Posted on 01/18/2012 3:26:02 PM PST by dynachrome
Washington has agreed to allow the importation of M1 Garand rifles from Seoul, reversing its earlier decision to ban the shipping of the weapon used by South Korean and U.S. soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
“The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000 of the rifles,” said Lee Sun-chul, deputy defense minister for force and resources management.
“The historic firearms are expected to be sold to American Korean War veterans and their families in time for the 62nd anniversary of the Korean War, which falls on June 25 this year.”
(Excerpt) Read more at koreatimes.co.kr ...
Dang first rifle I ever shot. I NEED one. Accurate too. I was all of 7 years old, somehow kinda bloodied my nose...don’t ask I CAN”T REMEMBER wahhhhh MOOOOOMYYY FReepers are laughinig at me agin!
The deal won’t be going through the CMP, import wholesalers will be getting them. They will all have to carry the import stamps (like the Blue Sky imports).
They will be available through gunshops and the normal mil-surp internet retailers. They will be priced by condition, and no where near $200.
But, they won’t cost what the CMP is holding us up for either. More choices for a great mil-surp rifle is a good thing!
They are actually worth more if they still have the band of red paint on them. The whole reason the Lend-Lease rifles are worth so much is because they are verifiably all-original and not a restoration, like so many of the “original” Garands out there. Many of the 37,001 Lend-Lease rifles had the paint stripped off by collectors and shooters when they came back over here in the late 1950s. Without that red paint...it’s just another rifle.
An interesting rumor, that I heard on a Garand collecting website, was that these British Lend-Lease rifles were approved for return to the US (an unprecedented move for the US government at the time) as “plausible deniability” cover for CIA covert operations.
To another poster’s comment, yes, there were a few all-original, still-in-wrapper M1 Garands discovered in US military inventory in past years. They went straight to auction for the CMP and I believe they fetched in the range of $25-30,000.
Rumor (and photos) suggest that some of these Garands in Korea may be unopened “cans” from the lots of rifles that were overhauled after the war and “canned” (literally) for long-term storage.
Not quite, it says they are "expected to be sold" to that group.
The rotten stinking bass turds.
The Garand's internal magazine holds multiple rounds (8) and can be reloaded, in fact must be, with a handy spring metal clip, just as fast as the carbine's magazine can be changed. Sure not a many rounds (15 or 30 for the Carbine), but then again they are a lot stouter rounds.
But I wouldn't mind having another for my wife to use for home defense. My arms are so long I've put an extra butt pad on mine, making it too long for her.
Because of the stouter, more powerful 30-06 cartridges, you could put a scope on one, and it will make a fine sniper rifle. In fact it did, during the Korean war. :)
I already have an M1 Carbine, and it's a hoot to shoot. It's from the most common manufacturer, Inland, and is in the Korean War configuration.. mostly anyway, the bolt seems to be the older type and it's mag catch was also of the earlier type. I've replaced that with one that will hold the 30 rd mags, even though I've only got a couple of those. )
ping
Me also. Always wanted one and now I might have a chance to afford one.
Yeah, and politicians used to care about liberty and freedom too. Amazing what we've become.
My favorite rifle (I’ve shot them, but have not yet had the honor of owning one: I hope to rectify that soon, though). My other favorite rifle is the M14, which — in semi-auto mode — is pretty much an M1 Garand “reduced” to a .308.
The two best battle rounds in history (in my humble opinion, of course) are the .30-06 (notice my screen name!) and the .308 (7.62).
M1 carbines are fun to plink with, but they are pretty poor battle weapons or self-defense weapons.
My wife’s uncle was KIA in the Korean War. How do we get one?
My bet is there’ll be nice big ads in all the gun press. Though based on the last bunch that came from Korea in the 80s, I’d wait to hear some people’s reports on them before buying.
Looks like the details are still up in the air.
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