What do you..M1

[eclancy]

Gentlemen,
...think has made the M1 Garand so collectable as well as a range rifle for shooters. I think that this started in the late '80's early 90's when shipments of these rifles started coming into the US from South Korea. These were the Blue Sky's and a few other gun dealers getting them into the US. Yes, there was a small jump in interest into these rifles. Now however, many more people found out about the CMP and Garand collecting is going thru the roof. With the prices so high people are checking to make sure that they have the correct M1 Rifle down to the smallest part. OK Here it comes. What made you get into M1 Garand Rifles, either collecting or for shooting?
Just looking for some input on this

Need some help with hits guys

Thanks again
Clancy
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[byf43]

What made you get into M1 Garand Rifles, either collecting or for shooting?

When I was a kid, there were two shows on TV that made me take note of the wonderful M1 Garand.
They were: "Combat!" and "The Gallant Men".

Not only did I fall for the Garand, I got it bad for the Thompson and especially, the 1918 and 1918-A1 BAR!!!!!!!

(You asked!!!!!)

 

[Khornet]

For me

it was a natural result of my love of WWII history. I got mine after the prices had begun to climb.

So WWII history led me to an M1, and learning the history of the rifle led me to understand more about WWII, then about Korea, then about high power match shooting, use of the sling, handloading, military ammo, on and on. May it never end.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

I bought one of those that came in prior to the DOD re-import BS under Klinton from S. Korea. There were dozens and dozens at the gun shows in 1990. I knew little about what I was getting into (I had just finished Basic/AIT) and was 19 years old. It would probably be a 'rack grade' with OK wood. It's been re-worked and is still my favorite. I got to know the weapon through DCM shoots. It was a cheap substitute for an m-14/m1a at first.

WWII nostalgia is really still going strong. It's amazing when you think that you can have, brought to your door, for a few hundred bucks, a functional and authentic weapon. And moreover, not some minor 'footnote' shoulder arm----a weapon so advanced that it is still up for the task in most respects.
Indeed, the more 'hardened' potential targets become--the more .06 looks like a sincere and logical alternative.

 

[ScottsGT]

I'm just a military gun buff. I first saw one up close at a gun show, but was saving for an M1A and bought it first. Then I started looking into the history of the M-14 and rediscovered the M1 and fell in love with it.

BTW, my two sons, 16 and 11, know about Garands from the video games and love mine. Little do they know I just got another one yesterday from the CMP and placed an order this a.m. for one more (both Woodless Danes) so I can give them each one on their 18th birthday.

 

[GCW5]

I wanted a Garand after watching the old TV series "Combat" when I was a kid. As I grew up, I was around alot of WW2 veterans, all loved them. When I went to college, I got to shoot the M1s the ROTC dept. had. Now I have mine, and need about 5 more from the CMP before they're gone.

 

[hagar]

Never really paid attention to them until I started highpower shooting. Saw them in movies, but it never sank in what they were, or that civilians could own one. Don't believe I ever saw one in a gunstore in the 80's. The only semi automatic rifles I was even remotely interested in back then, were FN-FAL's since I grew up in South Africa and had an R1 as a service rifle, and ARs since some of my coyote calling friends hunted with them and they seemed accurate. The first Garand I saw was a tanker 308 that a buddy of mine took on a coyote hunting trip in AZ, he could not hit the broadside of a barn with it, and it jammed constantly. Did not impress me much! Then I started shooting highpower in 2000, and saw these guys shoot these funky rifles that go "pingggg", and all of a sudden I wanted one! I enjoy shooting Garands more than anything else, but only against other Garands. Sadly the AR15 will kick their butt almost every time. I shot my latest addition, an HRA with a new CMP stock in a 100 yard match this weekend, and if it was the Garand match at Perry, I would have been real happy. Shot a 91 standing, 95 rapid prone, and 96 slow prone on the SR-1 target. I find the Garand to be the rifle I shoot the highest offhand scores with, but it takes more effort and it shoots 5's and 6's easily if you jerk the trigger! My highest ever offhand score, a 96, was shot with a 308 Garand that I since traded. 30/06 is cheaper nowadays anyway!

 

[Zullo74]

I got into highpower competiton in the very early '80s. Started with an 03A3 and then got my first Garand from DCM in 1983. I used it in competition for about a season and then went to the M1A (M14) platform and then on to the AR-15. I still shoot Garand matches with mine. I love them!

​

 

[donkee]

The ping.........

 

[Neo-Luddite]

Sadly the AR15 will kick their butt almost every time.

Only on Paper. Against a harder target than that and the limitations of the mouse gun become evident. It is a fine rifle when tuned for target shooting, no doubt--and an honest pleasure to shoot.

 

[Destructo6]

I think it was/is the interest in what Gramps/Uncles did during WWII. The same sort of widespread feeling that made movies like "Saving Private Ryan" possible and popular.

Putting a name on that feeling is a tad difficult, though.

 

[Zullo74]

I think it was/is the interest in what Gramps/Uncles did during WWII. The same sort of widespread feeling that made movies like "Saving Private Ryan" possible and popular.

Don't forget our fathers! Some of us are "old farts with rifles".

 

[Pilgrim]

I admire its....purity.

Pilgrim

 

[45Badger]

George Patton said it was an OK gun,. I figured if it was good enough for him, three would be good enough for me

I was into M1As first, and my gun nut buddy told me I "needed" an M1. He was right. I've got 3 Springfields (two are 6 digit serial#s). It is very satisfying shooting a gun that propably saw action in WW2. Love them, would love to have more.

 

[Dienekes]

I soaked up a lot of WWII history with a ETO father, "Combat!" and a steady diet of movies and fairly good books. Had already fired one even before I took the then mandatory ROTC and got quite a kick out of doing the manual of arms with the old warhorse.

Went off to my own war in 1965 and finally managed to get my "one in a lifetime" Garand from the old DCM for $165 in 1985. It has since been brought up to NM standards and in the years since I have used Garands, M14s, M1As and ARs. I like 'em all and love the Garand.

Got a wall-hanger, assembled-parts Garand in an oak case above me as I type this, in glass. Inside with it is the Bill Mauldin cartoon in which Willie is turning in his M1: "Please try to find her a good home".

Nothing else comes close, unless it's a good .45.

 

[Buckskinner]

Don Acrea

My Grandfather.

He was a 17 year old from Reno on the beaches of Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands, Christmas Islands. I've got his machete.

On his first beach, going through the jungle, I know he looked down the barrel of his M1 at a Japanese soldier looking down his own rifle barrel.

My grandfather walked away, alive and unbleeding, but wounded anyway.

All's he could say is he kept the same M1 in his hands for 3 years. Slept with it. It never failed him. Brought him home where he heads our clan to this day. He doesn't talk about it. At all.

He's a real American warrior.

And my hero.

 

[Onmilo]

"Milo, you can get a genuine GI M1 Garand direct from the DCM which is a government sponser of civilian and military shooters.
All you have to do is fill out the packet, show them you are a vet that has shot competetive matches, and send them two hundred and fifty bucks",,,,,,

 

[foghornl]

"BLAM!" 8x then "Ping!"

No rifle can compete with that.

Dad was a WWII vet, Pacific Theatre. Made M1's in the 50's when International Harvester had a chunk of the guv contract. So, guess what make MY M1 is......

 

[eclancy]

Gentlemen,
Some GREAT come Backs and neat stories.
Thanks for your input
Clancy

 

[Firehand]

From tv and movies and some things relatives said I'd come to think of it as 'THE' rifle. Finally had a chance to shoot an M1 Garand, and loved it. So when I could, I got one.

I think part of the current situation is due to 'Band of Brothers; it really caused a lot of people to have more interest in the men and tools. Which means more people want Garands and Carbines.

 

[SlimeDog]

Glad I'm not the only one who vividly remembers watching "Combat!" on TV years ago. My sons (11 and 7) and I have enjoyed some of the 1st season episodes courtesy of Netflix. They were remarkably well done and are still a lot of fun to watch.

The family library is full of Ambrose, Eisenhower, and Keegan books. So, another vote for, "general fascination with WWII initiated by youthful viewing of the "Combat!" TV series."

I'm patiently (well... sort of patiently) waiting for a CMP USGI Service Grade (98 days since my order posted) and it looks like they are finally moving again. I fully plan to shoot the heck out of it. There will also be a CMP M1 Carbine in the gun safe this year...

 

[Mr White]

My grandfather was in Africa and then Italy during WWII. My dad was always a WWII buff. When he died, I got all his militaria... books, videos, a huge box of various insignia and patches, daggers from Sicily, a fighting knife from Africa, a German bayonet.

All this stuff sat in boxes in my spare bedroom for a couple years...

Then I watched Band of Brothers.

That kind of got me going. I started reading the books, watching the videos, learning what the patches meant, finding out where the daggers and knives were from, learning about the weapons.

Around that time I became friends with a guy at work who's a real gun guy. He had a few Garands at the time and talked me into shooting in a Garand match one cold February day. I shot the match and shot a few more rounds after the match. That was the day, I fell in love with the U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30 M1.

When dad's estate was settled, I wound up with some disposable $$$.

That funded several of my gun purchases, including my M1.

So I guess I have my grandfather and my dad to thank for my love of the M1.

 

[Eightball]

I love the history, I find the design inherently innovative and original--american ingenuity at it's best. It represens more than "just a rifle"--it represents living history, at a time when gun designers weren't afraid to take risks and design outlandish thing, had their own ideas, and weren't just copying the latest fad; when weapons were designed to get the job done, without question, and last through ANY conditions without "meticulous" cleaning, and keep on trucking.

The hundreds of WWII/Korea movies I've seen didn't help much, either