CMP Rack grade

[Marvso]

Pics will come, but in the meantime........Holy crap, I cannot believe what they sent me! Except for some mismatched wood, these rifles are beautiful. Both have replacement barrels with bright shiny bores and there is no pitting visible on the receivers and very little underneath.

Both have USGI walnut stocks, with mismatched handguards. Both stocks are cartouched with Department of Defense cartouche on one and a SA rebuild cartouche on the other. One has a VAR barrel, and the other a Marlin.

Score!!!

Good score! i'm dabating whether to get one. i already place an order for the round 3 of the 1911s

[bigbossman]

I did a bit of cleanup on the wood. The stocks were USGI walnut with cartouches, so all I did with them was to clean the grime off with mineral spirits and re-oil with BLO. They came out very nice. One of the front hand-guards was walnut, so it got the same treatment. The other front hand-guard and the two rear hand-guards are some sort of other wood - looks like Beech? Little "half moon" grain markings, and does not look like standard Birch.

Anyway - I sanded them smooth as they were rough, glued up some cracks in the front one, and then stained with red mahogany stain. They darkened up quite a bit, but still a couple shades lighter than the walnut. I ordered a "USGI hardwood stock - good" from GPC, as well as a walnut rear hand-guard "USGI used - fair". My plan is to refinish the walnut rear and pair it with the walnut stock and front guard, and refinish and stain the hardwood stock to hopefully match the Beech hand-guards. That way I'll have two nice Garands with new replacement barrels that have (more or less) matching furniture. And bonus - a leftover USGI walnut stock with a DAS cartouche left over for another day.

I can't wait to get these things back together and shoot them. I'm really curious about how they'll do.

[csm14thbn]

I picked up 2 RGs. Both had decent barrels and minor pitting under the woodline. rear sight, op rod, trigger group had heavy pitting.

[Enzo rules]

It sounds like you scored big time. Can’t wait to see the pictures.

[socal m1 shooter]

[...]
Both have USGI walnut stocks, with mismatched handguards. Both stocks are cartouched with Department of Defense cartouche on one and a SA rebuild cartouche on the other. One has a VAR barrel, and the other a Marlin. Score!!!

Good for you. Watch out, you might get the fevah and start ordering more. It's kind of like buying a lottery ticket, and sometimes you score.

The VAR barrels are generally good, and likewise the Marlin barrels, which are comparatively uncommon.

The drawing number on the post-war batch of Marlin barrels starts with 65... That batch is of Marlin barrels is well-regarded.

Pictures, please...

[bigbossman]

Good for you. Watch out, you might get the fevah and start ordering more. It's kind of like buying a lottery ticket, and sometimes you score.

The VAR barrels are generally good, and likewise the Marlin barrels, which are comparatively uncommon.

The drawing number on the post-war batch of Marlin barrels starts with 65... That batch is of Marlin barrels is well-regarded.

Pictures, please...

Pics soon - the guns are apart now while the wood gets refurbed.

I've already ordered six Garands this year (two SG and four RG) so your warning is a bit tardy. Not counting those, I already had 5 in my collection from years past, including a DCM issued M1-D. So, I'm no stranger to this particular disease.

[socal m1 shooter]

I've had the fevah, too, understand completely.

Part of the problem is, humans usually respond to intermittent reinforcement, which buying CMP Garands can deliver. Between twenty and thirty years ago, I think there was a lot more intermittent reinforcement. But it seems to still be available.

[darkwater]

It's a toss of the dice, for sure...this guy received one this month with a bulged barrel: https://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=303495

[bigbossman]

It's a toss of the dice, for sure...

Yeah, I agree. I've gotten lucky twice, with four decent rifles. These last two have new or near new barrels. I can theoretically order two more this year, but I think I'm going to push back from the table and "count my winnings".

[pd5190]

Ordered from the CMP for the first time, we will see what my rack grade looks like. How long from the time of order till when they arrive is typical?

[darkwater]

Very nice!

Just read that they raised the prices by $50 this week...Rack Grade now $700 instead of $650, and Expert $1150 instead of $1100. Probably a combination of inflation and low supply...they seem to be down to rack grades that are not as good, or expert grades if they replace the main components with new. They also eliminated Service and Field Grade from their price list, so those will probably be in store only sales due to short supply, though they also have a "coming soon" placeholder for RackPlus at $850. Hope they can get the South Korean rifles back at some point, or we might be down to a few small returns here and there and the prices will really climb.

[bigbossman]

Ordered from the CMP for the first time, we will see what my rack grade looks like. How long from the time of order till when they arrive is typical?

This last time it was maybe only 3-4 weeks.

[bigbossman]

Very nice!

Just read that they raised the prices by $50 this week...Rack Grade now $700 instead of $650, and Expert $1150 instead of $1100. Probably a combination of inflation and low supply...they seem to be down to rack grades that are not as good, or expert grades if they replace the main components with new. They also eliminated Service and Field Grade from their price list, so those will probably be in store only sales due to short supply, though they also have a "coming soon" placeholder for RackPlus at $850. Hope they can get the South Korean rifles back at some point, or we might be down to a few small returns here and there and the prices will really climb.

Raised the price, eh? I'm definitely "out".

[pd5190]

My order went in with a $650 dollar cashiers check so we will see what they say,

[pd5190]

Looks like they accepted my $650 dollar order as they sent a thank you notice.I had mailed the order on Monday before the price increase.