A little road trip to the CMP South store.

[GunnyUSMC]

My buddy Matt arrived Wednesday from South Dakota. He came down to visit, eat good food and work on some of his rifle stocks.
When I picked him up at the airport we kind of joked about going to the CMP in Anniston Alabama.
Thursday we went to a few gun shops to see what was in the area. I joked about going to CMP to get a M1. Matt asked if I was serious and I said, what the hell, let’s go. So yesterday, Friday, we got up at 3am and hit the road. We only had to drive 448 miles to get. We arrived around noon.


They didn’t have a lot of rifles out but I picked out a Winchester manufactured in May of 1944. And Matt got him a Springfield manufactured in September 1943. These are from the batch of rifles that cams from Turkey.
We Met a young man named Nathan that worked at CMP. He told me that he had just built the Winchester and it had a Winchester barrel on it. Nathan was very knowledgeable and helpful.
Here are the rifles. Winchester on bottom.
View attachment 784672

Here’s a tidbit of information about the Turks and the M1s..
The Turks were well known for their use of bayonets and hand to hand fighting. The Turks were given M1 during the Korean was. They didn’t care for the short M5 bayonets so, they converted some of their Mauser bayonets to fit the M1s.


I think I would prefer the Turkish bayonet in a hand to hand fight.





All in all we had a great trip and had a lot of fun.

 

[WestKentucky]

I can’t say I blame them on not liking the m5. I’m not sure that a longer blade necessarily makes it a better pike, the added weight probably made it slower in handling, but the m5 looks too small for that rifle.

 

[homers]

Very cool. What grade Garands are those? I just ordered a Service grade but don't expect to get it for a couple of months or so.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here are the tags.

 

[AABEN]

What are they going for. Thanks

 

[GunnyUSMC]

What are they going for. Thanks

The Winchester was $830 and the Springfield was $630

 

[CapnMac]

Bravo.
Nice.

 

[HankC]

These 2 field grade look pretty good! Do you pay tax when you buy at store? They used to let store buyers ship to home and not paying tax but I heard they change policy.

$630? I thought field grades are $650 now.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The marked price on the rifles were $850 and $650.
Here are pics of the receipt.

 

[HankC]

Thank you. Bayo comes with rifle? I don't see on your receipt.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thank you. Bayo comes with rifle? I don't see on your receipt.

They have bayonets at CMP, but not the Turkish converted ones. I picked the Turkish one at a gun show in Birmingham a few years ago. The M5 I bought from a member on another forum.

 

[FL-NC]

First Garand?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

First Garand?

Nope. You can say it’s my 3rd.
I got my first one over 20 years ago when my father in law passed away. My second one is an old VFW funeral rifle. It has a BFA on the end of the barrel. The stocks was painted black and the bore is trash. I may have it refurbished with a new barrle.

 

[rdnktrkr]

These 2 field grade look pretty good! Do you pay tax when you buy at store? They used to let store buyers ship to home and not paying tax but I heard they change policy.

$630? I thought field grades are $650 now.

They started giving a $20.00 credit when they ran out of the grey cases, just after they had a $20.00 increase.

 

[rdnktrkr]

Gunny you will enjoy those, when I go to the range with one of mine I enjoy watch everyone ooh & ahh over them, sometimes I will go with only 100yr old rifles when I know there will be some youngsters there and let them handle them

 

[bbqreloader]

nice grab! I am still torn between getting the new stock vs a USGI stock. Too late to worry about it since I just dropped it off at the gunsmiths for a once over. At least it gives me a project to work on.

 

[HankC]

I'm in Ohio, thinking of making a trip to North Store and watch the CMP forum North Store reports for several weeks. Seems like pretty empty on Garands! Those 100K Turkey Garands probably all delivered to the South Store! They probably forgot North is where they do National Matches.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Some of y’all may remember, I am a big fan of Turkish rifles. I have collected a few over the years. These are just my Turkish Mausers. I have one of their Berthier Forestry carbines and a No4 Mk1 Enfield that was used by the Turks.


So when I found out that they had M1s from Turkey, I had to have one. The Winchester I got has seen hard use, but is just what I wanted.
Here is the plan. Clean up the stock, removing the dirt and grime but leaving all the dings and dents. Now I know that someone will say that by cleaning the stock I will be removing the patina. But before that person let’s everyone know that they don’t know what they are talking about, just sit back and learn.
Here is the stock. It’s pretty dirty and has a good bit of cosmoline on it. And there was some sand inside the stock.

 

[bannockburn]

Gunny

Holy Moly, that's a lot of Turkish Mausers! That's probably more than I have ever seen in all my years of going to gun shows and gun shops! You never fail to amaze me with your bottomless pit gun collection!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

With a mild cleaner that will not damage the wood, I like to use Tilex bathroom cleaner, spray the stock down.


You will see the dirt and grime start to melt away.


Use a scrub brush and lightly scrum the stock.


Some will call this patina, but it’s just dirt and oil. The patina is the surface of the stock that has aged and weathered over the years, not the dirt and grime that gets on it.


After cleaning you need to rinse the cleaner off the stock. You are not trying to soak the stock, just wash off the cleaner. Dry the stock with rags or paper towels then set it in a cool dry place to dry, like inside the house. Do not set out in the sun or use heat to speed up the drying time. This should take from 8 to 12 hours.

 

[Homerboy]

Nice rifles, but MAN, prices have gone up! My service grades were $675 and $730, bought six months apart, about 4 years ago. What are Service grades going for now?

I built a Cosmo oven but the stuff just kept leaking out. I did the same cleaning method as you, but I used Purple Power. Lightly scrubbed with sponge and hosed off. When dry, a few coats of BLO and I was done.

I’ve had 3 Garands. I only have 2 now. A 1944 Springfield and a 1955 HRA. The HRA looks like it was never even issued, but it did come with new CMP wood. What I would really like is an M1 Carbine. I missed out on the last CMP run.

 

[dh1633pm]

Spent some time in Turkey during the war. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thanks for sharing the info on your new Garands.

 

[FL-NC]

Nice rifles, but MAN, prices have gone up! My service grades were $675 and $730, bought six months apart, about 4 years ago. What are Service grades going for now?

I built a Cosmo oven but the stuff just kept leaking out. I did the same cleaning method as you, but I used Purple Power. Lightly scrubbed with sponge and hosed off. When dry, a few coats of BLO and I was done.

I’ve had 3 Garands. I only have 2 now. A 1944 Springfield and a 1955 HRA. The HRA looks like it was never even issued, but it did come with new CMP wood. What I would really like is an M1 Carbine. I missed out on the last CMP run.

I remember Garands as low as $300.

 

[FL-NC]

I personally know of several Garands that were recovered from enemy caches in afg.(no ammo or clips was found for them- otherwise, who knows- I may have been obligated to at least carry one on the truck). I wonder if turkey was the source of them.

 

[Homerboy]

I remember Garands as low as $300.

I know. But that was a LONG time ago. $830 for a field grade Winchester is high, IMO. I guess the Winchester name puts it higher priced, but I’d take a $750 Service grade Springfield (the one that started it all) to a Winchester Field Grade.

But glad the OP got a Garand. They ain’t going down in price. My first one was a 1942 Springfield. Bought for $675 about 4.5 years ago. Stupidly sold it for $975. The barrel looked original to the receiver so maybe somebody really wanted it. Barrel and receiver made within a month of each other and both Springfield.