Help me buy a Garand

[rglbegl]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Did you sign up on E-Store on the CMP site? If not do so and you can track your order. If you just sent it in the end of June it will be a few more weeks atleast. Did you order a Springfield Service Grade?

Sent out the order on 6-24.
I did the E-store registration, but there is no info there yet for my order.

I did order a Springfield Service grade. I figured if I wanted their special grade, I can just buy my own barrel and stock in the future.
But If I want to shoot the CMP matches, it looks like I need to stick with a milspec barrel, not one of those new fancy schmancy target barrels.



After this many years on this earth, you would think that I had learned how to be patient.

[gdmoody]

The first one I ordered didn't show up in the e-store for 4 or 5 weeks and when it did show up, I had it in hand within a week!

[Dr342]

Originally Posted by Orlando

I just checked the web site and guys ordering a SA service grade are getting them in approx 35- 40 days after CMP gets the order

That is correct, I was at the SS a few weeks ago and most rifles and accesories start to move in 35-40 days. The HRA SG is much slower since they dont find as many.

[rglbegl]

CC hit today.
That means it should be here before the end of the week.


I am doing the happy dance now.

[JLA]

PICTURES!!! or youre fired and ill confiscate your weapon for penalty

[dge479]

Check out www.garandguy.com . I have personally dealt with him and have nothing at all bad to say. Super great guy REALLY knows his stuff. his work is very nice.
He helped me out a great deal and very reasonably I might add when I had trouble with my Garand
BTW, got mine at a gun show as well. About 4 years. No regrets at all. My favorite gun I have! Very fun to shoot. Ammo is getting expensive lately.

[keokeboy]

I want a garand badly .only what I can give up now,is a souped up 97 yamaha zuma scooter. it has 3200 mi on it now and I totally rebuilt just about everything on it and I would like to swap it for a decent looking 30;06 garand

[rglbegl]

Shipped today. (Fedex overnight)
I will post pics once she arrives.


Thank you to all who helped me make this decision. Your advice is greatly appreciated.
This will be a rifle that I keep for life, and I hope to hand it down to my kids someday. So coming up with a good quality garand was the goal.

Serial number in the 5.85 million range. So looks like I am getting a 1955-1957 Springfield model

[CHW2021]

Go thru the CMP ! This is the "best" source for a non-import markes rifle. You may get lucky with a gun show purchase, but unless you know your stuff I would doubt it. The CMP purchase is "luck of the draw" but the grading insures a minimum standard for your purchase; also, the CMP customer service is second to none. Best of all, your purchase will help fund the CMP, not your brother in law or a pawn shop.

[rglbegl]

Just got here, and it is CAKED in cosmoline
Gauged at a 1 muzzle and 2 bore.
SA action
SA barrel
HRA op-rod and components.

I am VERY pleased with its overall condition.

I am refinishing the wood with a good scrubbin and some RLO. I will post more pics once it is done.

[Dr342]

Originally Posted by rglbegl

Just got here, and it is CAKED in cosmoline
Gauged at a 1 muzzle and 2 bore.
SA action
SA barrel
HRA op-rod and components.

I am VERY pleased with its overall condition.

I am refinishing the wood with a good scrubbin and some RLO. I will post more pics once it is done.

Looks like the ME & TE is on the tag, very few come like that, and very few at the store are marked. Well Done!

[JLA]

Im sooo freakin jealous right now. I gotta go cry

[gdmoody]

Good looking rifle, is that a service grade?

[rglbegl]

Springfield Service Grade.
Springfield receiver and barrel
HRA Op rod and bolt
It has the DOD 3-star eagle and circle P stamps on the stock.

I cleaned all the cosmoline off and stripped the wood.
After a couple coats of RLO, this is what it looks like.
The parkerizing is almost perfect. This is one clean rifle.
I am a happy Beagle

[rglbegl]

After the wood dried, I put it all together.

This is my rifle, there are many like it, but this one is mine . . . . . . . . . . . .

[lucky-gunner]

Congrats. That looks great. I'm hoping to swing by the store this summer and pick one up.

Steven@LG

[rglbegl]

I am seriously considering another one. They are shipping high number 1955 models right now.

I want one to keep clean, and one to shoot the heck out of.

[LDBennett]

rglbegl:

Before you buy another Garand you should consider one of the many other post WW-II semi-auto military rifles. Today we in California can have one of several even though the Assault Weapons Ban is in place. You see the stupid legislature left loop holes. More on that later.

One of the ones that are great to own is the FN/FAL from Entreprise Arms. They sell a CA legal version made from Chilean rifles made by Brazilian IMBEL for the Chile military. It includes the correct number of USA made parts including a USA made receiver. The guns are refinished, shoot well, and are military accurate. The gun is in 308 which is readily available and cheap to shoot.

Another choice is the all new PTR-91 from PTR-91. It is an H&K 91 roller lock clone. It is highly accurate and is a very accurate clone of the original. It too is in 308.

The SKS is another cruder but cheaper option that shoots 7.62x39 ammo that is dirt cheap. The last one to hit our shores was the Yugoslavian version with the rocket launcher sight and a flash hider. To be CA legal they have to have the flash hider disabled (distributors/dealers weld a tube over it). It is far superior in fit and finish to the chinese ones and some say as good as the best Russian versions. I was impressed and bought one.

There are better versions of USA made AK-47's too, which use the same 7.62x39 ammo. They are named differently to be CA legal.

Then there is the superb new M1A which is a semi-auto version of the M14 as made by Springfield Armory. They have a reputation for match level accuracy, can easily be scope adapted, and are offered in many versions at various price levels.

Of course there are the C&R legal semi-autos like the FN-49, the Egyptian Hakim, the French MAS and others I can not recall at the moment.

Any of theses guns are historical and worth collecting and shooting. I love my two Garands (one is an accurized 1945 Springfield and the other is a BIG Five one made from a USA made receiver and Beretta internals that outshoots the Springfield) but I also love my other military semi-autos too.

So what's legal in California? Any non-named gun and some combination of non-removable magazine and non-pistol grip stock, and no flash hider. You can build your own AR-15 from parts readily available here in CA and be legal but the biggest single thing that gets you over the legal hump is the non-removable ten round magazine.

But it turns out the legal description of non-removable is that it has to take a tool to remove the magazine and the point of a bullet in a live cartridge is legally considered a tool. So someone invented a button for the mag release that uses a bullet to operate. Some have modifications to allow reloading the fixed magazine from the top (Entreprise Arms' FN/FAL for example).

Visit any gun show in So Cal (or maybe No Cal??) and you will see all the legal options and have to fight your way to get to them as everyone is buying them up like hot cakes.

Garands are nice but there are so many other options. The parallel in life might be to be stuck on a desert island with 10 beautiful woman. Why marry one when all are "friendly".

LDBennett

[JLA]

That is awesome my friend.

[rglbegl]

Thanks for the idea LDB.
I have always liked the HK-91. Maybe I will have to look in to one of those.

I already have an SKS, a really clean one that I love to shoot, so no AK47 for me.
The only other one I would be interested in is an AR-15. But dealing with the BS that comes with it is just a joke. So I am kinda leaning towards a Ruger Mini-14.

[LDBennett]

It is no problem to buy an AR-15 clone. You can build it yourself from readily available parts or from a dealer who builds it CA legal. The key is in the attachment below. Follow it and you are legal. The mag button, no flash hider, and a ten round mag is just about all you have to really worry about but go through the chart. It applies to any semi-auto rifle sold in CA. A Mini-14 is a nice rifle but it is NOT a AR! My AR is built as a Varmint rifle with a match barrel, flat top receiver, and a fixed stock but anything is possible.

LDBennett

[LDBennett]

I would add that the big dealer in So Ca gunshows has been Cold War Shooters. They have had some kind of problem either legal or financial but are still showing up at gun shows for now but their store in Highland near San Bernardino is closed as is the mother store in Texas. Be careful about buying anything from them unless you can carry it out. There are other dealers that carry completed CA legal AR's. In fact I think I may have seen some in Turners a few months ago. A dealer friend in Lake Isabella has about 10 bare receivers and a couple of completed guns and could build one from one of the bare receivers. They are easy to build. I have built four. So I think many dealers may have them.

LDBennett

[rglbegl]

Took her out shooting today.
After a couple clips to sight it in, she became a wonderful target slapper.

I love these iron sights. Everyone there had a chance to attack some evil milk jugs at 100 yards, and we were all able to blast those terrorist milk jugs within a shot or two from a standing position. Tons of fun.


Once again.
Than you to TFF for your input and assistance.
This is a great site with cool people and lots of knowledge.

[Laufer]

rglbegl:

Congratulations on the very nice Garand.
My first Garand (CMP: Service) will be here in about a week.