Buying a Garand

[22LongRifle]

For a newbie, to Garands, who wants to just shoot and not tinker with it, what would be the best option for purchasing a garand:

1)get a prem or super prem grade Garand from "the Garand guy"
2) get a service grade from the cmp,and hope for the best

Also, what about going for a .308 Garand? I could use it for my SEMO deer rifle as well. I know the 30/06 is a great round, but I can get 308 at Wally for hunting cheaper.

22lr

 

[GarandOwner]

It depends on what you want it for, if it's just a shooter - Get a CMP. If you want something a little more accurate, go with the garand guy....oh, and get it in .30-06.

Garands are somewhat finicky about what ammo you can use. Too fast or too slow a powder could cause excessive port pressure and bend or break your operating rod. Use Military surplus, PMC, Federal or Remington UMC. Hunting loads could damage your gun.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Affiliate with the CMP www.odcmp.com look up on what it takes to do so. You can never go wrong buying through the CMP. Receive an Undesirable M1 then call them up and explain the problem, they will make it good by asking you to send it back and giving you another.

 

[22LongRifle]

OK, I should have said its for Appleseed shoots. I'm not there to thread needles, but better groups and improved riflemanship is the name of the game. What I should have said is the Garand guy's SP grade worth the extra $300 ove the cmp's service grade. Or should I be comparing the SP grade to the cmp's "special" grade?

Ok, no Garand for hunting loads. Guess I can keep the ranges short and use the range stuff.

Why not 308? I would like to get a Savage Scout rifle set up in lefthanded version. I just like the idea of having my two main rifles to have the same ammo, to cut down on the reloading equipment.

22lr

 

[RustyHammer]

CMP ...

 

[iamkris]

Why not 308?

Having a Garand in 308 is like making Grace Kelly wear WalMart-special hot pants and a terry cloth tube top. It's just wrong.








To answer your original question...go CMP. I've yet to see a Service Grade that wasn't fine mechanically. Also, the differences in reloading equipment are negligible...a set of Lee dies for 30-06 will run you $25 and 100 brass will run you about the same...everything else is the same. If you can affort to get a gun in the first place, it seems like $50 is a small price to pay to have the proper caliber.

Oh, I like your movie quotes...I see Josey Wales, Enemy at the Gates and Quigley...not sure about the others

 

[22LongRifle]

That's too funny!

Ok, its in 30/06 then! I haven't bought the damn Scout rifle yet anyways!

About the quotes.....

1)Outlaw Josey Wales
2)The Mountian Men
3)Jeriamah Johnson
4)from the Louis Lamar "Scackett" series, Rev War time, I think The Blue Mountains or something.
5)Enemy at the Gates
6)Quiggely Down Under

22lr

 

[22LongRifle]

what's the waiting time for a rifle from cmp?

22lr

 

[iamkris]

I just got my 2nd service grade from the CMP. The top rifle in the pic is my CMP M1 that I got back in 2002...it is a 5-digit SA made in 1939. The lower pic is my most recent...it is a 2.5M SA made in Feb '44. I like the milled trigger guard.




Ordered August 16th, delivered to my front door Sept 11th.

Where are you in S IL? My old stomping grounds are in the Sullivan-Mattoon area but I used to go down to the Carbondale-Carterville area quite a bit to visit my best friend before he passed on to the big shooting range in the sky.

 

[fatelk]

I bought two Garands from the CMP earlier this year, both field grade. I'm very happy with both of them.

I just shot one of them at 200 yards a couple days ago for the first time. 5" at 200yrds isn't bad for a 65 year old rifle.

I haven't heard of anyone being disappointed with a rifle from the CMP. I wish I had started earlier.

 

[Mr White]

If you reload, you can load up some really accurate hunting loads for your Garand. Both Hodgdon and IMR 4895 and IMR 4064 are great powders for the Garand.

Is it even legal to hunt with a rifle in IL? I thought, maybe mistakenly, that IL was a shotgun-only state.

Kris - Nice rifles! I particularly like the almost black Parkerizing on the bottom one. That looks like a really nice gun.

 

[MechAg94]

If you want a shooter, go with the CMP by all means. I haven't really had to tinker with mine. The only thing I did was was change out the recoil spring. I would suggest getting a few spare parts like that form someone like www.sarcoinc.com. I haven't needed them, but I feel better having them.

At the same time you can get cases of ammo from the CMP for relatively cheap.

 

[22LongRifle]

My family is orginially from South East MO. So I have alot of farm to hunt on down around Dexter/Popular Bluff.

I do want a shooter, but I want to make sure that little 22lr jr will be able to be shooting this rifle is a few years also. I don't want a rifle that is already at its maxed out chambering and rifling. This rifle is to be used for Appleseed shoots and will be shoot regularly at the range. So if the CMP Field or Service rifel grade can handle it, I'm more than willing to try them. But I'm also willing to spend a little more on a better grade or rework to have a rifle that my daughters and son can use.

This is not going to be a wall hanger. Its ment to be a shooter, up to 400 rounds a weekend during Appleseed shoots, a a couple of hundred a month steady.

22lr

 

[fatelk]

For the price of a real nice M1, I got two from the CMP. I got in before the price increase, and paid just under $900, shipped, for the pair. The second one is for my son when he's old enough. At least that's how I convinced my wife, as he's not even two yet.

The bores on both of mine have seen a lot of use, but are still quite good. I'm used to looking down the barrels of Mosin-Nagants and such, and seeing uglyness, so I was impressed with the shiny sharp rifling on my Garands.
With the amount of rounds you plan on putting through yours, I would think you might want to put away a spare barrel either which way you go. I don't know exactly what the service life is for an '06 barrel, but thousands of rounds per year will wear out even a new barrel.

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

The CMP grades their rifles by muzzle and throat erosion and the "service grade" are in pretty good spec. If you shoot it out (that's a lot of rounds/week) you can always replace the barrel. I doubt that M1 barrels will disappear anytime soon, and if they do I'm sure somebody will start making "aftermarket" replacements.

 

[dmftoy1]

Is it even legal to hunt with a rifle in IL? I thought, maybe mistakenly, that IL was a shotgun-only state.

For deer hunting in IL it's shotgun, muzzleloader and handgun only. (archery also)

I second the CMP recommendation . ..in addition to getting a good rifle you also end up getting trained on it's usage and some marksmanship training as well!

I just ordered mine last Monday so I'm waiting!

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[spartacus2002]

Get a woodless M1 (if they still offer them) and a Boyd's stock. Will be tighter and better looking than CMP stocks. I've gotten a couple of CMP garands with stocks that look like they were oiled with whale fat

Two years ago I would have said rebarrel it in 7.62mm, but since all that has dried up I'd now say keep it 30-06 and buy as much of the Greek from CMP as you can before it gets more expensive.

Oh, for the days when 1000 rounds of Portuguese 7.62x51 was $135 shipped.......

 

[22LongRifle]

OK, so a Field Grade CMP rifle, or two, it is. I've been checking the schematics on the M1, its nothing I can't handle for upgrades myself ( ie, trigger upgrade or stock replacement) or my gunsmith (ie, replacing a barrel).

Now, to get some "clips" stocked up and some new dies.

22lr

 

[Neo-Luddite]

While we're on the subject-- the Greek made CMP ammo on clips is just a FANTASTIC deal and the quality is as good as any ammo the US ever made for the M-1.

Regardless of what M-1 you buy, see the CMP for a few cases while you can; it's packed in sealed tins on bandos w/ cardboards--and the crates are sealed by wingnuts!

I've concluded that the Greeks appreciated the M-1's more than we did.