CMP M1 Rack Grade Special, Looking for pics and experience with them

[oldsoldier54]

Writing to see if anyone has received any of the current $650 rack grade specials with the reparked receiver, new wood and new barrel and has pics and experience to report. They are out at the north store and a week ago had no idea, nor did Anniston, when more would be shipped there. The receivers were described as heavily pitted above the wood but am curious to see how bad it is. Seems like they should be great shooters for Garand Match as long as there is no issue with rear sight table and detents. There were some 03s and M1917 in stock at the store when I was there. Thanks in advance for any pics and info you can provide.

[Sunray]

This says a lot.
"...new production Criterion barrel..." Criterion barrels are really good barrels. Some say they're close to match grade.
There's a discussion about 'em here you may want to read.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=238869

[lyman]

Criterion used to be made and owned by Krieger, not sure if they still are affiliated or not,

and yes, good barrels,

[oldsoldier54]

Thanks all for the info so far. I understand that criterion barrels are good as are the "special" stocks. I'm looking for a report, hopefully with pictures, from someone who has actually recently purchased a CMP rack grade special, the $650 rifle with the "heavily pitted above the woodline" refinished receiver to get an idea of how bad the receivers look and if the sight table and detents are intact for accurate windage and elevation adjustments. They are out of them at the North Store and I was told yesterday by them they will not receive any until some time in January at the earliest.

[Sunray]

"...how bad the receivers look..." The new Parkerizing will fill in any really ugly bits. Best to ask on the CMP forum.

[lyman]

"...how bad the receivers look..." The new Parkerizing will fill in any really ugly bits. Best to ask on the CMP forum.

how will parkerizing fill in the ugly pits?

[Major Tom]

Parkerizing will definitely NOT fill in any pits from rust. Years ago I had a SA garand reparked. It had a few 'pits' and the repark did not fill them in!

[lyman]

Parkerizing will definitely NOT fill in any pits from rust. Years ago I had a SA garand reparked. It had a few 'pits' and the repark did not fill them in!

wondering if Sunray knows some secrets,

I've parked hundreds of firearms, and some random tools,

sandblasting, if you use an aggressive media, will soften them a bit or fade the edges if not too deep, but will not fill them at all,

parkerizing is a controlled chemical rusting process, of sorts, and not very thick

[dryheat]

A Rack grade special is kind of a trade off. You get a nice barrel to ease the pain of getting a(maybe) awful looking receiver. I have seen some barkers, but on occasion, like anything else you might get a fairly nice looking receiver. I'm not a fan of the light phosphate park and it surely will not fill in any pitting. Some of these are aggressively blasted to the point where you can't read the ser. no. Keep that tag. I'd post a pic but I haven't figured out how to move pics from the phone to the PC yet.
Just for fun here is a bizarre auction on GB. This is an older purchase. I don't think there even are field grades any longer. The ser. no. is blacked out. Probably unreadable anyway. That didn't stop two nitwits from bidding it to OZ.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/886912887

[oldsoldier54]

Thanks, dryheat. Sounds like you have a rack grade special or have a picture so I'm getting closer to an answer. I'll query on the cmp blog as well. I've found with an apple phone i send a text message with the picture attached to my email address that I've already put into the phone as a contact. Once i get the pic in my email on the computer, I then just use the paint tool to adjust size, brightness etc if I didn't do it already while stored on the phone. Hope that helps and Merry Christmas.

[lyman]

A Rack grade special is kind of a trade off. You get a nice barrel to ease the pain of getting a(maybe) awful looking receiver. I have seen some barkers, but on occasion, like anything else you might get a fairly nice looking receiver. I'm not a fan of the light phosphate park and it surely will not fill in any pitting. Some of these are aggressively blasted to the point where you can't read the ser. no. Keep that tag. I'd post a pic but I haven't figured out how to move pics from the phone to the PC yet.
Just for fun here is a bizarre auction on GB. This is an older purchase. I don't think there even are field grades any longer. The ser. no. is blacked out. Probably unreadable anyway. That didn't stop two nitwits from bidding it to OZ.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/886912887

wow,

3 guys took it up to $1500 and one ducked out w/ the others carrying it up from there,

[TryIt]

I purchased a Rack Grade Special this summer at the north store. When I was at the store there was a rack full of them. Some had very little pitting above the wood line, others were heavily pitted. All had definite pitting below the wood line.

After seeing the varying condition of the receivers, I would be a little hesitant to buy one by mail. For $650 I am satisfied with the one I picked, and there were a few others in about the same condition. I would not have bought some of the other rifles in worse condition.

[lyman]

and that is the rub

the CMP tends to paint a picture using the roughest it has, and rightly so, since it is always better to get a firearm in better shape than you expected than it is to expect a jewel and not get one,,

[Major Tom]

Makes me happy to remember I bought 2 garands from CMP, a SA and a Winchester, for only $400 each. I still have them!

[XLF30]

I got a Winchester Rack Grade Special last year. I'm quite happy with it.

The park is nice, the wood is nice and fits tight, it came with a milled trigger guard, and there is very little pitting. I think it graded "Rack" because the gas cylinder has very worn finish, the floorplate and clip latch have ever so light surface rust which I mostly got rid of with fine steel wool. I have a full set of gas cylinder gauges and the cylinder gauged excellent. No functional problems.

I put on a hooded NM aperature sight and using the standard SR target at 200 yards (13 inch bull I think) I get 4 to 5 inch groups with handloads or with decent milsurp. I find this accuracy is typical of a Criterion barrel, at least with my eyes, which are both 60 years old.

With milsurp, I find Danish shoots the best (no I won't sell you any...lol), Greek HXP is decent but has occasional fliers that go off to the moon, and LC is not so great, especially if you're using delinked machine gun ball.

Out to 200 yards, 150s shoot as well as heavier bullets. I can hit steel reliably out to 300 yards (150 grain) with 3 clicks up elevation, and can hit larger steel plates at 500 if I use handloads and a heavier bullet such as a 178/180.

Also keep in mind that if you have 5 rifles with the same brand barrel and 5 different types of ammo, each rifle will probably prefer a different one.

I've bought a large number of Garands from CMP over the last 20 or so years. Only one was as bad as the description...all the others were better.

A factory-new barrel is a good deal because the muzzle and TE readings are not a good predictor of how well they will shoot.

I hope this helps. I know you want photos, I'm afraid I can't help with that. But if you're going to the CMP store, you can look at and fondle a nice rack full of rifles and find one you like.

[Electraclyde]

I bought a Winchester special Rack Grade last Febuary. I wanted the Winchester because that is what I carried and qualified with in Army basic training in Feb. Mar. and April of 1964. I made my purchase VIA mail and the rifle was shipped from Alabama. I am VERY happy with it. Sure, I can see some mild pitting above the wood, But if I look at myself in the mirror, I see some minor pitting. LOL. (I am one year younger than the rifle, 1945 vs 1944) The wood needed some minor trimming in the area of the trigger assembly and the receiver. I also had some accuracy issues and the rifle went back to CMP and they replace the new Criterion barrel with another new Criterion barrel. That did cure the accuracy issues. All in all, I am very pleased with my special rack grade rifle.
If the OP would like, I can take some pics and Email them. I don't have the ability to post pics. here. PM me if you would like pics.

[dryheat]

It's mute at this point. Take a look at the CMP offerings: Three quarters of what they used to sell is marked SOLD OUT. You can get a Winchester for just under a thousand or a IHC for a little more than a thousand. Or a Special(not rack grade) for $750. Take a look at Gunbroker. Guys are flipping these Specials for twice what they paid for them.