M1 Garand: WHY is it so expensive?

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Considering that any semi-auto rifle is at least a $500 proposition these days.... OK, you might find an SKS for 400-450, or a lower end AR for $450.... but most all decent semi-autos are going to be $500-750. A WASR-10 AK is $750. They used to be $350. And if you’re in the market and planning to shell out $750 on a WASR, and have any appreciation for history... wouldn’t you rather order a Garand? After all, it may not be “all historically original” or exactly the manufacturer and date range you wanted.... but it’ll still have a lot more history than your average AK or AR.

So no, I don’t feel like they’re overpriced. I feel like they’re a relative bargain.

I do, however, wish they were less expensive. Because even as a bargain, $750 is a lot of cash.
 
We got ours back in the mid-90's,a Springfield and a Winchester, and shot them in the club DCM shoots.
Decided to thin the herd and I sold the Winchester to a member here a couple ago.
If they "only" made 6 million rifles I wonder how many clips were stamped out..? o_O
Cause I still got a bunch. ;)
 
Mosin77 said:
So no, I don’t feel like they’re overpriced. I feel like they’re a relative bargain.
I do, however, wish they were less expensive. Because even as a bargain, $750 is a lot of cash.
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Oh, rats, I was gonna have my LGS with the M1 Garand Sniper variant hanging on the display wall with a $4500 price tag call you. :D
 
wiscoaster said:
Ah, thanks, that explains why my service grade came with a new CMP stock - I was wondering about that. :thumbup:
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If you watch the "CMP Philippines" vid...? Wood-less Bbl'ed Receivers make a lot more sense.


​

The Greeks stored a lot of rifles sans wood.

...hence the "birch twins."

DSCN1832_1024_cropped.jpg ​

And suspect... that the CMP/Armory, on occasion, dismounts rare furniture off otherwise re-arsenal'ed rifles, to be mated with corresponding rare Bbl'ed Receivers, for the auction block.

;)




GR
 
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wiscoaster said:
Oh, rats, I was gonna have my LGS with the M1 Garand Sniper variant hanging on the display wall with a $4500 price tag call you. :D
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Haha, I’d love a sniper. Seems American, German, and Brit snipers are all solidly in that multi-thousand bracket. The real bargains at 1000-1500 are the Russian snipers. Although, if the memoires of Roy Dunlap are any indication, the real riflemen, the connoisseurs who were accustomed to competing for the smallest group sizes before the war, seemed to prefer the 1903/03A3 to the Garand.

I can buy any gun under about $450 and not think twice, nor will anyone bat an eye. But a $700 gun (even if I save up for it) inevitably trips my darling wife’s “frivolous spending” meter and is a real stretch (“That’s more than a month of groceries!”) , and I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 1200. If I sold guns and used the proceeds to buy more expensive ones, it’d be no problem, except... I’m constitutionally opposed to actually selling guns I own. Just never seems to happen. So, net result is that I have to plan those expensive-gun purchases very carefully. Most of the stuff I might be able to pick up cheap has already been ticked off the list, so now it’s down to the handful of guns (like a Garand) that are just going to require the better part of 1k, no matter how I slice it.

Because most of us know the CMP sells Garands, and has for a long time, and probably won’t run out tomorrow, its easy to let that one slide till next month/year when there’s this really unusual (whatever) down at the local gun shop today.
 
Total mixmaster Garlands. I’ve not read about this being a standard situation among other gun types, except for Russian-capture German (or Czech) Mausers.

As 99.9 percent of our M-1s have non-matching parts, were many private sellers——being unaware of this irony in the milsurp world-— taken advantage of by unscrupulous buyers?

A friend who retired many years ago on the Navy Rifle Team gave me this impression about the 99.9 or such.

Competitors at Camp Perry had access to the Parts Truck and could look for “all - H&R parts“ etc.
 
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Ignition Override said:
Total mixmaster Garlands. I’ve not read about this being a standard situation among other gun types, except for Russian-capture German (or Czech) Mausers.

As 99.9 percent of our M-1s have non-matching parts, were many private sellers——being unaware of this irony in the milsurp world-— taken advantage of by unscrupulous buyers?

A friend who retired many years ago on the Navy Rifle Team gave me this impression about the 99.9 or such.

Competitors at Camp Perry had access to the Parts Truck and could look for “all - H&R parts“ etc.
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Almost all M1 were refurbished after WW2 or the Korean War, and since the parts aren't serialized, being "mismatched" isn't a big deal. At least not to anyone but collectors that want to retrofit them back as (assumed) factory matching parts.
 
Ignition Override said:
As 99.9 percent of our M-1s have non-matching parts, were many private sellers——being unaware of this irony in the milsurp world-— taken advantage of by unscrupulous buyers?
.
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The vast majority of Garands have gone through at least one arsenal rebuild, many more than one. So, most Garands are mixmasters made by the government arsenals.

One of the beauty of the Garands, most parts did not need to be fitted as long as they mated up to the appropriate jig properly. If the part did not gauge correctly, it was tossed. The barrel to the frame is about the only exception. Hence, no Garand has been built with matching serial numbers on parts.

There are lists of part drawing and revision numbers that were most frequently installed on Garands build during a certain period. Collectors judge these guns to be "correct" and are deemed desirable. Many collectors search far and wide to obtain for these parts including stocks with the correct cartouches to make their Garand "correct".

These "correct" Garands are definitely easier to recreate than something like a "correct" Mauser K98 that does have matching serial numbers on parts. They are rebuilt with the "correct"parts, they just are not original from the factory.

What is really interesting, the folks that are expert in the history of Garands have found un-altered Garands that came from the factory with parts not correct for the period that the Garand was manufactured. The factory would use up left over parts or move new parts into production as the "correct" parts were consumed. So, there are some "mixmasters" out there that came new from the factory!

The precise records of what parts went in what Garands do not exist, just alot of "touchy-feely" information.

So, someone interested in buying Garands needs to do some research if buying from someone other than CMP. Garands that have never been rebuilt by an arsenal are more valuable and desirable and should have the appropriate paperwork to support the claim. There are not many of them. Otherwise, a "correct" Garand is more valuable than a mixmaster but no where near the value of a non arsenal rebuilt Garand.

When it comes to premium priced Garands, the buyer needs to beware. The information is out there, easy to obtain, and good reading.

A final note, many arsenals labeled one of the receiver legs with the arsenals initials. These are also somewhat desirable for some and are collected
 
IMO, a better question to ask in this thread is:

WHY is an M1 Garand from a private seller generally several hundred dollars MORE than one from the “retail” supplier, the CMP? Is it because you have to jump through some very minor hoops to order and can’t just “add to cart” like at Buds? With most guns, you order “retail” (even surplus) and then they change hands for a few tens of dollars less than retail on the secondhand market -until the supply dries up. But Garands are still here and available. Is the CMP that much of a well-kept secret?
 
Mosin77 said:
Is it because you have to jump through some very minor hoops to order and can’t just “add to cart” like at Buds?
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Yes. It's kind of like a member benefit, I suppose, for your support of CMP through an affiliated organization. Plus the paperwork you have to do to certify yourself as a legitimate buyer.

Is the CMP that much of a well-kept secret?
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They don't exactly go out of their way to advertise.

I suppose the above two factors reduce their overhead to some degree. Still ... it is kind of surprising that in the current market they haven't raised their prices. At least the last time I checked, anyway.
 
One factor that might be in play now that wasn’t a few years ago is that Garlands are still legal in most if not all of the “ban” states because they are <10 rounds and don’t accept detachable magazines.
 
Mosin77 said:
IMO, a better question to ask in this thread is:

WHY is an M1 Garand from a private seller generally several hundred dollars MORE than one from the “retail” supplier, the CMP? Is it because you have to jump through some very minor hoops to order and can’t just “add to cart” like at Buds? With most guns, you order “retail” (even surplus) and then they change hands for a few tens of dollars less than retail on the secondhand market -until the supply dries up. But Garands are still here and available. Is the CMP that much of a well-kept secret?
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Probably because of the fewer hoops through which to jump, and when one buys from an individual, one knows exactly what they're getting. Just today I sold an Eddystone to a fella and I was able to answer every question he had about the rifle and sent him detailed photos of any part of the rifle he wished to see. That's not going to happen with a CMP rifle.

35W
 
Elkins45 said:
One factor that might be in play now that wasn’t a few years ago is that Garlands are still legal in most if not all of the “ban” states because they are <10 rounds and don’t accept detachable magazines.
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Orest, the COO of the CMP up until a few years ago, once said that they sold more M1 Rifles to Citizens in the Soviet Provinces of the People's Republic of California...

... than all of the Rest of America - Combined.




GR
 
35 Whelen said:
Probably because of the fewer hoops through which to jump, and when one buys from an individual, one knows exactly what they're getting. Just today I sold an Eddystone to a fella and I was able to answer every question he had about the rifle and sent him detailed photos of any part of the rifle he wished to see. That's not going to happen with a CMP rifle.

35W
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And you have to be an American Citizen.


The CMP spent ~ $4 Million Dollars getting the M1 Rifles back from the Philippines.

~ 86,000 of'em.

... or ~ $46/pop.

Plenty of headroom in $650/$750/$1050 plus auction... for rem and refurbishment... and a little profit.

:D




GR
 
cfullgraf: yes, I knew about govt. arsenal mixing components on all of the Garands years ago, but didn't think it was necessary to explain the obvious (to "the choir", so to speak).

The only reason I stated what most of us knew years ago, was because I had read of some buyers in the past trying to get sellers to cut Garand prices, Because of the mixed components.

Having been friends with a guy who served for years on the Navy Rifle Team (who competed a bit with Garands, not just ARs) prompted him to try to teach me some of the basics about these.

Garandimal: There were a number of Greek returns at the CMP Anniston store when I visited about seven years ago.
The Special Service Grade, at that approx. time (in A.), seems to have consisted of a number of these rifles which had been stored in Greece, or at least that is what a CMP staffer told us at that time.
 
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lysanderxiii said:
Before the 1980s, M1 Garands were rare as hens teeth in the US and commanded a high price when they were seen for sale. Almost all of them in the states were owned by the Government and sold one per lifetime through the DCM.
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Not so. I remember in the early 70's Woolworths Variety store had fiber barrels full of Garands and M1 Carbines. Carbines were just under $100 and Garands just over. NOBODY wanted them.
 
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