| Page 2 Adopting
An M1 Garand Obtaining an M1 Garand Rifle from the Civilian
Marksmanship Program is fairly painless. While it is an involved process as far
as paperwork is concerned, it isn't really difficult. Besides, the extra paperwork
is worth the effort considering you are getting a good price on a choice piece
of American military history. What
You'll Need To Do First
you must meet some basic criteria in order to be able to be considered. This includes
an age requirement, a citizenship requirement, membership in an affiliated firearm
association, participation in marksmanship activities within the last 5 years
(a requirement that is waived for several types of people), and of course most
importantly you must legally be able to own a rifle. This last point is critical
and the CMP does a criminal background check via the FBI NCIS on all applicants
to assure that they are clean and eligible. You
will need to corroborate all of the above requirements by submitting lots of official
paper, but gathering the documents shouldn't be too much trouble. The only thing
that requires the aid of another person is that you need to get the paperwork
notarized. That's It! 
Paperwork
and a cashier's check ready to go to the CMP.
Since my father had been in the military and
was over 60 years old he did not need to satisfy the marksmanship participation
requirement. Because I had a huge set of commitments that quarter I had no time
to shoot a qualification match I decided to actually buy my rifle through my dad.
In addition, I was working 16 hour days (NEVER again) during this period and needed
my weekends for sleep. I have had a ton of training in handgun and shotgun but
sadly this sort of training does not count with the CMP it must be rifle marksmanship
and it must be recorded. To be ethical and fair to the CMP we did inform them
of our intentions and they apparently do not mind this sort of arrangement. We
Begin... Our first personal
interaction with the folks at CMP happened before we even mailed the paperwork
in. Prior to sending in our order we telephoned the CMP and spoke to a very helpful
lady named Jan who we asked a few technical questions about the application. These
questions were clarified in a couple of minutes to our satisfaction. We also were
unclear about ammo purchasing and asked if we had to receive the rifles before
ordering the ammunition that CMP sells. Jan confirmed that we could order everything
at the same time and told us the current wait was about six weeks for the rifles.
With all of our questions neatly
and expertly answered we got right to work on the forms. It was almost time... Special
Requests? The CMP does not generally give customers
a chance to pick and choose what they desire insofar as serial numbers or specific
rifles. The CMP's official documents said that customers really only had the choice
between one of three 'gradations' of M1 Garands - namely; service grade, select
grade, or collector grade. The CMP
described them as follows: "SERVICE
GRADE: In external appearance, these are average rifles in "military service"
condition. Metal finish may be worn. The wood will be sound, but with probable
dents, gouges and bruises. Parts and/or finish are not necessarily original, and
may be mixed from different manufacturers. Bore condition measured by a throat
erosion gauge will vary from 1 (new) to 5 (worn but serviceable). Limit of two
per customer per calendar year. " "SELECT
GRADE: Same as Service Grade but initially picked out for nicer external appearance.
Metal finish is very good to excellent, and the stock will have fewer dents, gouges
and bruises. However, the main difference is assured bore condition: throat erosion
will not exceed 2 (minor wear). If the gauge reading is greater than 2, a rifle
is classified as Service Grade regardless of its external condition. Limit of
one per customer per calendar year when available." "COLLECTOR
GRADE: Either of two criteria qualifies a rifle for this grade: originality or
scarcity. Condition is secondary: the rifle is not likely to appear "new",
and in fact may look no better than some rifles in Service or Select grades. Bore
condition may gauge from 1 to 5. Limit of one per customer per calendar year,
when available." Though
the application notes that special requests are not honored, we had learned from
members of a couple of online forums that, in practice, The CMP will try to grant
'minor requests'. This generally only holds true if the crate of rifles the CMP
is processing at the time of the order matches something special a customer has
asked for. In practice what this means is that if you ask for a specific serial
number or something quite rare you don't stand a chance in hell of getting it,
but if you have a broad preference for something easy to satisfy you will likely
have a better than average shot at obtaining it. With
this in mind we determined that the best bet for us was a pair of Service Grade
rifles and we asked for either Winchester or Springfield Garand rifles. We further
suggested that we'd like one from WWII and one of any other era but that it be
in good shape. We also took the time to note that we "understood that the
CMP could not go through a boxcar of weapons just to find 'perfection' for us
and would be happy with whatever maker and era we received." In
go the applications On October 29th 1999 we sent in our application
along with a check for 2 rifles, 2 cases of ball ammunition, 2 cases of match
grade ammo, and 2 CMP patches. And
there we began our anticipative vigil... Please Go To The Next
Page Please
feel free to explore the other sections of this website:
[About
This Website] [How I Maintain My M1s] [CMP Program - Our Experience]
[Our CMP M1 Garand Rifles] [CMP Ammunition] [M1 Parts Photographs & Nomenclature]
[M1 Garand Accessories] [A Little Important Humor] [Links to Other M1 Garand Sites] This page was last updated on:
June 16, 2007
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