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GCA/Anniston 2009 - (Joe the Butcher) 10-12-09
All I can say is WoW what a great time. The GCA was warmly welcomed by the entire CMP staff. Great group of people. You will read all the particulars and view the photos on the CMP forums.
One bit of information you will not read about is the large lithograph hanging in a private meeting room at the new facility where the rifle sort took place. It's an arial photograph of the entire business park where the 4 main CMP South buildings are located. The caption very simply reads, "CMP 2025"
CMP has recently locked up deals which include; 175,000 bayonets,
70 million additional rounds 30-06 Ball ammo from Greece, enough M1 rifles for at least another 5 years......and additional items.
All good news for us M1 rifle enthusiasts Clemenza
I just wanted to give any interested folks a few quick notes on some of what we saw last weekend while working on Garands. My brain is still on overload from all we got to see but let's see if I can relay some of what I saw and some of what I learned.
These were returned from the Greek Air Force (I am betting lots of inter-service joke potential there …)
Many, many, many (did I say 'many'?) near mint rifles with nothing wrong but the trigger group and/or stock were switched. I think a third or more of what I saw was truly excellent like this, and it actually became more unusual to see one with the correct trigger group and stock. As to condition, these could be anything from fairly used to nearly unfired (if not completely unfired). But there were many that were right as rain and nearly unmarked - clearly collector grades. If that holds across the board it means that there were over 6000 rifles that were collector grades or a stock/trigger group away from collector grades.
A good number of the late rifles were rebuilt and reparked with several layers on one pallet having the orange wood sets. Nice and new from rebuild stuff that would please many a shooter, I'm sure.
Rebuilds seemed to be of 2 or 3 types; a very few WWII rebuilds with mostly WWII parts and barrels, early 50's rebuilds with early 50's barrels and parts (I did see an SA open box over O), and later Greek rebuilds of quite fine quality.
I saw no WWII rifles with their original barrels or especially stocks and doubt there was even one substantially original WWII rifle in there. Possibly a barreled receiver but that is about it. If so, I didn't hear about it.
I saw very little of the repaired wood with that almost typical Greek repair (the saw cut with cross-grain inserts to reinforce the grain across a crack). Broken wood was rarely seen - I saw 2 and heard of a few more.
Grease was not as abundant as some of the other Greek shipments, but it was present. Some was what sure looked like axle grease, and some was that really waxy, pinkish stuff that stiffens up until you touch it and move it around. Some was just hardened yellow stuff that didn't move at all...(more)
If time, chance and random process can produce a platypus why not an ammo tree?
PawPaw wrote:That sounds like great news! (If you understand that there's really no hope for Garand fans.)
Yup, no cure.
IMHO, "Garanditis" is akin to Alcoholism, but without the AA support groups. You can steel yourself and keep from buying another, but you always want "just one more". I no longer wake up with cold sweats, but I do frequently visit the CMP Sales site just to check the prices/availability/etc.
I agree with NPR - 17,000 Garands won't last nearly five years.
Last edited by cu74 on Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jim Dozier - Straight, but not narrow... “A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.” - Rudyard Kipling.
cu74 wrote:I agree with NPR - 17,000 Garand won't last nearly five years.
They won't if I can help it. I can't buy them all, but I should be able to help a few of them find homes with friends.
My Garanditis is in remission but I'll be checking the CMP Forum and the CMP Sales site. Should they find enough Service Grade Winchesters to list for orders, I'm likely to fall back into sin again.
Jim Dozier - Straight, but not narrow... “A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.” - Rudyard Kipling.
