The Gun Blogs

I heard about the CMP about three years ago, from a co-worker and fellow gun/motorcycle enthusiast.

The whole thing was kind of mysterious to me. It was like you needed to be in the right club, know the secret handshake, etc.

It's really very simple. Have a birth certificate (or proof of citizenship), have some experience with firearms and belong to any club recognized by the CMP.

That last one threw me for a loop at first (before I rejoined the NRA), but it turns out that there are plenty of online clubs where membership is affordable and easy to join. The CMP website even provides links.

Making it even simpler in my case, prior military service satisfies requirement numbers 2 and 3. I double checked with them, and found out that being retired military satisfied all three requirements:

Sir,
We will only need a copy of your Retired Military Id and the three page order forms completely filled out. The Retired Military Id will count for all of the qualifications.
Thanks

I was gonna reply "Don't call me sir, I work for a living", but no.

So then it was off to the CMP Rifle Sales page to see what was out there.

After some exchanges with Sailor Curt and eocoolj over at The Gun Thing forum, I settled on this:

M1 Garand, Springfield Armory, Service Grade

I was wondering if the Service Grade was worth the extra $100, and SailorCurt said:

Mine looks good (other than the FAT stamps and dings in the stock), has a bright, shiny bore with sharp rifling, and is more accurate than I am.

That's about as honest an opinon you can get. Of course, him being Navy, that whole accuracy thing is up for grabs... =)

Anyway, the paperwork's in the mail. Highly unlikely it'll make it here for Christmas, but that's OK. Everybody should have at least two Christmases.

PS: There are some "Correct Grade" Garands there, too, but I can't cough up the $950.