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Cmp field grade specials in 308 back in stock
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johnnymac101
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Are these rifles typically covered in cosmoline?
No, never seen one come from the CMP with cosmoline. Parts maybe, but not the rifles.
They will, however, come dry as a bone and need some cleaning and lubing up before firing. Some screws may be loose as well, such as the sight screws, sling loop, etc.
The cmp specials will come with a light rust inhibitor on it. It's not lube by any standards.
For the most part the covered in Cosmo days are long gone. Maybe something special out of a crate that will got to auction
My service grade came clean of any cosmo, but under lubed. My op rod spring was also in two pieces and covered in rusty grease. Bit of a bummer to have to wait another week for my replacement spring to arrive in the mail. It's a good idea to strip it down and give it an inspection and greasing before firing. Seeing how the rifle works is enjoyable anyway.
I was going to say "I don't understand how someone could take it straight to the range" before remembered I've read posts from plenty of people firing new guns at the range immediately after buying (especially if the store has its own range) despite the owner's manual clearly stating that they are sold with anti-corrosive materials and not proper lubricant. That, and there's quite possibly left over shavings in the chamber/barrel that could damage your rifling.
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"READ THIS FIRST" comes with every M1 cmp sells.
And it may surprise you that is says to strip clean inspect and lube before you do anything
My dad drilled it into my head that new guns are far from clean.
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This was several months ago. Thanks for the offer though.
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308 Special Grades "Sold Out" 10-1-18.
Not surprised they are out- some of our guys at the New England Games were eyeballing the .308 Specials pretty hard. The price was supposedly significantly better than most people would have been able to build via sourced parts.
Unless you use a rifle you picked up on the cheap or 30 years ago your hard pressed to build one cheaper than cmp special. Not even considering tools or gun Smith costs
You could get a current field grade and have a 308 barrel installed. You could sell the take off barrel to help offset the cost. You do take a chance of all the other parts being much more worn than a service grade or a fresh cmp special that “should” have all in spect parts
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Yes, you do take a chance...
My Field Grade organ donor really should have been a Rack Grade. Can't remember if I kept the sights or just let Franco pitch them, but they were garbage- detents were worn completely flat. The op rod tab was trashed. Also, the lower band was so loose it had been beating a ring into the barrel. I may complain to CMP and ask for replacements of the stuff I could send back because they are at least supposed to be serviceable.
Sweeney
NES Member
The intended purpose of the block is to effectively move the 'bullet guide' rearward. The bullet guide prevents rounds from migrating forward under recoil and mucking up the works. It has nothing to do with preventing 30-06 insertion into the magazine.
Yes, the Navy had a program where they had M1s converted to 7.62x51 by inserting a 'spacer' into the 30-06 chamber to accommodate the shorter round. A tool was used to cut a groove in the chamber, the insert was dropped in and set with a seating tool the a proof round was fired to swage the insert into the groove.
Tools of the trade;
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I was very surprised when I was looking at the website and finalizing my order. I am now considering the 30-6 or should I just wait until the 308's are back in stock? or will they ever be back in stock?
I think they will be back in stock eventually. CMP has a bunch of Turkish returns and now a huge load of Philippine returns. A lot of these rifles are only fit to be parts donors, so CMP will likely be making more Specials in both .308 and .30-06. Why not have one of each?
Cool tools, I met with a old armorer a few years back. He was in his prime in the M1 NM days. I wish i took some pictures of his tools. He had some tools to tweak the rear sight. Lapping tool and a jig to bend the sight cover and he had a small arbor press to re stamp the indent across the cover, along with man y other tools.The intended purpose of the block is to effectively move the 'bullet guide' rearward. The bullet guide prevents rounds from migrating forward under recoil and mucking up the works. It has nothing to do with preventing 30-06 insertion into the magazine.
Yes, the Navy had a program where they had M1s converted to 7.62x51 by inserting a 'spacer' into the 30-06 chamber to accommodate the shorter round. A tool was used to cut a groove in the chamber, the insert was dropped in and set with a seating tool the a proof round was fired to swage the insert into the groove.
Tools of the trade;
I wonder how much of a problem cartridge migration was?
BUT everyone knows the block was installed to guide the litle 308 into the chamber better and increase accuracy
i see a price increas e coming also. Lets pray they dont use the hackberry stocks on them. I see those stocks migrating to service grades. Also lets hope someone tested hackberry to see if it will hold up to shooting. I asked the only guy i know into wood he said its strong and dense but cracks easily?I think they will be back in stock eventually. CMP has a bunch of Turkish returns and now a huge load of Philippine returns. A lot of these rifles are only fit to be parts donors, so CMP will likely be making more Specials in both .308 and .30-06. Why not have one of each?
Makes good pallet wood he says.
Cool tools, I met with a old armorer a few years back. He was in his prime in the M1 NM days. I wish i took some pictures of his tools. He had some tools to tweak the rear sight. Lapping tool and a jig to bend the sight cover and he had a small arbor press to re stamp the indent across the cover, along with man y other tools.
I wonder how much of a problem cartridge migration was?
BUT everyone knows the block was installed to guide the litle 308 into the chamber better and increase accuracy
I've used a large and well worn flat blade screwdriver to re-indent the sight cover over a block of soft wood- worked fairly well and didn't look bad. A tool would be much nicer.
Yeah, use of the hackberry stock is a bit of a head scratcher. Is walnut really getting that expensive? I think it will probably hold up just fine- read an article that it was used for barrel hoops due to its toughness. I think the cracks easily comment has to do with machining / turning the wood, not how it holds up in use. It's not as attractive as walnut, and for the sake of that plus tradition I hope they don't stoop to putting SG's in hackberry.
I'll probably post the hackberry stock that came with my organ donor FG up on fleabay with a $1 reserve and see what it sells for.
I don’t know what the supply of walnut is like but like I said only “wood” guy I know says it’s good for pallets (ammo boxes too) I would guess that the need for wood pallets is falling due to poly/poxy/plastic pallets showing up more and more?
Or plain and simple it saves cmp and Boyd’s a few bucks and they charge the same
Or plain and simple it saves cmp and Boyd’s a few bucks and they charge the same
I didn't want to start a whole new thread so I'll ask here. I have recently joined a club where I will finally be able to shoot outdoors. Up until now I have only had the opportunity to shoot indoors so I've most shot pistols. I'm contemplating getting a CZ 455 to practice rifle marksmanship on the cheap, however I am so tempted by the $650 field grade CMP Garands. My rationale is that the supply of Garands will eventually dry up and in the future the only way to get them will be to buy privately at a much higher price. The CZs are being made today and I am sure they won't be a problem to obtain in the future. You guys probably know better than me. Should I jump on the CMP Garand now or will they still be around in a few years at those prices?
It's hard to say when availability will drop and prices will rise, but the prices never go down. CMP rifles are an outstanding deal. They are under priced and you can easily turn around a CMP Garand and get more than you paid for it on the open market, though I am of the opinion that flipping M1's violates the spirit of the CMP program. Eventually the CMP will run out of M1's, but no one can say with any certainty when. Buying now is likely to mean more options and better prices, especially if you want a service grade and not a special rebuild. I imagine they would run out of complete rifles first, then continue releasing the special grade rebuilds for some time. If it were me, I'd buy as soon as whatever grade I wanted became available.
I love my M1, but it's not a cheap way to practice rifle shooting. At over 60 cents per round, it's not a practical high volume training rifle for anyone who isn't wealthy. A .22 is really what you want.
The CZ's are very nice .22's, but a bit pricey. If you are trying to keep costs down, there are plenty of <$200 .22 rifles that will outshoot the abilities of most shooters. If it were me, I'd jump on the M1's now and, if money were tight, get a cheaper .22 and save for a CZ down the road.
A marlin 795 can be had for about $150. With .30-06 at $.60/round, that's only 250 rounds of .30-06 before a cheap .22 has paid for itself. A $450 CZ Ultra Luxe is paid for in 750 rounds of .30-06. That's really not that much trigger time.
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I was going to write something similar to Matt. I usually would always say "get an M1" since mine are my favorite rifles. However, if you are truly just starting out, they're kind of expensive to train with. My first rifle was a 10/22 I purchased for $200. With 22lr being 4-6 cents generally, it's a cheap way to get practice and work on your fundamentals. If you can swing a cheaper rimfire and an M1, I'd go that route.
Prices on M1s aren't going to go down and they're a smoking deal (I'm kind of tempted to pursue adding a 308), and the volume isn't going to increase (repatriated rifles aside), but I wouldn't consider them the best training option unless you have deep pockets.
Prices on M1s aren't going to go down and they're a smoking deal (I'm kind of tempted to pursue adding a 308), and the volume isn't going to increase (repatriated rifles aside), but I wouldn't consider them the best training option unless you have deep pockets.
The CMP lately has had a number of returns coming from Turkey and the Philippines. This is probably going to the the last of the large returns for CMP to fulfill M1 orders. Without the Turkish and Philippine returns, the CMP probably would have been sold out by now (as told to me by their COO). The M1's in Korea will probably never come back, or if they do it will be via some wholesale outfit like Century.
Early this year I ordered a Field Grade (FG) to become a donor for a new match rifle. The FG's can come with a new hackberry stock. These stocks are not particularly attractive as shipped but can be made more attractive with some work. Definitely a solid stock and would be good for a 'shooter'. My FG was probably a Turk return and had some serious wear on the op rod and other issues. The receiver was fine and a 600K SA which was nice for my project. The lower band had worked loose and was beat, as was the barrel where the lower band mounts. I was able to get it shooting OK with some work, but it definitely was not ready to go out of the box. I think it is now rare to get a USGI stock with a FG.
I highly recommend getting a CMP M1, but suggest you go ahead and spring for the extra $100 to get the service grade. It will come with either a USGI stock or a nice CMP walnut stock. Mechanically it will be in better shape and the barrel will have less wear.
Early this year I ordered a Field Grade (FG) to become a donor for a new match rifle. The FG's can come with a new hackberry stock. These stocks are not particularly attractive as shipped but can be made more attractive with some work. Definitely a solid stock and would be good for a 'shooter'. My FG was probably a Turk return and had some serious wear on the op rod and other issues. The receiver was fine and a 600K SA which was nice for my project. The lower band had worked loose and was beat, as was the barrel where the lower band mounts. I was able to get it shooting OK with some work, but it definitely was not ready to go out of the box. I think it is now rare to get a USGI stock with a FG.
I highly recommend getting a CMP M1, but suggest you go ahead and spring for the extra $100 to get the service grade. It will come with either a USGI stock or a nice CMP walnut stock. Mechanically it will be in better shape and the barrel will have less wear.
I vote for a service grade Garand for reasons already mentioned.
How many rounds do you realistically think you'll shoot per year or how often will you get to the range each month/year? 30-06 is pricy but if you're shooting 50-100 rounds per month then it's not terrible?
PPU 30-06 Springfield Ammo M1 Garand 150 Gr FMJ 500 Rds Ammo Can
Of course a CZ .22 would be VERY cheap to shoot and fun! I'd try to figure out some sort of budget and how often you think you'll shoot?
How many rounds do you realistically think you'll shoot per year or how often will you get to the range each month/year? 30-06 is pricy but if you're shooting 50-100 rounds per month then it's not terrible?
PPU 30-06 Springfield Ammo M1 Garand 150 Gr FMJ 500 Rds Ammo Can
Of course a CZ .22 would be VERY cheap to shoot and fun! I'd try to figure out some sort of budget and how often you think you'll shoot?
