My latest Post War Garand

[Orlando]

I placed a low bid on CMP's auction site the other day on a unissued SA 5.8 mil and unbelievably I won...…………..
Stock has some scuffs on it but other than that shes mint

[Orlando]

[RCS]

Really nice example, does the CMP still cover the cost of shipping to your door on auction items ?

[Orlando]

Really nice example, does the CMP still cover the cost of shipping to your door on auction items ?

They cover shipping and no tax , got it for just a hair over $3160 which is less than they have been selling for. The no tax really surprised me as I am in Ohio and have to pay it on anything else I purchase from them

[m14brian]

Awesome rifle Orlando, that's one I would get for me for sure!
m14brian

[jnw847]

Congrats, awesome rifle!

[TJT]

Bill,
I HATE YOU!!!!
Just kidding. Fantastic find. Congrats.
Jon

[RDS]

What a great rifle! Love to see a data sheet on it. But if I were you I would never take it apart. I wonder were the CMP found it?

[Orlando]

CMP uncovered these about 9 years ago and have been slowly auctioning them off,they were Greek returns . Crazy to think these were shipped to Greece ,stored ,shipped back to the US in still unissued condition. As I remember the first few auctioned in the $10,000 range.
I bet the guys that paid big bucks are kicking themselves now

[Kilo 3/5]

Outstanding!

[CCyooper]

Good purchase!

[Jmd62]

Very nice, congrats!

[Jersey Devil]

This is awesome, Bill.......well deserved, my friend!! Great pix, too!!

[Bodyman]

Those were the pics I was looking for and couldn't find! If I recall correctly, we found about 275 of those in that second round from Greece (all stacked on pallets like cord wood for us to sort).

The very first ones to come back were a few years earlier and were still in their original boxes; 2 to a box, and no one ever knew what a box looked like before then, or that they actually were delivered IN boxes! In the first batch, they had 59 of them I think (no idea but I guess one box only had one rifle in it) - I think it was one of those sets with their box that sold for the 10k figure (but I might be wrong - it might have been 10k each rifle!).

Needless to say, Orest was happy to see so many of these in the second batch a few years later. Sadly, he told me that all of those in the second round (that we handled in the pic above) were all taken from their original boxes back in Greece and sent without them, and the boxes were destroyed. Ahhhhhh, ... Apparently, there was someone in the shipping stream somewhere citing some regulation that wouldn't allow the cardboard back in to the US due to the possibility of them having bugs or something, ... So, only the very first 59 had boxes and they are the only ones ever to have made it back with them. The ones in the racks shown were/are exactly the same but without the boxes.

As we sorted, all the ones with foil were placed in their own racks. By the end of the day it was announced that they would be priced at 3k if anyone wanted one. There were many, many excellent rifles (without foil) and people were allowed to purchase those based on condition and composition of parts. Oddly, we found some some really cool anomalies on these un-issued and near un-issued rifles. Many of the SA's had small IHC parts (sight knobs and safeties, etc. - supposition; it sure looked like SA ended up with IHC's unused extras and was just using them up!). SA also appeared to be using up any and all old parts of their own that would work (kinda like Win 13's being called 'floor sweep' rifles where any and all earlier parts were being used up). In fact, we were surprised to see a grooved rear handguard clip on one of these late production SA rifles. It looked perfect and was obviously put there when the rifle was made and no one had touched it since - how cool is that! Talking later at dinner, someone actually had counted 17 grooved rear handguard clips on the SA's! (Sadly, knowing these would generate complaints from customers if the CMP sent them out as Collector Grade, so as I understand, these grooved clips were swapped for perfect and more 'correct' late production ones. I don't think anyone took one of those home so in spite of 100% originality, I doubt any of these late perfect rifles with perfect grooved rear handguard clips still exist today.) Many of the excellent rifles were with anomalies like an IHC sight knob were graded as service grades and allowed to be bought as such so these are out there! Many were absolutely gorgeous but had the wrong stock on them, and I know those of you that were around then remember how wonderful they were in the North and South stores.

The pics of those racks of new Garands are simply stunning. You want the big argument we ended up with; what do you do now? We all feel like custodians of these pieces to one degree or another, and we take care of them and oil these to protect them. But these have never been oiled. They are still dry - exactly as they were the day they were made. If you slather that dry rifle with oil or cosmoline or whatever, you will have changed it, irrevocably, and you will never be able to get it back to what it is right now.

So, what do you do?

I know, I am rotten, ... What a great problem to have, eh.

[RandyP]

"

So, what do you do?"

I'm a gun owner/gatherer (NOT really a "collector" -lol ). I remain of the opinion that guns were made to be shot, cars and motorcycles driven and airplanes to fly. I therefore would only own items that could meet that criteria. For ME, the notion of having a 'safe/garage/hangar Queen' would be a frivolous waste of MY $$.

Therefore, I'd oil 'em up and shoot 'em. My guns, my money, my choice. That said I fully respect the choices made by true collectors and historical preservation fans. And lest anyone fret over MY choices, barring a nice lotto win, I'll never have the discretionary Benjamins to be in that position in the first place - lol