The Fed-Ex Fairy Came Calling

And a box from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) got left behind.

Opening it up, I find this beautiful service-grade M1 Garand rifle.

At first glance, I'm pleased. The wood is tight and sports just a few little nicks here and there. The finish is great. This rifle looks to have been used very little.

But appearances deceive. This rifle sports a serial number that indicates that it was made in November of 1943. As such, there's a pretty good chance that it saw service in World War Two, and maybe Korea as well.

At sometime in it's life though, it saw enough shooting that it's original barrel was replaced at least once. Now it sports one made in March of 1965, twenty-two years after the rifle itself was made.

This barrel has a muzzle wear of 1 on a scale of one to ten, one being virtually new, and ten being shot out. It also has a throat erosion of 2 on that same scale.

All of it's marked parts appear to be Springfield Armory parts, so there will be no temptation to remove bolts, trigger assembly parts or operating rods for substitution onto other Winchester, H&R or IHC rifles. But I'm good with that, as this rifle came here intact and it's parts are it's parts, either original to it or added during some chapter of it's service life.

The stock is undoubtedly a replacement, as it bears no stamps indicating arsenal re-working. Pulling the stock off reveals that she saw an arsenal rebuild on September of 1965 at the Red River Army Depot.

Interestingly, they seem to have left the early-style gas cylinder lock on instead of "upgrading" to the newer version with more metal on the top.

That pleases me, because I like the older ones like this.

This one is a beauty, and I can't wait to get her out and see how she shoots.

Of course I might have a bit of trouble taking it out. It looks like Miss Memphis Belle is laying a claim on it for herself.

Trade you for a marrow bone, Belle? How about two marrow bones?


And no, it didn't come with a sling. CMP seems to have stopped sending those with the rifles. But fortunately I have a few spares so I could put one on quick before Tam calls me out for not having one on my rifle again. ;-)