RandolH
Member
This is pretty image heavy, so be warned.
I finally made my trip up to CMP North. It's about 300 miles north of where I live. I left around 6 and arrived around 11. It was fairly busy, there were maybe a dozen other people that came through. The staff was incredibly helpful, answering all my questions and fishing stock out of the back when none of the rifles on the floor were any good.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP1.jpg
Garand stocks, 5 bucks a piece.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP2.jpg
Plenty of ammo.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP3.jpg
A view from the entrance
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP4.jpg
Low-numbered 1903s and woodless Danish issue Garands.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP5.jpg
A view from the back. The garands for the most part line the walls except for the collector's grade ones. If you look on the right wall you can see 1917s. The ones they had looked almost perfect and in far better cosmetic shape than the 1903s.
I found more or less the rifle I was looking for, a Springfield 1903 Mark I with the original barrel that had the tightest muzzle and strongest rifling of the 1903s, correct stock, original (albeit heavily worn) finish and more cosmoline than anyone should ever have to deal with. Cosmoline cosmoline cosmoline.
Running a patch through the rifle extruded a barrel length's worth of the stuff in a solid cylinder the consistency of toothpaste and the color of, say, melted pudding pops, sort of a light brownish colour. I've never seen something so heavily packed.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-1.jpg
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-2.jpg
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-3.jpg
I've stripped the rifle down to wood parts and metal parts, the only metal left on the wood is the barrel band spring and I what I think may be two metal reinforcing rods where the receiver lies, they're so gooped up I can barely see them.
The small metal bits are in a plastic ziploc bag awaiting a dousing of mineral sprits for soaking. The barrel/receiver/trigger assembly will just get wiped down with paper towels along the external surfaces tonight and I'll work on it some more tomorrow with the rest of the metal parts.
I'm doing my best to get off the solidified cosmoline from the stock and handguard using a plastic disposable spoon. There is some beautiful wood under there and I don't want to use the harsher methods of cosmo stripping like oven cleaner, brake cleaner, degreaser or dishwasher, especially since it's an oil finish and it actually has cartouches and stuff with the dents, they're just hard to see since they're filled solid with cosmoline.
I finally made my trip up to CMP North. It's about 300 miles north of where I live. I left around 6 and arrived around 11. It was fairly busy, there were maybe a dozen other people that came through. The staff was incredibly helpful, answering all my questions and fishing stock out of the back when none of the rifles on the floor were any good.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP1.jpg
Garand stocks, 5 bucks a piece.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP2.jpg
Plenty of ammo.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP3.jpg
A view from the entrance
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP4.jpg
Low-numbered 1903s and woodless Danish issue Garands.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/CMP5.jpg
A view from the back. The garands for the most part line the walls except for the collector's grade ones. If you look on the right wall you can see 1917s. The ones they had looked almost perfect and in far better cosmetic shape than the 1903s.
I found more or less the rifle I was looking for, a Springfield 1903 Mark I with the original barrel that had the tightest muzzle and strongest rifling of the 1903s, correct stock, original (albeit heavily worn) finish and more cosmoline than anyone should ever have to deal with. Cosmoline cosmoline cosmoline.
Running a patch through the rifle extruded a barrel length's worth of the stuff in a solid cylinder the consistency of toothpaste and the color of, say, melted pudding pops, sort of a light brownish colour. I've never seen something so heavily packed.
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-1.jpg
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-2.jpg
http://locker.uky.edu/~rwhoop2/1903-3.jpg
I've stripped the rifle down to wood parts and metal parts, the only metal left on the wood is the barrel band spring and I what I think may be two metal reinforcing rods where the receiver lies, they're so gooped up I can barely see them.
The small metal bits are in a plastic ziploc bag awaiting a dousing of mineral sprits for soaking. The barrel/receiver/trigger assembly will just get wiped down with paper towels along the external surfaces tonight and I'll work on it some more tomorrow with the rest of the metal parts.
I'm doing my best to get off the solidified cosmoline from the stock and handguard using a plastic disposable spoon. There is some beautiful wood under there and I don't want to use the harsher methods of cosmo stripping like oven cleaner, brake cleaner, degreaser or dishwasher, especially since it's an oil finish and it actually has cartouches and stuff with the dents, they're just hard to see since they're filled solid with cosmoline.
