Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles school me on garands

what does CMP rack grade refer to?Also te and me measurements.Which is better M1's by H&R or springfield

Rack grade is one of CMPs designations on the condition of the rifle, any corrosion, barrel wear and bore condition, throat and muzzle wear. If you check out the CMP web site, it explains what the different grades mean. Of course, the various grades are priced differently.

If you don’t have to worry about the price difference, a service grade means it meets the requirements to have been issued as an infantry rifle at the time. You’ll be more likely to get a nice rifle with a service grade.

Active duty and retired service members don’t have to meet the club affiliation or shooting requirements.

H&Rs will all be newer since they were after WW II. If you can go to one of the stores, the staff will help you get a good one and/or one with some desirable parts, etc. There are stores at Talladega, Talladega Shoooting range and at the Ohio store. The staff is there to help you and won’t try to stick you with a lemon.

I shot a CMP rack grade rifle at the CMP rifle camp at Camp Perry, OH back in the 90's! Looked like it came back from Europe after WWll dragged behind a boat by a rope. I thought it was a joke until I shot it and found it to be super accurate at 100/200/300 yards. Easily qualified with it and tried everything to buy it and bring it home but no deal. Shot a few since then but they were not as accurate as that one.

JDM

They are really fun to shoot, don’t forget to use the proper ammo.

CMP is at the end of the line for M1's and the condition shows. I was buying the Greek returns from years ago and they were in excellent shape. Some rack grades shoot great. I mostly bought Field and Service grades and still have a safe full of them. Look at them more than shoot now. Killed a doe with one with some reloads.

I wondered about the Greek rifles. I watched a video about the Phillipine rifles, and some were a little rough. It's great that you killed a deer with one. I've been thinking about hunting a little with mine, and using Hornady 150 gr. spire points and 47.5 gr. IMR4895.

Yes, Our rifles (and 1911s) were all set to come home from S Korea, but Obama put a stop to that.

I kept hoping Trump would bring them home. But he failed in that mission.

https://www.swatmag.com/article/south-koreas-m1-garands-will-they-ever-return/

Thanks guys
I sold my AK ZPAP so i heve a few "gun bucks" to play with.I've been considering a M1--we'll see what happens

The CMP grading criteria is primarily based on barrel bore condition, although they do take overall condition and pitting into account. They have a detailed description of the grading criteria on their website. If you have questions it is worth your while to read the descriptions carefully, and to go on the CMP discussion forum, where you will find detailed information.

The bore gage is a round metal pin gage with a very slight taper. It has evenly spaced marks which are numbered. You carefully insert the gage into the bore, and the number where it stops corresponds to the inner diameter of the bore above nominal spec. A brand new Criterion commercial barrel (which are very good barrels) will normally gage zero at the muzzle. A very badly worn barrel will allow the taper to enter farther, with a corresponding higher number. The breech bore gage has a longer length to account for the length of the chamber before the gage touches the throat.

The gage mst be used carefully, because it is tool steel quite a bit harder than the barrel. If the gage is forced at all, it will damage the barrel. If you go into the CMP outlet store with a bore gage in your pocket, you will be asked to leave, for this reason.

It has been a while since I got a Garand from the CMP. I preferred to get service grade rifles, because I was using them in the matches. A service grade barrel will have muzzle erosion less than 3 and breech wear less than 5, and all rifles sold by the CMP have headspace with a safe range and are test fired one clip (8 shots) Military barrels have a generous throat and brand new one usually gage "2" at the breech. "Service Grade" means that in the opinion of the Army, the rifle is in good enough condition that it could be issued out to a soldier headed out into the field (if they were desperate enough to issue Garands.) I had a Springfield that was really nice. I still have an H&R that was also a service grade, but looked like it had been dragged down a dirt road behind a pickup truck. Both were more than accurate enough for Garand matches after tinkering with the bedding a little. Condition is luck of the draw unless you go to a store and buy in person.

What do you want a Garand for? If you want a shooter, the best deal is the expert grade, which has a brand new barrel and stock, and has been re-parkerised. If you want a collector, it is best to look for something specific like a 5 or 6 digit serial number, or perhaps Marine corps specific re-build marks depending on your interests. Original sniper or match rifles get into very high dollars.

In my opinion FWIW, the very best Garands ever made were the post war Springfields above 5.8 million serial number. In my case I let the Springfield go and kept the IH and the H&R, just because I like them. I really like Garands, they are great rifles if properly assembled of decent parts. Good luck in your search.

All of the CMP M1 Garands are sub par. Please send them to me and I will dispose of them properly. Send a private text for my home address.


At one time I had 6 of them. I traded 3 of them for some Armalite AR's. Yep, I need a "he's stupid" sign.

kwg

kwg is incapable of disposing of those sub par Garands in a proper fashion, I have much more experience. I won't charge much at all to get rid of them for you in a safe manner.

Having owned a few Garands over the years (including a truly mint, completely all-matching 1953 IH, my $169 "one per lifetime" DCM rifle 30+ years ago) I have but one complaint about the current crop of CMP rifles - the new stocks they put on the rebuilt rifles. I only wanted a shooter grade gun 3 1/2 years ago so opted for the then "Special grade" - new Criterion barrel, new stock, etc. While it shoots very nicely the stock is a club, way thicker than an original stock from the wrist forward especially in the forearm. I've been threatening to slim it to original specs but simply haven't found the time. I'm told they used/use Boyd's stocks?

Yes, they are Boyds. They are even using reproduction parts now. It had to end sometime.

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! No budging in line !!

kwg

Yeah, the new stocks are pretty fat and square around grip. Of course they haven’t been through several armory rebuilds where the stocks were sanded on belt sanders…

Near as I can tell mine is entirely GI parts, late WWII serial number, forged (not stamped) trigger guard. It took about five clip-full's before it wore in a bit and started feeding and ejecting the clip perfectly. It'll slop 5 into 1 1/2" at 100, about as good as one can expect without doing any tweaking/bedding, no? (Basic M2 Ball-type loads, 150 Sierra FMJ, H4895, LC Match brass.)

Just trying to pick up a few, learn how to handle them. With Garands, I'm all thumbs....

Just don’t put any of those thumbs in the wrong place..😁

For sure. At least any thumbs you want to keep.

DF

You might not lose a thumb but it will be lots of pretty colors. 😁