So while
@boiler_eng is waiting for his rifle to show up, I have a little (extremely F$&king long) story to keep him entertained...and I went to the store to pick mine out.
Story goes...exactly two weeks ago, I was at the store for opening. I was there looking for two things and I found them both...as it turns out, not everything has a price.
A Winchester M1917 stock (I was looking for one ON an existing rifle, as previously mentioned) was the furthest one on the rack (last one i looked at). They make it easy on us with the M1917's because the stocks are marked at the very end with either a W, an R, or an E...or rearsenal marks (which there was one of those there too that I had never actually seen in person). Anywhoooo...The Winchester stock just so happened to be on a Winchester rifle...score one for the trip. Handed it to the man behind the counter and he told me it was the first Winny he'd seen in months, so I guess I lucked out. The rifle had damn near every part I needed to correct my other Winny (with a gorgeous original barrel that shoots fist size groups at 100yds), and all the rest of it was serviceable enough to build a second rifle from the spares (both rifles headspace very similarly and are both excellent shooters). So now I have one 'correct' and one rearsenal M1917. I've since decided it's probably unfair for me to have two Winny 1917's and I got what I really wanted out of the deal (period correct bolt and stock for my other rifle), so i've listed the parts rifle on the CMP forum for a trade with someone who might have an M1917 with a fresh criterion barrel on it that I can use in matches, and not have to worry about my now 'correct' Winny. It literally took 3 rifles over 2 years to make the one I'm keeping, so it's definitely been a well deserved end product. I'll still shoot the 'correct' rifle, but probably wouldn't feel very good about traveling with it to matches all over the place...in its current state, it's probably worth quite a bit (but i'll never sell it...ever).
Anyway...on to my sob story. I started looking around again and picking through the Garands, but didn't really see much of what I was looking for. Ready to call it quits and just accept my one prize for the day, I looked at one last hang tag and it was EXACTLY what I've been looking for...a Win13 with an original barrel still screwed on, and a Winchester stock to boot. The other mix of parts were mostly SA, but I've been collecting parts for my OTHER Win13 I found at the store 3 years ago (and the last major part I had left to source was a barrel). Well, I carried my happy ass up to the counter again and handed it to the armorer...picked out a bayonet and told him to close my tab for the day. About a half hour goes by and the lady calls my name to come up and go over my paperwork...everything checked out, except she couldn't find the Win13's serial number in the system. 'Is it ok if we ship it to you once we get this straightened out?'...YES Ma'am...AND that added a bonus of me not having to explain TWO rifle cases to my future wife when she picked me up after my shopping spree. I confirmed my new Indiana shipping address and she typed it into the computer and I went to poke around a little more while the i's were dotted and t's crossed. A little while passed again and I got called up to the GTFO room up front of the store...checked out my M1917 and serial number and boxed it up and out the door I went.
And I lived happily ever after...The End...
...not quite. Two days pass and Monday about 11am I get a phone call from Anniston...I guess I need to PAY for my Win13! Sweet as pie Sharon is on the other end and sounds like she's about to cry. "I'm so sorry Mr. Williams, but we sold your rifle to another gentleman on Friday...no one has any idea how it got back out on the floor."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Knowing that I was probably dealing with one of the legit nicest people I've ever met in my life on the other end of the phone, I tried to calmly explain my situation and why that rifle was basically going to help get me out of the >$2500 hole I dug myself with the first Win13 purchase 3 years ago and all the ridiculously expensive parts I've bought since then to 'correct' it. "Well, I can ask to see if we have any others like it and get back to you if that's OK?"
Did I have a choice? Yes. I could have just told her to forget it...taken my M1917 prize to the bank and still won the CMP South Store lottery for the day...BUT NO, I agreed to have her have someone that I've never met find me something comparable to a rifle I've literally searched through hundreds of since 3 years ago to find. Sure...what could go wrong? Almost anything!?!?
The very next day I get a call around the same time and my best friend sweet Sharon is on the other end and claims that they have found me a rifle that met my description and allegedly even had better muzzle/throat readings...excellent. Gave my CC information and confirmed my new address again and within minutes my phone dinged me that my CC was charged $1045.00...what the actual fu&%...I didn't even get to pick the damn rifle out and they still charged me sales tax like I had purchased it in store. At this point...whatever...I wasn't going to bitch about $95 when I had already spent almost $2000 this trip...because she'd probably have to run it up the flag pole and yadda yadda....i'd probably be waiting longer than
@boiler_eng to get my damn rifle. Well a couple of hours pass and no email with shipping info...a couple more hours pass and no email with shipping info...a whole day passes and no email with shipping info. Time to take matters into my own hands and sign into the eStore to see what the hell is going on. Login...check my invoice history and THERE IT IS...RM1WRAS M1 Garand WRA Service Grade Serial #: 16049XX...within the first 5000 Win13's made (for those of you not in the know, these were 'over run' serial numbers from Springfield made from Jan-Jun 1945). COOL! Look at the bottom of the page and there's a tracking number! YAY! Click the link to FedEx and...
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Location: West Boylston, MA - Unable to deliver shipment, returned to shipper
@%()*& (%@#%&( @@($*& !#@&^!@$)% )$*)($*^T$ $*&!@#$(*&%0 )*
I watched it go ALLLLLLLL the way back to Anniston via ground shipping and I made another phone call. "Hi Sharon...it's me."
"I am so sorry Mr. Williams, I have NO idea how that happened...we updated your address and confirmed it twice, didn't we?"
...Yes...Yes we did.
Fast forward to yesterday...apparently it took all week for my rifle to make it from 'return shipping' to 'outgoing shipments' at the CMP and I got a call from a brassy sounding gentleman that my rifle was ready to ship back out.
me: 'oh, excellent! so i'll have it tomorrow?'
him: 'no, we'll ship it Monday and you'll have it Tuesday'....oh well that's just friggen awesome. seriously...thanks for putting the mustard on it and making sure you still have a happy customer.
...i'm not bitter.
Now I'm sitting here like a crack head waiting for this damn thing that's been on a round trip up and down the eastern seaboard and paid 10% sales tax for that I don't even know if it's any bit as nice as the one I picked out in the store and I've had to wait 2 friggen weeks for even though I traveled 1000 miles to go to the store and spent over $100 in gas so I could pick a rifle out and TAKE IT HOME WITH ME! This hobby just got a little more expensive.
@boiler_eng ...I'm out. You can have all the Garands, lol.
I've decided that if this Win13 DOES indeed come with a nice barrel, i'm swapping over the ridiculous amount of money I've spent in parts to correct the other one onto the new one...and selling them BOTH. One will sell as a 'corrected' Win13 (and I'll use the money on my upcoming service rifle project for NRA High Power), and the other as a Winchester service grade (plus tax) and that's it.
After that, I'll still have one 'corrected' H&R, one 'corrected' IHC, one flawless Winchester Service Grade that was an untouched '64 Anniston armory rebuild with all LIKE NEW Springfield replacement parts, and lastly my WWII serial # Springfield Armory 'Guinea Built' spaghetti slinger with the Kreiger pipe and the meatball tune kit. I don't need any more than that. I'm NOT a collector, though pretending to be one for a few years was kinda fun...I'm 100% a shooter...and like
@dw617 said last week, you really can only shoot one at a time.
@Mountain, please officially accept my resignation as a wannabee Garand collector. We talked about this on the ride home from Pembroke last year when I picked up my Kreiger...and it took 6 months for this to all sink in.
@mac1911, this is all your fault for convincing me to order my first CMP Garand!