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I contacted the civilian marksmanship program about a mail order I sent off on June 8th for an M1 Garand.

They informed me today that the 14-16 week delay is not accurate anymore. As of today, they are still processing orders received in late April, early May and could be a lot longer to receive a confirmation email.

Just an Fyi if anyone here is waiting on one.
 
I'm going to pick up my service Grade Garand at Tigard pawn 4 More today. We've been on vacation since the 15th of September and just got home yesterday.

The gun came in on 9/27.

I sent the paperwork on 4/20/21.

On 8/24 I received an email stating the order had been received on 4/26.

On 8/26 I received and email wanting my FFL (Tigard P 4 More) to email CMP with their FFL numbers.

No further communications sent to me by CMP since august and rifle was received on 9/27. That's right at 5 months to get a "Service" grade M1. I had been reading on gunboards that "Field" Grades were coming sooner. That may have changed in the last three months.

Color me excited! :s0115:

Pictures and requests for info to follow......
 
I contacted the civilian marksmanship program about a mail order I sent off on June 8th for an M1 Garand.

They informed me today that the 14-16 week delay is not accurate anymore. As of today, they are still processing orders received in late April, early May and could be a lot longer to receive a confirmation email.

Just an Fyi if anyone here is waiting on one.
Early may would have been by 5/6 as that's when the door shut on service grade's.
 
Early may would have been by 5/6 as that's when the door shut on service grade's
Glad you got in while they had them available. I had my paperwork ready and the next thing I knew was they dropped the service grades ☹️. I'll buy again in the future, but with all this COVID stuff going on it limits their resources tremendously. Hope to see service grades back up again in 2022.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures and see what they sent - congrats!
 
Glad you got in while they had them available. I had my paperwork ready and the next thing I knew was they dropped the service grades ☹️. I'll buy again in the future, but with all this COVID stuff going on it limits their resources tremendously. Hope to see service grades back up again in 2022.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures and see what they sent - congrats!
I went and got it. About 12 minutes for the BC to clear. Muzzle reading 1+ and throat 2+. It was only guaranteed to have an SA receiver. Looks to be a '43 with an SA '44 barrel. Minor dings in the wood. Has some HR and IHC trigger group parts. I haven't taken time yet to look real close or put a patch through it yet. Gas tube is pretty much in the white, but the barrel is even blued at about 50%. The stock has the P/circle and there's a semi weak stamp of the eagle with arrows and three stars above it under the sight knob on the left. I don't know what that means? o
 
The stock has the P/circle and there's a semi weak stamp of the eagle with arrows and three stars above it under the sight knob on the left. I don't know what that means?


Sounds like a post war stock and either HRA or SA, but USGI. Sounds like a keeper and a good shooter I am sure! That eagle is a Defense Acceptance Stamp or DAS/DOD stamp. HRA is 3/8" and SA is 1/2" in size.
 
Got some pics of the new to me M1 to put up. serial # search tells me rifles in the 4,200,000+ are 1952. No matter.

P1050077.JPG

P1050078.JPG

P1050080.JPG

P1050083.JPG

P1050084.JPG P1050089.JPG P1050091.JPG P1050092.JPG


I'm sure terrible at taking pictures.

Any info on a method to make the stock appear better. It's very smooth and there's some lighter, hazy sort of thing going on. I wonder about hitting it with some denatured alcohol and rubbing a little BLO on it. It really needs a good greasing up too. P1050088.JPG
 
For the stock, try rubbing it with mineral spirit soaked 0000 steel wool, I have steamed out dings and scratches, you can get the wood flush but usually the wood is damaged enough that you will still see it. BLO will turn the wood that redish brown faster then Tung oil will but I prefer Tung oil just because I thinks its better for multiple reasons. I believe that originally stocks were dipped in heated BLO, Tung Oil or a mixture of the two. We had a war going on, there was no time to hand rub in multiple coats.
 
Got some pics of the new to me M1 to put up. serial # search tells me rifles in the 4,200,000+ are 1952. No matter.
By today's standards, I think you did okay. Without knowing what the bore looks like. A Korean war rifle could have a 1944 barrel on it from the factory. Or it could've been rebuilt later with a 1944 barrel. In both cases, because during WW2, lots of replacement parts were made that never went into new rifle manufacture by the time the war ended. Consequently, some of the parts were used in later factory assembly. The US government used to be more thrifty than they are now. Example, SA had barrel straightening tools, they could straighten some newly made barrels that were made wrong.

The gas cylinder, that part was made of stainless steel and wasn't Parkerized. They were done with some kind of blackening process that wears off more easily that Park. So it's very common to see those a lighter color than the rest of the rifle. You can even see this in pictures of rifles carried by GI's during the war.

Nice looking reddish brown stock. I'm not much for monkeying around with wood as it comes from CMP. In the past, I just cleaned them off to get rid of the sticky residue and called it good. I don't mind old rack numbers, etc.

CMP has really boxed the compass re. appearance of the newly fitted stocks that they send some rifles out with. I prefer original USGI so long as they are solid and not too banged up. In some grades, though (at least in the past) you weren't guaranteed a choice. You might get orig., or you might get new replacement.
 
By today's standards, I think you did okay. Without knowing what the bore looks like. A Korean war rifle could have a 1944 barrel on it from the factory. Or it could've been rebuilt later with a 1944 barrel. In both cases, because during WW2, lots of replacement parts were made that never went into new rifle manufacture by the time the war ended. Consequently, some of the parts were used in later factory assembly. The US government used to be more thrifty than they are now. Example, SA had barrel straightening tools, they could straighten some newly made barrels that were made wrong.

The gas cylinder, that part was made of stainless steel and wasn't Parkerized. They were done with some kind of blackening process that wears off more easily that Park. So it's very common to see those a lighter color than the rest of the rifle. You can even see this in pictures of rifles carried by GI's during the war.

Nice looking reddish brown stock. I'm not much for monkeying around with wood as it comes from CMP. In the past, I just cleaned them off to get rid of the sticky residue and called it good. I don't mind old rack numbers, etc.

CMP has really boxed the compass re. appearance of the newly fitted stocks that they send some rifles out with. I prefer original USGI so long as they are solid and not too banged up. In some grades, though (at least in the past) you weren't guaranteed a choice. You might get orig., or you might get new replacement.
Appreciate the input. From what I can see the bore is bright and shiny. The gas cylinder almost looks like it's finely pitted from rust that has been cleaned off? Or, that look of being cast? With a couple small imperfections in the casting.

The stock has some great tiger striping. The unevenness in the finish looks as though it had a damp rag laying on it in places for a period of time. In the first pic a sort of haze is visible near the butt. And on top of the stock just behind the receiver. That is what I'd like to get rid of so I can see the grain and striping of the whole stock and have it even throughout. Dings I don't care about. Those are the stories it has to tell. The front hand guard moves back and forth about .045"-.050". I don't recall if that front wood comes off when the gas cylinder is removed. The rear bracket for the front had guard is also loose on the barrel.
I'd like to take the butt plate off to tend to some rust on the edges that are against the wood. Also seen in the first pic. I can't do anything with the rust with it right against the wood. Is there anything I should worry about taking the plate off? Hoping the screws aren't rusted in would be a worry. I have proper screw drivers.
 
The gas cylinder is cast stainless steel, you want the movement in the upper handguard. Pulling off the buttplate can be a chore sometimes, but it does have a trap door you can pull on
 
The gas cylinder is cast stainless steel, you want the movement in the upper handguard. Pulling off the buttplate can be a chore sometimes, but it does have a trap door you can pull on
The butt plate came off easily. The rust on the plate is in a place that pretty much says there was water there at the stock the was there for awhile. That's where the majority of the hazing of the finish is too. Under the butt plate the wood is extremely dry.

When we're talking "Mineral spirits", that's just plain old paint thinner isn't it?
 
I've had good results when cleaning stocks from CMP. I wet the stock down with water and then while damp, spraying it heavily with Super Clean or Purple Power letting it sit for 30-60 seconds, just don't let it sit too long. I clean the grime, etc. using a soaking wet Terri- cloth towel. Followed immediately by rinsing in water until all the cleaner is removed. Wipe it down again with a clean dry Terri-cloth again and let it dry out for a couple days. Once fully dry I start adding BLO and wipe it down after 10-15 minutes with a clean cloth to remove any excess. Repeat adding BLO once a day for 3-8 days. If you take it down pretty much to the bare wood there is a guy in the CMP forums who makes his own formulated stain he sells. It has a nice red tint to it similar to what you have now. I've done that and added coats of BLO after adding his stain and I've been really happy with it. He posts photos and other members share their results using his stain. http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=27670

Good luck and I am looking forward to seeing more photos when you are finished!
 

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