Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Civilian Marksmanship Program Excitement

I just saw the charge on my credit card account for my CMP rifle order. I ordered a service grade Springfield Garand and an M1 carbine. My first choice was an IBM service grade, since the idea of an IBM rifle is awesome. The trouble is, my order hasn't shown up in their e-store yet, so I can't tell if I got the IBM or not. I ordered an IBM SG as first choice, with IBM RG and Standard Products SG as backups. The credit card amount points to a service grade, but the IBM and SP are the same price, so I can't tell which I'm getting. I'm trying to figure out if cc hit before estore order is normal before I contact the CMP. I don't want to waste their order processing time if there's nothing to worry about.

The M1 Carbine is a fun little gun. I shot one in the range safety qualification at my club (basically making sure you could hit the paper and weren't a total bonehead). I haven't even shot a Garand yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. I've got a pile of ammo for both on the way. Now I just need to find some pre-ban USGI carbine mags, since the CMP rifles come with no mags. Part of my 30-'06 ammo order comes on Garand clips, so I'm set there.

UPDATE: Rifles shipped today! Supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning.

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Garands are FUN! Honestly, I never really cared for them. I thought they were large and kinda clunky looking, and they only held eight rounds, plus you couldn't top off the magazine, etc., etc.

But then I shot in a match that qualified me for a CMP rifle, and I got a chunk of overtime pay, and the Garand was called "the greatest battle implement ever devised," so I thought, "what the hell" and ordered one.

It's about my favorite rifle to go blast with. Mine is a Rack Grade, but I've refinished it and put a new stock on it, so it's beautiful. It only shoots about 4 MOA with milsurp ammo, but I have more fun with it than any other rifle I own. You'll love yours - trust me!

Firehand said...

Just remember, one of the fun things about a Garand is when you're around people who've never actually been around one and the clip pops out: "Dude, something came out of your rifle!"

Extra points if it lands on the brim of your hat. "Yeah, I just push it back in and it keeps working."