What mods does a CMP Garand need?

[mhdishere]

If I buy a Garand from CMP for high-power service-rifle competition, are there any modifications I'll need to make to the basic rifle before I can shoot it in competition? Is it accurate enough to at least get me started? Sights? Trigger?

 

[30Cal]

There's a pretty good post over on www.nationalmatch.us about how much accuracy you need in a rifle. As long as the rifle is more accurate than you can shoot it (offhand, sitting and prone), then it will give you the good feedback you need to improve quickly. Most likely, the rifle will be fine as is for your first season.

I would recommend that you get the trigger worked over (to a crisp 4.5#'s--the minimum allowed). Should cost around $30. It makes a big difference, especially in offhand. The guys at your local match should be able to point you in the right direction as far as who does good work locally--you don't want to pay a non-expert to work on your rifle. The local armorer will typically have a much quicker turn-around time than the larger outfits (such as Fulton). I've also got a pretty decent list of names and contact info of armorers if you need one.

Scott Duff's M1 Owner's Guide is a good primer on the M1 and should go into the various match tweeks. Most of the modifications done to bring a rifle into match condition (a.k.a. national match--glass bedding, NM sights, unitized handguard, gas cylinder modifications) will disqualify the rifle for use in the CMP JC Garand Match (but that particular match isn't all that frequent anyways--maybe 3x a year around my parts if I want to drive 2 hrs--most matches are Highpower Rifle matches shot under NRA rules).

The best advice I can give is to shoot your first matches ASAP. Don't make the mistake of holding off because you don't have a match rifle, scope, mat, or other gear. The sooner you begin shooting, the sooner you'll start improving. Once you've gotten a little experience under your belt, you'll have a much better idea about how to spend your money.

Ty

 

[VG]

You are better off keeping the rifle more or less stock and shooting in JC Garand matches. A trigger job is OK for them but many other changes are not.

The first thing to do when you get one is fire some 100 yard groups with good ammo (preferably several loads) and see what you get. Over the last five years I bought about a dozen CMP Garands, test-fired them, and kept the best shooters for further refinement. A Danish Navy rifle with tight VAR barrel should have been the best - but a well worn H&R would regularly get me higher scores in matches and never had a single malfunction. Go figure.

You've got to hang around the Jouster Garand forum and listen to some of the old military Armorers to get a feel for tweaking them. I sent the VAR to DGR for final fitting of the stock and adjustment of everything else, but haven't fired it enough to know what it will do best.

 

[ocabj]

If I were going to take an out of the box CMP M1 Garand and shoot it in service rifle competitions, my main concerns would be to 1) make sure it is functioning properly, 2) has some decent accuracy, and 3) replace the battle sights with National Match sights.

1. A rifle that functions properly is obviously the most important aspect. If a rifle is unsafe to shoot or malfunctions during a match, it's not a good thing.

2. 3MOA or better is what you'll need to keep it in the black on service rifle targets.

3. You'll definitely want a National Match rear sight and a front sight post. Not only is the 1/2MOA adjustments a great improvement over the 1MOA adjustments of the standard battle sights, the thinner front post is also beneficial.

 

[DMK]

A new tight stock might help and won't disqualify you for anything. Some of the service grades are very loose.

 

[nbkky71]

You can sink quite a bit of cash into building a full-tilt, match-conditioned M1 Garand. At the very minimum, get the trigger worked on & bed the stock too.

Be aware that the rules for the John C. Garand and NRA highpower matches can be quite different when it comes to your M1. An M1 rifle that is NRA highpower-legal may not be legal for use in the Garand matches.

Of course, that just means you'll have to get two Garands!

 

[antsi]

If you are a beginner match shooter, the only thing I would change from CMP would be getting a better sling.

 

[Dienekes]

Start slowly and work with what you have. The M1 is very much a do-it-yourself experience if you want it to be. As mentioned there is a lot of good info over at CSP from old timers. A very good starting book is "Precision Shooting With The M1 Garand" by Roy Baumgardner. Well worth the cost and lots of info you can use. Kuhnhausen's book on service rifles is highly technical but good. Kulek's also.

I got my first M1 back around 1985 for $165, albeit with a lot of red tape and about an 8 month wait. Eventually had it built up to NM standards.

The one I use most now was a "minus wood" rifle for $265. I did everything but the trigger work on it, including rebarreling. Farmed the trigger housing out to Fulton Armory. Cost and turnaround both reasonable.

I would love to build up a 7.62 but it may be a while before I can justify it.

These old war horses are great pieces of history on top of the sheer enjoyment they bring with them. Welcome on board.