I am leaning toward a service grade Springfield Armory M1 now that they are available. After reading the CMP site about the service grade rifles this caught my attention

"Wood may be of new production on Service Grade Garands."

I do not want new production anything on my M1. Is there a way to "request" they pick a rifle that has an original USGI stock?

If not, I might just get a field grade and save a hundred bucks.

I just looked over the order form and you have to have a notary sign the damn thing LOL.

Get the regular SG grade, not the Special SG. Odds are higher it will have USGI or Greek wood. Also, put a yellow sticky note on the front of your order saying "USGI/Original Wood ". Yes, use a smiley face. If they get to your order and there are ones on the packing rack with USGI wood, they'll usually give one to you, but they aren't going to go hunt one down for you.

Just order one and be prepared to be pleasantly suprised. My last order was for a "4.66-4.8 mil HRA ", and they sent me a 5.58 mil HRA with modern production wood. All the metal had the original finish, and it was mostly matching though.

When I went to the South store last year all the service grade HRA's had new wood stocks but I didn't see any of the other makes that grade with new stocks.

My $.02 is to get the Service Grade.

It will be a better quality rifle all the way around. If it does come with new wood, you will have no problem selling that wood and buying a set of USGI wood. But my guess is that once you see it first hand, you will change your mind.

Stickies (as the they are called) are widely debated as to their effectiveness in requesting features.

I can tell you what I know from first hand experience...the ladies that fill the orders assign a serial number from a list to your order before it goes to the warehouse to be picked and shipped. These women are great folks and hard workers, but they dont know USGI wood from sewn-seam nylons...and the serial number list in front of them is no help either.

What can you do? Request a serial below a certain number, or in a certain range. That they can do. Doesnt mean they will though.

The thing you can be dead certain of is that anything you buy from the CMP can be sold for MORE anywhere else. If you dont like it...you can make money on it.

but youll like it so much you wont turn around and sell it for a profit. hopefully. puryear, you know any gun smiths that specialize in Garands in houston or CS? mine slam fires/double taps occasionally. I've been meaning to detail strip it but now i'm in alaska and its at my parents house.

Odds are that you aren't following through. Pull the trigger and keep it pulled until the recoil is over.

Basically, you are bump firing it. A light grip combined with the recoil causes you to pull the trigger again. Happens most often when shooting off the bench.

I know several in the BCS area that are as near to experts as you can get.

Make sure there is no lube of any kind on the hammer/sear engagement area. That is the most common cause of what you describe. That, or someone trying to do a bubba trigger job. I can get you to a glass rod breaking 4.5# trigger pull...but its easy to mess up until you have done a few.

The CMP COO has said that only 20% of the service grade rifles have USGI (original stocks). The rest have the pumpkin colored repo stocks.

I just put an order in for a Field Grade Winchester. Will have to see what I get. Hope it wasn't a bad decision over a Service Grade Springfield.

I don't understand why they let you buy 12 rifles a year. Sucks that some folks are buying them with 100% intent to resell.

From what I've gathered they have 1-3 years worth of rifles yet for "all time" unless some other become avaliable which is unlikely.

[This message has been edited by BCOBQ98 (edited 1/5/2012 9:30a).]

PP -

I may hit you up in the future to see if you could smooth out my trigger, if you don't mind.

I don't have a clue what the pull is, but its nowhere near 4.5#'s. I know that much.

I really dont think there are many folks buying rifles with 100% intent to resell. You can only buy 12 a year, its not like you are going to make a living on that...

Garands actually dont by design have heavy trigger pulls...but they can be really creepy.

Even a heavy trigger that breaks cleanly will be easy to shoot well. If you want me to do it send it to my PO Box that was in the sig line in my email to you a while back.

[This message has been edited by Puryear Playboy (edited 1/5/2012 9:41a).]

tex.ag2010--Jerry Mosley in Bryan does `smith work on Garands. Will Hooge (also in Bryan)knows Garands stem to stern, and I have watched him in competition whup guys shooting AR's and M1A's with one of his Garands.

quote:

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The CMP COO has said that only 20% of the service grade rifles have USGI (original stocks).

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Bummer. Well if the sticky note is a shot in the dark, then a field grade i be buying.

I'm not sure the stock ratio is much better with the field grade. I ordered two service grades 4 months ago and got USGI wood on both. One really nice stock and one beat to hell stock. Like others have said go for it and I'm sure you will be happy regardless.


[This message has been edited by BCOBQ98 (edited 1/5/2012 3:40p).]

Seriously...order the Service Grade. The wood on the Fields can be REALLY bad looking. But you can always sell your Service Grade wood to fund what you want.

I will make you a deal! ...If you dont like your SG wood I will trade you some FG wood to sooth your feelings. I have a couple of stocksets that jumped into Normandy and Holland, where then used in the Perimeter in Korea and finished up on rifles used by Ranger School candidates in the 60's. You will love them!

edit to add: My humor my have obscured my point...A lot of Rack and Field grade wood looks about as bad as the stocks I described above, and with HGs that are different colors or even different types of wood. There are a lot of gems in the Field grades, but its only worth it if you get to hand pick one at the store.

I wouldnt consider mail ordering less than a Service grade unless I was planning to throw away the stocks and maybe the barrel. YMMV

[This message has been edited by Puryear Playboy (edited 1/5/2012 5:21p).]

Wouldn't it be cool if you knew for sure your rifle made those jumps!

I have a trench knife that did with an Uncle.

FWIW, there are not huge supplies of Garands coming available in the future, so the pick of USGI stuff will get thinner as time progresses. Mine came with USGI wood except the forward piece.