Got a New One For You Guys: Someone Swapped My M1 Garand Stock

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Nugilum said:
I was in northeastern Dallas, TX area last week .... I got the rifle out the night before I left to repack it for the trip back to Savannah, GA. It was fully intact that night.

I went to the Cheaper than Dirt store in McKinney for about 10 minutes, then headed home. I stopped in Aniston, AL to do the required pilgrimage to the CMP and was in there for about 2 hours.
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We'll get to the bottom of this!

Dallas, TX to McKinney, TX ... about 30 miles
McKinney, TX to Anniston, Alabama ... about 720 miles
Anniston, Alabama to Savannah, GA ... about 340 miles

That's over 1,000 miles in a day. That's some serious driving if you're on your own. Surely you made at least one stop between Dallas and Anniston for food, fuel and/or a restroom.
 
My car remote will only arm/honk if all the doors are fully closed. That's how I know if the car is secured or not, I listen for the 1/8th of a second "HONK".

OK, breakdown of drive:
Stayed in McKinney, TX, ~1 mile north of Cheaper than Dirt (University & Central Expressway). Checked out at 2:00pm (was there for 3 weeks, motel was more than happy to let me stay till 3:00pm). Went to Cheaper than Dirt, then Gas and fast food. Left McKinney ~3:00pm. Filled up in Monroe, LA. Car locked / bathroom.

Arrived in Aniston, AL ~2:00am. Filled up/bathroom. Pulled off to the side of the CMP parking lot (lot is gated and closed), cracked the windows & sunroof, armed the car (with me in it) and slept till 7:30am. Got out (Once again, armed, aka made the car honk) & talked with the three people who were also there until the store opened at 8:00am. I was in there until 10:00am.
Left for Savannah at 10:00am, and arrived around 4:00pm, no stops. That's the timeline.

Now, I'm known for non-stop driving. I done Provo, UT to Allen, TX ~ 19 hours non-stop (4 times) and Augusta, GA to Albuquerque, NM non-stop in 26 hours (2 times). Needless to say, my wife HATES driving with me. My boy handles it quite well as long as he's got DS games / movies on my Iphone.
 
Very strange indeed.

You don't by chance...hide your own easter eggs do you???

Sounds like your buddy's pulled a fast one on you. A theif would have taken the bolt and trigger group.

But I'm still leaning towards the easter egg theory..
 
Who knew you had the gun in TX?
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Except for the ranges I called, no one (best anti-theft system I know).

OK, we've been in Savannah area just shy of 2 months now. She doesn't care for my toys; she leaves them alone in the safe. All of my range buddies (and I would TOTALLY EXPECT THIS FROM THEM) are 2 hours north in Augusta (they don't know our address here). We don't communicate that we own firearms, so no one here knows we have them (I was careful putting them in the house at night from the garage). I found a WMA range in Richmond Hill, GA but haven't made it there yet. The timeline really doesn't allow a local prankster.
 
Well there are two possible leads to start with.
1. You were asking around about shooting in a strange area thereby letting strangers know that you probably do possess a firearm. However the possibility of someone following you to either a hotel or to the CMP store from this point of contact just for the Boyds stock is highly unlikely.
2. It is possible that you left your car unlocked at the CMP store. There are and I mean ARE Garand collectors that will swap parts and they really do like to go to that store. However your stock was NOT a cherry SHM, JLC etc stock correct to the rifle. It was a replacement that anyone can mail order. So I would not be inclined to believe that your wood was switched out at the store.

That leaves the aforementioned practical joke which frankly isn't that funny and the remoteness of those who would do such a thing rules this out.

Therefore I am forced to conclude that from what I can tell there are no plausible explanations.
 
Nugilum said:
Stayed in McKinney, TX, ~1 mile north of Cheaper than Dirt (University & Central Expressway). Checked out at 2:00pm (was there for 3 weeks, motel was more than happy to let me stay till 3:00pm).
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So you had the rifle with you for the entire three weeks? Did you leave the rifle in the motel during that three week stay? In other words, where was the rifle during the day if you were out and about?

Nugilum said:
I got the rifle out the night before I left to repack it for the trip back to Savannah, GA. It was fully intact that night.
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Are you absolutely sure that the rifle was intact "that night" or are you just assuming? The most logical explanation at this point is that someone entered your motel room during the three week stay e.g. housekeeping, saw the rifle and mentioned it to the manager, a boyfriend, brother etc and possibly helped someone gain access to your room to switch the stock.
 
Conspiring to a crime usually involves something more profitable than switching a gun stock.
Nope.
Still not feeling it,,,,
 
i cannot believe this story. nobody knew you had this rifle, but somehow someone broke into your car with their stock and tools in hand, and actually took time to take your stock off and put their stock on?
 
as long as this isnt a trolling....

I say Mr. Gray did it, at the CMP, with a Screwdriver.

Seriously, the probably went through the trouble of doing it so the whole story is that much more un-believable, or immediatley noticable.

Could happen....did it?
 
No offense to the OP for my making light of the situation earlier nor for what I'm about to say. This story just seems too incredulous. I've been trying to believe it but, I'm sorry, I just can't. Had the firearm been accessible to a buddy or acquaintance for awhile I'd know what happened.
 
For how long were you talking to the people outside cmp? They had a decent chance to figure out that you had(or probably had) an m1. If you forgot to lock your car when exiting it (because u wernt leaving it) they had the opportunity to swap. As others have said, call the cmp.
 
^Why would a CMP employee with access to literally thousands and thousands of unused stocks go break into this guy's alarmed car to steal one?

Let's take a logical look:

1. Your car was not broken into. You would know. There would be damage, you were hear the alarm, etc.
2. Your hotel room was the most vulnerable place your Garand was during the trip. Many people have access to it and are even expected to access it daily.
3. You loaded up your Garand the night before. I don't know about you, but at night time those stocks probably don't look too different to me. Especially if I have a lot of guns to load.

So, assuming this isn't all BS, I am about 85% sure your Garand stock was swapped at the hotel sometime.

The question: Why steal a stock and not the rifle?
The answer: The thief is a Garand owner, meaning probably not a serious criminal (they usually aren't into C&Rs). The saw your stock as a crime of opportunity. Stealing your stock is likely a low level misdemeanor and hard to prove. Stealing a firearm is a federal felony that could net you ten years in prison and is much easier to trace.

But that begs another question: Why not just steal the stock and leave the barreled action laying there? Why take the time to leave a stock for you?
The answer: Like I said, the person probably isn't a serious criminal, so there may have been some level of guilt. They probably didn't want you to have a non-functioning rifle and they justified it by leaving their stock on it. This is akin to the people who shoplift, but still pay for half of the stuff (this happens ALL the time).

You just got really unlucky. The person had to be an owner, as my girlfriend who shoots with me probably still wouldn't know your Garand is the same as my Garand by looking at yours off hand. What are the odds of a Garand owner being one of those people with access to your room? Much less a shady one? Very slim. Buy a lottery ticket.

As for the stock itself, personally, I think the thief did your 1943 Garand a favor :p

[Plus now you have a cool story to tell your shooting buddies forever]
 
The question: Why steal a stock and not the rifle?

The answer: The thief is a Garand owner, meaning probably not a serious criminal (they usually aren't into C&Rs). The saw your stock as a crime of opportunity. Stealing your stock is likely a low level misdemeanor and hard to prove. Stealing a firearm is a federal felony that could net you ten years in prison and is much easier to trace.

But that begs another question: Why not just steal the stock and leave the barreled action laying there? Why take the time to leave a stock for you?

The answer: Like I said, the person probably isn't a serious criminal, so there may have been some level of guilt. They probably didn't want you to have a non-functioning rifle and they justified it by leaving their stock on it. This is akin to the people who shoplift, but still pay for half of the stuff (this happens ALL the time).
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so, our options are:

1) a guilty garand owner, ashamed at the state of his own wood...and rather than simply buying a new stock.....went through the trouble of completely removing the stock of OPs gun, and then on a guilt trip, decided to be a half nice guy and completely reassemble OPs gun with the ratty wood.....all without OP (or anyone else)noticing this entire ordeal.

2) one of OPs friends is playing a prank on him, and is currently laughing his hind-side off over this thread

3) OP is pulling our legs.



now which of those 3 seem the most plausible to you?
 
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I'm going with it being a pratical joke and somebody, somewhere, is laughing his butt off and mayby even reading these posts.

The next part of the joke is to use the same method (whatever that may be) to put your original stock back on the rifle and wait for you to notice it.

I can mayby buy the "someone stole the stock off my Garand and left the rest of it right there" but no way can I see some thief putting another stock back on the rifle just so you wouldn't notice it for a while.

Inside job, mayby the wife is even in on it. She has spare car keys and knows some of your shooting buddies, right? But it's a good one! :)
 
Old Shooter said:
I'm going with it being a pratical joke and somebody, somewhere, is laughing his butt off and mayby even reading these posts.

The next part of the joke is to use the same method (whatever that may be) to put your original stock back on the rifle and wait for you to notice it.

I can mayby buy the "someone stole the stock off my Garand and left the rest of it right there" but no way can I see some thief putting another stock back on the rifle just so you wouldn't notice it for a while.

Inside job, mayby the wife is even in on it. She has spare car keys and knows some of your shooting buddies, right? But it's a good one! :)
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+1
Someone is joking you, it's the only semi-logical explanation.

Most would say you came out ahead with the beat up SA furniture. How long does it take to swap hand guards, it's not that quick and requires tools.
 
This is really a strage one. Was the wood mounted on the rifle? Why did you take it off (and reinstal the front sight and all) before taking the pictures?

I was shocked by the picture. My wife would tan my hide if I put a greasy milsurp on one of her bedspreads...
Proof1.jpg
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... talked with the three people who were also there until the store opened at 8:00am.
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I think we now have some suspects!

Being in the parking lot of the CMP, I imagine the conversation was centered around, what?, the weather?, the "Tide"?, the economy?

Were your windows or sunroof cracked in the hot Alabama heat while you were inside?
 
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