why are CMP garands favored?

[mtykim]

i've noticed that every time a Garand comes up for sale, people ask if it came from CMP. i'm wondering why that is such a big deal. aren't CMP rifles being sold nowadays just pieced together at their warehouse with a mixture of parts from different rifles, period and manufacturers... meaning a parts gun?

[Rumpled]

A parts gun rearsenaled in a real armory.
Checked out by honest people using Army protocols.
Usually the best price.
Supports kids shooting.
History.
Just a few off the top of my head.

[Definately Not Monkeyboy]

Normally they are in better shape than the ones you find at, say, Big 5. And while nearly all of them have been rebuilt, they were rebuilt to aresenal specs and checked out by the CMP techs. As opposed to picked up out of a crate coming from whoknowswheristan and put on the shelf. With the CMP guns, you at least have some assurance that the gun was put together correctly after the tear-down. That is not the case with other guns.

-Not Mb

[HskrVern]

Normally they are in better shape than the ones you find at, say, Big 5. And while nearly all of them have been rebuilt, they were rebuilt to aresenal specs and checked out by the CMP techs. As opposed to picked up out of a crate coming from whoknowswheristan and put on the shelf. With the CMP guns, you at least have some assurance that the gun was put together correctly after the tear-down. That is not the case with other guns.

-Not Mb

^^^ this. Try asking the Big 5 guys if the C&R guns they carry are safe to fire. Its good for a laugh at least.

[michaeltpo]

I guess the quick answer is that you know with a CMP rifle that it was inspected by a CMP armorer and test fired prior to them selling it ( I think collector rifles are not test fired). You also know that they were not in private owners hands with all their questionable (bubba) practices and at least in theory had some government standards of maintenance and preservation applied to them. Governments practices vary of course between say the USA, Italy, Greece, Denmark and other.
The CMP will not sell reweld/questionable receivers and critical parts as shooting rifles and also have a good reputation of being very good about making things right (to the person they sold the rifle too in a reasonable amount of time) if a problem rifle should slip thru.
If you buy a rifle directly from the CMP you can buy with confidence it is (at least) the grade they say it is.

[sevensix2x51]

also, cmp rifles are like $400 less than anywhere else... thats a big factor for me. 40%.

[hnoppenberger]

CMP guns are always the best around, period. no import marks either.

[mtykim]

good points... assuming the people whose hands the rifle passed through since being sold by CMP didn't mess with it i guess. those Big 5 garands by the way have definitely seen better days.

[Definately Not Monkeyboy]

good points... assuming the people whose hands the rifle passed through since being sold by CMP didn't mess with it i guess. those Big 5 garands by the way have definitely seen better days.

Better decades, in most cases.

[Milsurp Collector]

aren't CMP rifles being sold nowadays just pieced together at their warehouse with a mixture of parts from different rifles, period and manufacturers... meaning a parts gun?

The CMP gets whole rifles returned to them via the Army, not just parts. The CMP armorers inspect them and replace parts if necessary, but they generally aren't assembling rifles from scratch from parts, except for the CMP Special Grade, which is marketed towards those seeking a "brand new" rifle for competitive shooting. The CMP Special Grade has a new barrel, new wood, fresh parkerizing, and possibly some new production small parts.

[run8]

I have a CMP that I got in a trade, the fellow reparked it and put a new stock on it, looks really nice, so nice I really don't want to shoot it.

Then I have a regular ole' CMP I got from another fellow, it's a good shooter, beat it up a bit, don't worry about breaking it type thing.

[Dr.Mauser]

I almost cried today when I went to Big 5...an early 2-mill Springfield, beaten to hell and back...the stock was destroyed, hand guard above the barrel in the band was broken and pieces were missing, when I opened the compartment in the butt of the stock, chunks of dirt real DIRT fell out onto the ground...It made me sad that the weapons that served so valiantly and were used by the greatest generation are being treated like such garbage...i wanted to cry :(

[DarkHorse]

I almost cried today when I went to Big 5...an early 2-mill Springfield, beaten to hell and back...the stock was destroyed, hand guard above the barrel in the band was broken and pieces were missing, when I opened the compartment in the butt of the stock, chunks of dirt real DIRT fell out onto the ground...It made me sad that the weapons that served so valiantly and were used by the greatest generation are being treated like such garbage...i wanted to cry :(

Not to mention they probably wanted $900 for "a real piece of American fighting history."

[Dr.Mauser]

they wanted $699. and that was the sales price!!!!! I was outraged! Because I could buy 1 from CMP for $595 and it would be at LEAST 5 or 6 times the condition of the big 5 rifles.