hmmm when I went through this I was torn.
Am I collecting or shooting
shooting......
that CMP special sure looks good
ahhh maybe a field grade to start,,,,,,man the cmp special looks nice.
how much money do I have. I went and talked to some of the other CMP owners down @ the club......in general I got this reply
If you looking for shooters you really cant beat the service grades for price. I would buy 2 service grades before the CMP special it will only run you a touch more then you can get 2 different makes. The price differential between the manufactures is purely colector value. For shooting there is not a whole lot of difference between the manufactures.
I love my 2 Sprinfield Service grades 42 and 52 both look about the same in wear and tear. The newer one(52) has a 55 barrel on it and looks to me fired very little.
You get a pretty nice looking hard case now with one. Better than the cardboard box mine came in. I will say though CMP has the best rifle shipping boxes I have seen.
I noticed they do not have any rack grades at this time. If I where to purchase another CMP it would be another Sprinfield service grade.....for shooting of course.
What I did do...........ordered a SA service grade and a few cans of ammo, then they imposed the 10 case limit I bought 10 cases I had to split it 5 of the 240rnd cans and 5 192 round cans as the sold out of the 240cans. Not so bad I sold a few of the clips and bandoleers for a few bucks each.
Loved the 1st one so much purchased a 2nd and requested a WWII erra serial numbered one. Not sure if they picked it or I got lucky ended up with a 42 and if memory serves me it has a 1957 barrel on it which looks really nice also. nice clean crown but the bore is a bit frosty.
my best score so far is a 388----I do not shoot much.