Up to 87,000 South Korean M1 Garands Coming Home

guns.com ^ | 6 June, 2012 | Max Slowik

[marktwain]

Just in time for the 68th anniversary of D-Day.

The importation of as many as 87,000 M1 Garands gathering dust in South Korean storage may soon get the green light for importation to the US. Special thanks is due to Montana Senator John Tester and Representative Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming who introduced legislation to prevent the US government from interfering with the importation of US-made guns that were previously exported to other countries. In the face of this pressure, the State Department will no longer prohibit the exportation of these M1 Garands back to the US.

"From World War II to Korea and Vietnam, M1 Garand rifles played a crucial role in history," Tester said. "These American-made firearms will always be valued as collector's items, and law-abiding Americans have the right to keep them under our Constitution's Second Amendment. I'm glad the State Department listened to my concerns and those of America's gun collectors."

These rifles, which are completely legal in the US, and are even considered to be Curios & Relics because of their explicit value as collectible firearms, had been previously blocked for reasons ranging from wanting to protect US firearms manufacturing interests to ostensibly keeping guns off the streets, billing the M1 Garands as high-power, high-capacity semi-automatic rifles too dangerous for Americans.

With the State Department reversing their position, the US and South Korean governments will be working to find an importer to bring these Garands home. They will be distributed through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), the government-chartered organization that promotes riflery and firearms safety.

The condition of these M1 Garands has not been established, but in the past, the CMP has rebuilt Garands into like new condition with new Walnut stocks and new Criterion barrels, both in their original chambering, .30-06 Springfield and also in .308 Winchester.

We really like M1 Garands in .308, as they can still use en-block clips in addition to being chambered in a more modern, more versatile, and importantly, more available cartridge.

This is good news for all the fans of the M1 Garand, both as an elegant, reliable, and attractive rifle as well as a firearm that is truly part of American history. The bad news is that waiting will be hard. Still, the CMP has more than a few M1 Garands on-hand. You can see what rifles they have for sale right here.

[Squantos]

Cmp have em for sale ?

[Squantos]

Didn’t Eaker buy a grenade shaped like a garand once ?

Stay safe ya’ll....:o)

[wtc911]

I re-read BREAKOUT every two or three years, it is that good.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Back in the Clin-toon admin there was a machine there called “Captain Crunch” in which thousands of Garands were destroyed. That is when the Congress stood firm and formed the CMP to sell these rifles to the public.

After all, they are PUBLIC PROPERTY! Even the guns of Lewis and Clark were later sold at public auction to the PUBLIC.

[M1903A1]

“Captain Crunch” is still alive and crunching. There’s plenty of legitimate reasons to scrap military firearms (burned in a fire, dangerously out of spec, machine guns, etc.).

M1 Garands weren’t all that was destroyed in that appalling binge of destruction in the early-mid 1990s...some time ago I read that the Clinton admin also destroyed the war-reserve stockpiles of Vietnam-era M16A1s.

[M1903A1]

M1 Ball was developed more for machine guns than rifles. The original tables-of-fire for the M1906 loading had been calculated rather than field-tested, and during World War I US machine gunners laying down long-range barrages discovered that their fire was falling short of the target by as much as 30%.

The M1 loading was developed in the 1920s, but not widely deployed until the mid-late 30s, on account of having to burn up all of the leftover M1906 ammo first. When it was finally issued, two problems came to light: the flat, long-shooting trajectory of the round was too great for many established firing ranges, and the hard bullet jackets (necessary to prevent the bullet’s “tipping” off center in the bore because of its short bearing surface) noticeably increased barrel wear. A new version of the old M1906 cartridge, using the old projectile design with the troublesome cupro-nickel jacket replaced, was standardized as M2 Ball.

The M1 Ball loading, or a descendant of it, lasted into the 1970s as M72 Match .30-06. I think the last of it was loaded around 1974-75, with the absolute last arsenal run of .30-06 being a batch of match-grade cases produced in 1978.

As to the Korean ammunition, be careful. Certain lots of Korean ammo have corrosive primers, while others have apparently had issues with case failures.

[Jacob Kell]

Actually, the French Battalion was basically an ad hoc unit consisting of three companies. One company was made up of recruits from the Metropolitan France (France proper) Army units, another consisted of members from the Colonial Army units (made up of both Colons and natives), and the third had troops from the Foreign Legion, and the paratroop units of all three branches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Battalion_in_the_Korean_War

[Joe Brower]

"Cmp have em for sale ?"

That's what I'm hoping. Haven't been able to find out, though.

[Cuttnhorse]

Wonder if the carbines are full auto...maybe that’s why they are not returning??

[Dead Corpse]

Standard issue semi...

[thackney]

didn’t Eaker buy a grenade shaped like a garand once ?

It was shaped like a used grenade, after Eaker was done with it.

[Last Dakotan]

Ping

[Squantos]

I have / own a korean war era serial numbered garand I got from cmp about 20 years ago. Awesome shooter, a racked arsenal rifle with a hand painted number on the stock some armorer did with white enamel looooong ago.

My Uncle Bob was in Korean war as a 57mm recoiless gunner, 3rd Infantry.... Hope to snag one that was for sure “in country” for him.

Stay safe Joe.

[M1903A1]

Probably because the ability of the M1 Carbine to take an EEEE-VIL high-capacity magazine (15 or—GASP—30 rounds) classifies it in the eyes of current law as an “assault weapon”. < rolleyes >

[Eaker]

It was shaped like a used grenade, after Eaker was done with it.

No reason to do anything half way!

[Squantos]

Note to all manufacturing companies ..... we freepers will not buy any product that is NOT Eaker proof !

.......;o)

Stay safe Eeek !

[sarge83]

My uncle was on occupation duty in Japan when the war started. He said they had them report with their gear on a Saturday and by Monday were in country. When he disembarked in korea his unit was handed 10 rounds and told to try and not waste them. Talk about a what the hell! moment for him.

He talked about the north korean tanks and how the first early WWII era bazookas would just bounce off the sides of the T34’s. His unit would form a line get hit, fight until they couldn’t hold, call in artillery or an airstrike if they could get it, which wasn’t much in the early days. Then bug out and try and find another defensible position.

Him and a buddy separated from their unit during one of the pull backs and was MIA for 3 days. They ran up one mountain and down another with the enemy right on their tails. They would hit a mountain peak, look down and there was the north koreans at the bottom. They finally ran into a South Korean army unit and made it back to US lines.

They finally of course held at Pusan. And then when we went on offense his unit fought all the way to the Yalu and he was around the CO of the unit when his officers asked do you want to form a defensive perimeter in the town below the cliff area they were on overlooking the river? He said the CO thought for a second and said no, we stay up here and set up. Later that night around 2:00am all hell broke loose then the Chinese entered the war. It was then one long retreat and then the counter offensive.

He was in the town that Gen. Dean was in when he was captured, his unit was one of the last to get out of the town. He said he went through the north korean capital Pyongyang and saw a north korean tank with a 90mm shell that had hit in the end of the barrel and it made him laugh because it looked just like a cartoon and had pealed the barrel back like a banana. He also said when they got through with Pyongyang and red square it didn’t look all nice and pretty like they show on tv.

He endured handed to hand fighting and nearly went crazy with PTSD after the war. It took him nearly a dozen years to calm down and control the PTSD. When I was a young kid in the 70’s he finally started talking about the war. He earned two bronze stars while in the service.

[sarge83]

He preferred the full auto M1 carbine when dealing with the human wave attacks the chinese would throw at their lines. Two 30 round mags taped together and bandoliers full of more magazines and ammo. He on one occasion picked up a russian burp gun and carried it around for a while along with his M1 but said it was so damned heavy he ditched it and just carried the carbine.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

That’s funny - I got the EXACT same letter in reply to my inquiry. I decided to take them up on buying from the CMP. My application in being mailed today.

[yarddog]

This is my Uncle Milton. He was in the Korean War and this is him in Korea. He was my Mothe's youngest Brother and all us kids favorite. We loved it when he would come by because he always was doing something interesting. I do not know much about his actions in Korea except that he shot a Black soldier and was court marshaled. There must have been at least a bit of justification as his punishment was losing all rank. He stayed in the Army until he retired many years later. When he was young he was about as wild as could be. He always had fast cars, fast women and whiskey. After he retired he became very conservative. He worked as an undercover deputy for a sheriff who was basically cleaning up the county.