaxonPig, if you're ready to try again, get one of the HRA service grades right now. While not always all-matching, all of the ones I've seen have been really, really nice!

brewer

 

[SaxonPig]

Then one I bought was an HRA. I was told they tend to look a little nicer than the WW II vets so I got one. Wood looked like someone dragged it behind a jeep over 20 miles of rough road. Not one square inch of stock without serious dings and gouges. I would not sell a rifle with that stock on it. Debated about buying a replacement (and now wish that I had) but instead I spent 3 days trying to salvage the original wood. After all those hours or steaming, sanding and refinishing it looks bad. Very bad.

That's a huge improvement over the atrocious condition it was in.

But I am still disappointed.

It shoots fine and functions perfectly.

But I am still disappointed.

May decide to spring for the new wood eventually despite my desire to keep it original.

Real lesson learned is that I should have bought one I could handle and see first. Same thing happened with the M1 Carbine I bought from the CMP. I sold it after looking at it for a couple weeks. Kept one that was even rougher I had picked up elsewhere. Just a plinker so I don't care. But I was hoping for a decent looking Garand. Didn't work out that way. Se Le Vie. Don't plan on buying any more.

 

[GRIZ22]

I see the beautiful Garands on the forum that members have bought and I can't stand to look at mine.


That's a huge improvement over the atrocious condition it was in.


You should have said something to CMP Customer Service when you got it. If you felt if didn't meet the criteria for a SG they would have accepted your return and given you a refund or exchanged it.

I've gotten a few Garands from CMP and while I will admit some of the stocks needed cleaning and refinishing, they look presentable after I did so.

 

[SaxonPig]

This wood was truly horrible. I would not have sold it in that condition. Not being experienced with CMP I assumed it was "as is" on such old guns. Probably would not have returned it anyway because shipping costs make that unreasonable. They have plenty of warnings about how the wood can be damaged, the rifles are old and saw military use, etc etc. But I kept seeing photos posted on the forums of really nice looking CMP Garands and decided to take a chance.

Live and learn. I'll live with it until I can't stand it and spring $120 for a new stock (which is what I should have done rather than waste 3 days labor trying to make it presentable). But this is not what I had in mind.

Of course, I never had being fat, old and ugly in mind, either. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you hope.

 

[CZguy]

For future reference.............the Customer service at the CMP is excellent. If you have a complaint, they will mail you a pre-paid FedEx shipping label and promptly fix whatever the problem is.