CMP South Store and Talladega Marksmanship Park

[hogfamily]

If you are interested in obtaining a M1 Garand and are even close to the CMP South Store in Anniston Alabama go to the store and pick out your M1 in person.

Recently our family vacation landed us in Huntsville which is only a couple hours drive from the CMP South Store and the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park. (The CMP range is about 20 minutes from the South Store).

Son Travis has been wanting a M1 ever since shooting one several years ago. So we HAD to make the pilgrimage to the CMP South Store. It also just happened that Project Appleseed was having a Known Distance, (KD), for AS instructors the first weekend we were in the area.

Well of course that meant "ROAD TRIP"!

While doing research on the CMP store to make sure we got the most of our pilgrimage we ran across the CMP forum and the South Store reports by Tom, aka PH68.

Tom is a retired gentleman and M1 Garand expert that visits the South Store nearly every day. He posts a report on what M1s are in inventory when the store opens in the morning.

I had been emailing Tom for about two months prior to our store visit to get recommendations on what M1 son Travis might be interested in getting.

Tom is the real deal! We learned more in the hour or so that we spent with Tom at the CMP store than I did in months of reading up on the M1.

Tom was very generous with his time making sure these two Alaska Garand novices were able to get just the right rifles for us.
With Tom's help Travis picked out a great CMP Special. Travis used his rifle to shoot a Project Appleseed KD Rifleman score at the CMP range. Using his "new" 1942 SA he did excellent on all distances especially 600 yards.

The staff at the CMP store are all great! They were as excited as we were with our treasures. The staff are all experts and help you inspect your rifle prior to purchase. They made our purchases a breeze.
Travis got a nice bayonet and Tom even found us a nice '44 GI sling.

Of course we had to take the rifles to the CMP range for a test fire.

What an amazing range! It is like a country club for shooters. The targets are electronic and you instantly see your hits on a video screen. No working the pits or walking to the target line.

The CMP South Store is a must visit for any M1 enthusiast.

[Nashville Stage]

Any tips or wisdom to pass along for other Garand novices who are looking to pick out their first M1? Finding a good rifle & avoiding unpleasant surprises is hard when you don't know what to look for.

[Maximum Ordinate]

Any tips or wisdom to pass along for other Garand novices who are looking to pick out their first M1? Finding a good rifle & avoiding unpleasant surprises is hard when you don't know what to look for.

1.  Decide why you want a Garand (collector, shooter, competition).  The factors that make a rifle "good" can be different for each of of those purpose.
2.  Decide your budget.  Rack, Field, Service, Special, and Collector grade rifles vary widely in price.
3.  Visit the CMP forum and watch the store reports.  Inventory available at the South Store varies. 
4.  Be ready to boogie down to Anniston when you see reports of the shelves being full.  Show up before they open.
5.  Go to the counter and tell them you're a newbie who wants to buy a rifle for X purpose.  The employees are really great about helping people. 

The "Collector" grades I saw recently were in the neighborhood of $3k.  Lots of nice metal with gentle wear.  Beautiful wood with proper acceptance stamps.  There are also wartime production rifles that you might like to collect, but have been through arsenal rebuilds.  These will fall into Rack thru Service grades.  (My own favorite Garand is Service Grade WWII production rifle that's had an arsenal rebuild at one time.  The stock has decades of polishing from soldier handling it, a few nicks, and the metal lots of finish wear.  It's a survivor.)

If you just want a shooter, buy the best condition M1 you can afford and I wouldn't worry too much about the manufacturer.  Grades are Rack through Service.  Note muzzle and throat erosion numbers.  You can borrow gauges at the store for the task, but all the rifles are tagged with this info.  Zero is "perfect, no wear".  I would shy away from any rifle with a muzzle wear greater than 3.  A rule of thumb I've read is for every thousand rounds, you'll get an additional +1 in muzzle wear. 

For a competition rifle, I'd go directly to a Special grade.  All reparked metal, rebuilt oprod, brand new Criterion barrel.  That'll get you competing fast without all the drama surrounding building a rifle for that purpose.

Hope this helps. 

v/r
MO

P.S.  hogfamily - it was great to have you and your boys down!  You have a fantastic family... come back anytime!   

[hogfamily]

Maximum Ordinate is spot on with his advice.

The only thing I would add is...Keep your credit card locked up in your glove box when you visit the So Store!

As Max Ord and I posted spend some time on the CMP forum. Email Tom, PH68, (or post your questions on the forum). Try to visit the store when he is there.

Go to the CMP website and read the descriptions for the different grades.

We actually ended up with five M1s. One for Travis, Two for co-workers and two somewhat impulse buys. Two of my other boys have already put dibs on them. They are now working on getting jobs to pay for them.

One is a nice WRA field grade with a well used but solid GI stock that we all love. The other is a WRA, service grade that is in near perfect condition.

Travis picked out his CMP Special and has already put about 500 rnds through it. It is a real shooter.

The Hackberry stocks are not very nice looking and the finish is not the best. They are kinda rough.


Max Ord, thanks for the kind words. It was great to meet you and the rest of the folks at the KD. We had a fantastic time. Travis and I, and son Daniel, are hoping to come to another KD in a couple years.

[Crazyduckhunter]

The only maybe better suggestion that I could suggest is to sign up and participate in the three day Advanced Maintenance Course that the CMP offers. Last year I built one with the help of the CMP armorers under their instruction. WOW what an awesome experience that was.

[Mike AKA Bandaid]

The only maybe better suggestion that I could suggest is to sign up and participate in the three day Advanced Maintenance Course that the CMP offers. Last year I built one with the help of the CMP armorers under their instruction. WOW what an awesome experience that was.

What is this magic "3-day Advanced Maintenance Course" that you speak of?!?!? Details please!!!

[hogfamily]

http://thecmp.org/training-tech/advanced-maintenance-class/

[hogfamily]

If you plan on only getting a CMP Special it is less expensive to order it as you will not have to pay the tax on it. (10%).

They are consistently excellent rifles.

All the other grades, IMHO, is better to pick in person if possible.

For us even if we only got the CMP Special it was wort the extra 10% to have the experience of visiting the store. Especially meeting Tom and the CMP Store staff.

You can also pick out a nice bayonet, get some nice cotton slings for $6. each, en-blocks, and several other M1 related items.

There is also a smaller collection of M1s at the CMP Marksmanship Park Range Store. Same grades and prices.

[Crazyduckhunter]

Hogfamily  shared the link.

There is a drawing through the CMP in November for this class. The class size is limited to 20 I believe. You build a CMP special rifle in 30.06 under the tutelage of the CMP armorers. Same price for the rifle as purchasing from the stores, then the class was an additional $800. The third day of the class your rifle is test fired. That afternoon they also give you an opportunity to visit the Talladega Marksmanship Park and you are able to shoot your rifle on the 100 yard range for sight ins.

Yeah it was expensive. Well worth it considering the experience I believe though. I am glad I did it.

[Maximum Ordinate]

Here are two AARs for the AMC.

AMC 2014 AAR

AMC 2017 AAR

v/r
MO