I've only shot an M1 Garand once at a CMP shoot, but I've wanted one for quite awhile. It is such a historical and beautiful rifle.

I'm about 4hrs away from the CMP store in Ohio. I almost went there over the summer but it didn't happen. I'd like to physically see what I'm buying, instead of ordering online, but who knows how things will work out.

I don't know anything about manufacturers. Are some more sought after than others, or will it really matter, since it might be combined with a bunch of parts?

I'm looking at this as an investment, and probably won't shoot it much. Just mount it on my wall and admire it.

What do I want? I'm not sure of the price ranges between rack, field, service, and probably past that is out of my price point (~$1,000?)

If you're looking for a collectible in that price range, the Service Grade is probably the way to go, although I hear they are sometimes shipping with new wood these days since a lot of the rifles are coming back with unserviceable stocks.

I just ordered my first last month, and since I wanted a shooter, I ordered a Special Rack Grade. The rifle I got surpassed my wildest expectations...it's in great shape, and while it has a CMP stock and new Criterion Barrel on it, the receiver is an SA from 1942, and all the other parts except the bolt (which is an IHC) are SA as well. I know that due to it's being a rebuild it'll never have significant collector value, but I think it's awesome that it's a WW2 era receiver, and the new barrel makes it a great shooter.

It really depends what you want. Service Grades are going for $750. Special Racks are $650, and I saw they just added an option for a Winchester Special Rack for $700.

I've visited the North store once. A buddy and I (both night shifters) got up at 5:00am on our day off and drove 3.5 hours over there. While it was a cool experience, I was really underwhelmed with what they had available for sale. The affordable ($500-$700) rifles were in horrible shape with very poor selection, and anything halfway decent was $960 or above. There were some sweet M1Ds and some nice special grades to drool over, but they were way out of my price range. The rifle I got through mail order, and those I've seen from others, were far nicer than anything we saw in the store for a way better price. Maybe we went on a bad day...I wouldn't discourage you from going, but if you go and don't see what you're looking for, don't discount the mail order option.

Here's a recent thread with a few examples of the Special Rack Grade rifles from myself and member redlickranch.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...935/m/6100096164/p/1

The north store in camp perry is sort of the red headed stepchild of the cmp system, and doesn’t get the volume of rifles or selection the Alabama store does. If you go to the cmp forums people will give reports of
Visits with number of rifles and grades on a given visit. When they do get a shipment there is a feeding frenzy with lots of people buying them selection is very limited for long periods of time.
Unless you get lucky with a visit just after a shipment arrives, you are probably better off just mail ordering.
Almost all cmp rifles will be mixed parts, they will occasionally sell “correct” grade rifles in the over 1k price range,but these are few.
As far as makers, Winchester made the fewest followed by international harvester then H&R. The funny thing about the harvesters is that they were made mostly just after Korea and many were shipped as military aid brand new to countries like Vietnam and Iran so until some returns from the aid to the Philippines showed up in the last couple years they were rather rare. Also the later post Korea made H&R and IH rifles are more likely to be mostly original compared to the WWII rifles rebuilt multiple times

Many years back I went looking for a Springfield ww2 .Discovered they were mix masters.I stumbled over in the cheap section and discovered an I H brand new.
I could not get to the counter fast enough and get Mr Leon to write that baby up.
He liked my selection and when I asked about an 03 he said he had one in the back but could not bring it to the counter,but he would send it to my home sight unseen.
That is exactly what we did .
He sent both as the delivery was cheaper than the state tax.
I was a happy guy a few days later,they both gauged at 1 and 1 .

I've had a Springfield as my 1st CMP rifle. Recieved in the last year they sold for $165.00. Purchased my 2nd which belonged to a man who recieved his, a HRA in 1978. He never shot it. I certainly did. Which ever way you decide to buy one, save your box and documentation. Dont ever let go of those. Now, there were several bayonets used in different eras on the rifle. The longest being 16" in blade length. Those were ground back to 10" at some point in time. At Korea the ten inch were ground even shorter. Maybe 6". The nicest bayonet, IMO is the M5A1. It mates to the US M8A1 scabbard. You need to decide on the green canvas military sling or leather MRT. Perhaps a dozen 8 round enbloc clips. Some times cans of ball come up for sale which is already clipped up. You'll need a can or tube of white lithium grease. Chamber brush. Watch a few vids on proper loading of the rifle as the bolt can cause some serious thumb pain if allowed to slam shut on you..ouch. I believe the range rods for cleaning were steel T handle on brass rod. Field rod may have been sectional, either brass or steel. You can learn on line how to raise dings up out of its stock providing the woods fibers are not broken. Learn about oil to keep your stock nice. You might display it with mounted bayonet and scabbard, maybe boxes of ball, AP or tracer ammo. Might even locate a grenade launcher for it. Have fun and enjoy a great old rifle.

If you dont reload, stick to shooting surplus M2 ball ammo in your M1. Never use hunting rifle ammo. Besides, such lovely cans of M2 for sale @ Gunbroker. Stock up..

Yeah but if you buy it through the mail, if you don’t like the one you get it, you have an excuse to buy another one.

I’ve seen some very nice Garands at our local gun shows recently. And in beautiful condition. HR, IHC, Springfield. Prices ranged from 950 to 1300.00. At least you can look them over and pick the one you want. i Found one HR that was a complete HR build. Another was HR but with Springfield trigger housing. Might not hurt to look there either. I know there are a few people who pick them up from CMP, so they are from the CMP

Don’t rule out a local Armslist search. We bought our early 50’s H&R Garand that way.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
If you dont reload, stick to shooting surplus M2 ball ammo in your M1. Never use hunting rifle ammo. Besides, such lovely cans of M2 for sale @ Gunbroker. Stock up..

So I'm curious why you say don't shoot rifle ammo in a Garand? I thought the receivers were pretty robust? Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
If you dont reload, stick to shooting surplus M2 ball ammo in your M1. Never use hunting rifle ammo. Besides, such lovely cans of M2 for sale @ Gunbroker. Stock up..

So I'm curious why you say don't shoot rifle ammo in a Garand? I thought the receivers were pretty robust? Thanks

Garand gas systems are nonadjustable and somewhat fragile IF you run full-power .30-06 hunting ammo in them, particularly bullet weights over 168 grains. You can bend the op rod if you shoot hot hunting ammo in them. It's the type of powder that's the problem, really. Some people install Schuster gas plugs or other fixes to allow shooting factory .30-06 ammo, but most people either load to M2 or 168 GI match ammo spec or shoot surplus ball.

I am a board member of the Garand Collector association. If I can be of assistance, please email me.