Got my first Garand!

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Big_E

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I woke up to a pleasant knock on the door this morning. I knew it was FedEx so I rushed to put a shirt on and answer.

The driver had a large box, a similar shape of other boxes I have had before. What could it be?



My first M1 Garand from the CMP. It's an HRA Service Grade. Muzzle measured 1+ and the throat measured 2+. Looks like the CMP placed it into a brand new stock.





The metal on the receiver looks great, but there is a little wear on the barrel and front end.

I can't wait to get out and shoot it with my dad when he comes up to visit. He has been wanting a Garand in the family for awhile.

The CMP didn't take that long at all to get the rifle here. It was my first time ordering from them too. I know it's not the height of the Garand demand like it was a few years ago, but they really surprised me at how fast everything got processed. I think I mailed all of my forms on September 20th, and I got it today, October 8th.

I just wished I had jumped on this earlier so I could have gotten an M1 Carbine.
 
Congrats on the new Garand!

A CMP Service Grade was an excellent choice on your part. Is that CMP stock birch or walnut? It looks much better than most of the "orange" birch CMP stocks I've seen.

While we are showing off CMP Garands, here is the Service Grade Springfield Armory rifle I recieved from them back in June of this year. It came with a 1944 reciever, a like-new 1954 Springfield barrel, and new CMP walnut. Great looking and a suberb shooter:

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Congratulations! Great way to spend $650.

What is the year on the barrel? You should be able to see it if you lock the bolt back.

I love shooting Garands. Shot mine yesterday. Had a young man with me I took to the range. I am trying to get him interested in competitive shootin. Fortunately I was having a good day. We passing the gun back and forth. I was hitting the 200 yard gong (about 12") sitting, kneeling, and standing. Then he asked me to again shoot standing, and to put one on a 200 yard paper target we use for our highpower matches. I got it in the 10 ring. I can't do that every time, or even close to it, but we were out of ammo at that point so I got to leave looking pretty good.

Anyhow the Garand is up to the task as long as the wood is well fit.
 
I think it might be birch. I honestly don't know. Based on the receiver I think it was made somewhere between 1954-1956.

It's an HRA barrel starting with a 65 something. Which leads me to believe its of late manufacture.

I am also impressed by the nice gun case that was included.

I don't have any surplus ammo and don't intend to purchase any unless I can find a good deal locally which will probably be near impossible. The ammo I have on hand is some American Eagle 150gr FMJ. I understand this is safe to use. I have been reading about adjustable gas plugs but I think I will probably just purchase Hornady Garand Match and American Eagle Garand. I don't think I will shoot this frequently.

It feels good to have a piece of history and iconic American workhorse in the collection now.
 
I kind of wished I had ordered the Springfield for a chance at the green parked receiver. I heard the metal work on the HRA's are better.

Does anyone know where the current stock of Garands the CMP has are from? Are the Korean surplus or Greek?
 
First, congratulations on a fine rifle.

The new stock looks to be walnut to me. I don't know of any CMP new birch stocks. However, I do like the orange look of the birch flavors. The birch I have seen were original GI, I have an old DCM Garand with birch. The American Eagle 150gr FMJ will be fine to shoot and you can worry about an adjustable gas plug later down the road.

The rifle you have likely came from storage in a US armory. While not 100% I don't believe CMP sells Garands from any of the Lend / Lease act.

Based on your receiver picture a guess would be a HRA 7 54 (July 1954) barrel. This based on The M1 Garand Post WWII by Scott Duff.


Ron
 
I shot a 40-round prone match with my 1945 Springfield yesterday and put 39 out of the 40 shots in the black. I would have scored much higher had I used my match AR, but wouldn't have had nearly as much fun! I think I need another.
 
Thanks everyone.

Got it greased up and ready to shoot. Hopefully, this weekend I can get out to the range.

Anyone know of a good site to get a bayonet and sling? I was thinking about buying another sling from the Appleseed Project. I see CDNN sells M1 Bayonets, but I don't know if they are good quality.
 
You can get your bayonet from the CMP...search under "accessories." I'm a fan of the Turner 1907 sling.
 
While not period correct, the Turner Biothane sling is about as good as it gets from a functional standpoint. The OD green version looks nice on the M1.
 
Big_E said:
Thanks everyone.

Got it greased up and ready to shoot. Hopefully, this weekend I can get out to the range.

Anyone know of a good site to get a bayonet and sling? I was thinking about buying another sling from the Appleseed Project. I see CDNN sells M1 Bayonets, but I don't know if they are good quality.
Click to expand...
If you have any problems finding a sling drop me a PM. I have a box in the basement I think (last I saw it) with assorted M1 Garand slings, keepers and hardware. It would be a dark OD green for your rifle with a flat keeper post WWII. Yours for the asking, I'll toss it in a mailing padded envelope and send it to you. Again, it's on me and my wife will mail it out to you. Read into that free. :)

CMP can fix you up with a bayonet which I think should be 10" new (not a cut down). During the 50s they went to the M5 bayonet and the M8A1 scabbard followed by the M5A1 bayonet.

Ron
 
Had 2 m1 garands. But needed quick money to pay bills. Loved both of them. And now i keep telling myself, that ill get one soon.(sold the other 2, when i get my next one its getting buried with me). Haha. Great looking garand!!!!!
 
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