[Infidel]

So as some of you no doubt have deduced I'm a big fan of the M1 Garand. I've been lusting after one for about 4 years but have kept putting it off because life kept getting in the way and the money was needed elsewhere. This year I said no more putting it off as the CMPs stocks are dwindling so when my tax return came in I filled out the paperwork and got it in the mail. Paperwork went in the mail on 2/20/13. I ordered a Service Grade HRA M1 Garand (I wanted a Springfield but they were sold out), 200 rounds of Greek M2 Ball ammo, the M5A1 Bayonet with M8A1 Scabbard and 25 enbloc clips. Saturday I was perusing the CMP web site and noticed that CMP will no longer ship rifles directly to customers in NY state and all rifles must ship to an FFL "S#!T" I yelled "[email protected]$n stupid SAFE Act" now I needed to secure an FFL to ship to. As luck would have it I have an old friend with an FFL so I fired off an e-mail to him and he e-mailed me a copy of his FFL which I quickly forwarded to the CMP. Received a call today from a very nice lady named Vicky in customer service at the CMP who told me she got the FFL info and there would be no issues. She went on to tell me that she had not received my paperwork yet and that it was probably in the sales department still. She also told me that they were currently processing orders from January and were back logged roughly 60 days or so. I figured I would start this thread to document the process of my order with the CMP so as to encourage anyone that might be considering ordering an M1 Garand from them. I will be updating the thread as info comes in from the CMP and will of course post pictures and a range report when the rifle arrives. I'm ecstatic to finally be waiting for my Garand to arrive but feel the waiting may very well be the death of me.

-Infidel

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

I've actually considered a trip to Alabama to hand pick my choice and just window shop. The M1 is a great peice of US military history, accurate, and can lay down a decent rate of fire. Never could find an appreciation for the ping when it ejects the 8 round clip though, lol.

My consolation prize, so far, is a 1943 No 4 MK 1 Enfield.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Looking forward to hearing more about your M1 Garand! Its always been one of my personal favorite guns long before I bought mine! Its a fine gun design, feels like a riflemans rifle in the hand and its chambered for the wonderful 30-06 to boot! I think its a seriously under rated gun by preppers and survivalist that deserves a lot more consideration than it gets. Plus during this ammo shortage, 308 has been hard to come by but 30-06 has almost always been on the shelves and at a reasonable price too.

I really need to quit procrastinating on mine. Needs a new gas assembly and it needs a new barrel. Probably wouldnt hurt to refinish the metal and the stock too as an added plus and get my MI Garand looking Grand again!

 

[Old Man]

Great! i pick mine up last year in alabama over the 4th of July week and love mine. I really enjoy going to the store a pickup out the one I wanted. They where great. Very helpful. They save me a lot of money by showing me the ropes!

 

[rice paddy daddy]

My first M1 Garand was bought in 1972 at Woolworth's Department Store for $268. Of course, that price back then would probably equal $1000 now due to inflation. It's long gone, my collection financed my divorce in '85.
My current Garand is just a shooter, a real mix master. Springfield reciever built in April '45, Winchester bolt, Springfield trigger group, International Harvester barrel dated 12-54, National Match op-rod and gas cylinder.
It's a Korean return/CMP, and it's well worn, to put it nicely. It looks like it was drug behind a jeep, actually, but that's just fine with me. Gives it character. Cost was $600.
I found a genuine issue M5 bayonet and scabbard that cost less than $100. And those are pretty much gone, about all that's left are M5A1's and reproductions.
I'm old school, was in when Moses was a Corporal, and I think that bayonets are mandatory for my milsurp rifles.
If an M1 Garand does not strir a persons soul when he holds it in his hands, he might just as well go buy a plastic and alloy AR.

 

[Prince Humperdink]

Out of all the rifles I've had,have,or have built,I always go back to the U.S.CAL.30 M1!Last year I did all of my Antelope hunting with the M14 type and although it is similar,I still chose the M1 for Deer hunting.My favorite out of the bunch is My Winchester made gals,even over the "correct"HRA,and WW2 Springfields!I believe that the draw for me is the history,usefulness,and they just feel good.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Out of all the rifles I've had,have,or have built,I always go back to the U.S.CAL.30 M1!Last year I did all of my Antelope hunting with the M14 type and although it is similar,I still chose the M1 for Deer hunting.My favorite out of the bunch is My Winchester made gals,even over the "correct"HRA,and WW2 Springfields!I believe that the draw for me is the history,usefulness,and they just feel good.

Yeah I have a M1A too and I still very much prefer the M1 Garand to it 8 days a week for just about any situation. Both are excellent guns though. Wouldnt snub either!

Man I wished I could run across a bayonet for my M1. Id even settle for a repoduction if it was of quality material and workmanship just to add a little nostalgia to my gun if nothing else. Mines not collectable so I cant justify the expense of finding and buying an original.

I will admit that while the AR is a good general purpose combat arm, I was sure glad to be forunate enough to get one of the first few broken out of the warehouse M-14's when I was in 'Stan. Of course I wasnt supposed to be in a combat role when I got sent there from the ship to Kandahar to support the Marines that just took the air port over. When I deployed to Iraq twice I took a couple from the ship with me from our Armory. I think the Navy was still the only ones that had them in active service before 9/11. It was great to see another old war horse from the past serve the day. It made for a great DM gun!!!

 

[Infidel]

I can tell you if Alabama wasn't such a long drive I would have gone and picked up mine at the store instead of the mail order route. Special grade Springfields are still available but I didn't have the extra $$$ for that so I opted for the HRA.

-Infidel

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

Man, back in my younger days we used to do Groton, CT to P-Cola runs over 3 day weekends.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Yeah I have a M1A too and I still very much prefer the M1 Garand to it 8 days a week for just about any situation. Both are excellent guns though. Wouldnt snub either!

Man I wished I could run across a bayonet for my M1. Id even settle for a repoduction if it was of quality material and workmanship just to add a little nostalgia to my gun if nothing else. Mines not collectable so I cant justify the expense of finding and buying an original.

I will admit that while the AR is a good general purpose combat arm, I was sure glad to be forunate enough to get one of the first few broken out of the warehouse M-14's when I was in 'Stan. Of course I wasnt supposed to be in a combat role when I got sent there from the ship to Kandahar to support the Marines that just took the air port over. When I deployed to Iraq twice I took a couple from the ship with me from our Armory. I think the Navy was still the only ones that had them in active service before 9/11. It was great to see another old war horse from the past serve the day. It made for a great DM gun!!!

My Basic Training rifle was the M-14. My stateside issue rifle in a field artillery unit was an M-14. I was not issued an M16A1 until my all expense paid trip to The Pearl Of The Orient.:mrgreen:
Today I own a Springfield Armory M1A built with USGI parts. I do not care to own an AR. If that tells you anything.

 

[Ripon]

A 22LR "garand" trainer was just listed on our gun forum. Author said less than 10k were made and his was never fired, new in the box, and it looks like it. $2500 it's more of a collectors item then a trainer now. It didn't look identical to the garlands though.

I still see them listed on our forum for $800-1200 depending on condition or accessories, sometimes with a little ammo. They are popular in CA if they are over 50 years old they are cash and carry, no background check or govt paper work. That ends 12/31 this year.

 

[Infidel]

A Garand trainer in .22lr would be awesome. Gonna have to check gun broker and see if there's any listed and what they might be going for.

-Infidel

 

[Ripon]

Just as a follow up someone listed a really nice condition "Tanker" for $1250.

 

[Infidel]

Time for an update, it's now been 60 days since I sent out my paperwork and I hadn't heard anything from the CMP so I sent of an e-mail inquiry. Got a response from Vicky today who told me she's processing NY orders from 2/4/13 today so looks like it's going to be closer to 90 days before I get the rifle. I was hoping it would be here a lot sooner but I guess they're as swamped as everyone else. I may be partially to blame for this since every time the topic comes up on any of the forums I'm active on I tell people to order theirs now and not to wait since supplies are limited. Anyone that may be waiting for their rifle or is considering ordering one should be aware that the wait time is longer than CMP predicted.

-Infidel

 

[paraquack]

CMP's new wait for Aguila 22LR is like 6 months, they're guessing. Thank god I got my carbine ammo a while ago.

 

[Infidel]

Good news on the Garand front:
Checked my checking account this morning and saw 3 charges from the CMP to it. Ok so at least I know we're getting somewhere but it seems like I got over charged so I go onto the CMPs web site and check my account. There's 3 separate orders now pending, 1 for the rifle, 1 for the ammo and one for the bayonet and en-bloc clips. The order for the rifle looks like I got over charged so I take a closer look and notice that the item number for the rifle is not for an HRA rifle but for a WRA rifle (Winchester). A quick call to Vicki to find out what happened and she pulls my order form, she goes on to tell me that I wrote the item # for a WRA rifle and the description for an HRA rifle so they pulled a WRA. This is good news for me because a Winchester would have been my first choice anyway but I thought they were completely sold out of them (as well as Springfields) and that the HRAs were all they had left. Vicki explained to me that they aren't sold out but their supplies of WRA rifles is very low and they are not accepting any more orders for them. I'm not sure why they accepted my order for a WRA, maybe they felt bad because I had waited so long, who knows but it looks like in about 2 more weeks or so I should be the proud owner of a Winchester built M1 Garand, now if it could only come in with a WWII serial number but that's probably too much to hope for.

-Infidel

 

[Infidel]

3 boxes arrived from the CMP today, got the ammo (200rds of M2 ball in a .30 Caliber ammo can), Bayonet with scabbard and 25 en-bloc clips.....Ping! Also got an e-mail that the rifle has shipped today and is due for delivery at my FFL tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to pick it up on Friday, I can't wait. Pictures to follow after the rifle arrives and I get a chance to clean her up.

-Infidel

 

[Verteidiger]

I was hoping you would post pictures, Infidel...!

And congratulations on your Garand, a true piece of American history.

 

[HuntingHawk]

I can tell you if Alabama wasn't such a long drive I would have gone and picked up mine at the store instead of the mail order route. Special grade Springfields are still available but I didn't have the extra $$$ for that so I opted for the HRA.

-Infidel

What is wrong with the CMP North store in Ohio?

 

[Infidel]

Final Installment

Got to go pick up the Garand today, I'm bouncing off the walls now wanting to go shoot it. Here's the pictures I promised:


The CMP Bounty


As you can see rifle gauged 1 for both the muzzle and throat


A true Winchester receiver, SN puts date of manufacture at 1943







Tore the rifle down tonight and found that the barrel is dated 8-66 and stamped VAR (Danish I believe). Trigger housing is stamped SA as is the Op Rod. Bolt is stamped HRA. Didn't find any markings on the rear sight to designate manufacturer although I'm sure they are there. Stock is stamped RA-P so looks like it was re-arsenaled at Raritan Arsenal in Jersey.

I found no pitting on any of the metal and the Parkerizing looks very nice. Wood has some dings in it including a really big one on the right side right above the trigger. This was without a doubt the cleanest surplus rifle I've ever dealt with, not one drop of cosmoline anywhere on it (the bayonet had more cosmoline on it).

Anyone considering buying one of these old war horses should definitely get on the stick and get that paperwork in. Total wait time from paperwork going out until rifle received was 3 months 11 days, longest 3 months of my life I think. I've been wanting one of these since I was a kid and just never got around to it until now, well worth the wait. Can't put the thing down, it's like holding a piece of history. With the receiver dated to 1943 I think it's almost certainly seen combat in WWII and possibly Korea too.

-Infidel