M1 Garand

[Spike71]

Hello all,

I need some advice. I am looking to purchase a M1 Garand in the coming year. I have always been very fond of them. My buddy has one and i really enjoy taking it to the range. You can drive nails with that thing.

My questions are:
how much should i be looking to spend? what is the going rate? I have been looking online and seen prices at high as $1500!

Is there anything special i need to look out for?

Thanks guys!

Mike

[str8shooter]

You can find many of them at gun shows these days and it's a good way to buy one if you do your research and know what you want, or have someone to go with you that know M1 Garands. If you don't have someone knowledgeable to help you out and don't feel confident after reading the vast amount of information on the web, your best bet is CMP.

They price their guns according to grade, very clearly and accurately describe their grading system, and their prices are the best, online or at shows. They are an organization dedicated expanding the appreciation and knowledge of guns, so they have minimal requirements that allows you to buy from them, but nothing unreasonable. I have never purchased a gun from CMP, but based on what I've read, no one has ever been disappointed with a purchase from them. If anything was received in less than expected condition, CMP made it right. If you can get to one of their outlets and hand select a gun, all the better.

[str8shooter]

Hello all,
.
.
.
Is there anything special i need to look out for?

Thanks guys!

Mike

I guess it would have been nice if I answered your question. A couple things to look for are muzzle wear and throat erosion. Google these terms along with Garand and you'll learn a lot more than I could possibly put in a post. If you see an ad and it doesn't specifically give the values for these, ask, or stay away. If you want a nail driver like your buddies, you'll want a value of 2 or less. If you're happy just to stay on paper, I've heard that you can go as high as 5. Also, if you see one that you're interested in, the MW and TE numbers are good, the bore is shiny with good rifling, don't let a stock that shows some wear and tear steer you away. You can refinish a stock if dents and scratches bother you (although I think they add to the "charactor" of the gun), but unless you're an accomplished gun smith, there's not much you can do about a worn throat, barrel or muzzle.

[T3h H4t]

First off they are amazing rifles so you will enjoy them. but make sure, whatever you do, don't put modern .30-06 through them, the guide rods cannot handle it. Buy Surplus 30.06, the best of which being the Greek HXP stuff.

as for the rifle, make sure the action is smooth, check the throat and muzzle erosion, if someone cannot provide you with data of its testing, no matter what the price just walk away. another thing to look at is the bore, make sure its still nice and shiny many of these guns have been used to fire blanks out of, which will very quickly darken the barrel.

CMP is a great organization, if you cannot qualify to purchase a firearm through them and dont want to join. another option is a company called Security Military Depot, Tim is the owner and he runs a great shop and normally has one or two in stock as a reasonable price ~$650+ depending on condition.

Other than those normally you can find some decent deals at shows, but i would be very wary of guns at shows to be careful with your purchase.

Hope this helped and best of luck to you in your search, dont get discouraged it took me 8 months to find just the right rifle for me.

[Hawk]

Not much to add, the other guys covered it pretty well. You may want to buy a "rack" grade to start with, they shoot pretty well and are not as expensive as the other higher grades. I'm assuming you're not planning on competing, so a rack grade will work for your "first" Garand (most guys end up buying more than one).

[brian]

they'res too much about them to go over in detail here.
find a garand forum and search it.
they are very realible, but the newest one is still over 50 years old.
things that can worn or worn out include any number of handful of springs in them(and there is a bunch of 'em). any of the springs not being up to power will result in a handfull of possible issues....tho being springs they are all fairly easy to replace and found online.

one of the biggest issues are what are known as "rewelds". at some point quite a few were demiled by cutting up the reciever...over the years many have been welded togther agian...some quite well, others not so much. for the most part they should be avoided as shooters. most are quite easy to spot, some have been done rather well and are not as easy to see.

don't be fooled by any selling one listed as "unissued". they are a very rare bunch, and an authentic one would bring thousands if not into 5 digit price tags, and demand a very long paper trail.

the average price tag, outside the cmp, at a small shop should be in the $800-1000 range. larger shops will normally be in the over $1200 range.
these were made prior to ww2, during ww2, after ww2/prior to the korean war, during korea and breifly after.
pre ww2 bring a hefty tag.
ww2 guns are run of the mill
postww2/pre korea guns typically were build to a higher standard(no real rush to get as many out as possible).
the post korea guns tend to be some of teh nicest.

but almost all of them have been overhauled numberous times, so finding a sample that retains all of it's orignal parts is a challenge, but not impossible.

if you find one that has a shot out barrel it's also pretty easy to have it rebarreled.........SA inc offers a rebarrel service(just as one example)....but a said gun must be priced accordingly.

also as noted above they do not like commerical ammo...it's that they don't like it....more that they don't know they should'nt eat it.

do not be turned away by beat up wood, that wood ended up that way as a result of the pursuit for freedom.

[imperialism2024]

Just out of curiousity, are there any easy modifications that can be made to Garands to get them to work with modern commercial ammo?

[brian]

it's called an adjustable gas plug.

[VeeVee]

I heard that American Eagle 30.06 150 grain FMJ is milspec like the M2 Ball. I assume it has the "fast burning" poweder? Can anyone confirm this? That might be an alternative if no surplus ammo is readily available. Not cheap though.

[ar15jules]

I would try to get qualified to buy one from the CMP. The gun show Garand guys are just waiting for an uniformed (no offense, I am uninformed as well) sap like you to wonder by. I have witnessed people getting snookered into buying Heinz 57 rifles with piss poor bores for really good money.
Jules