From what I’ve been able to gather from my contacts in the Importer / Wholesaler World (having a C&R FFL I have accounts with a few of them) one of the problems is that these rifles were “lend-lease” weapons, and since the Korean government does not technically own them, they cannot sell them back to us.
The Greeks apparently returned a bunch of their lend lease M-1s to the US Government, which in turn turned them over to the CMP for sale to qualified buyers.
But that was back in the GW BUSH Administration.
If these M1s ever do get back to the US, chances are under this Syndicate they would be scrapped, much as Clinton ordered the destruction of thousands of M-14s, which troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have been crying for when the inadequacy of “jammin jenny” and the 5.56mm mouse gun round once again was proven in combat, as it was in VietNam 40 years earlier.
The few surviving specimens of the last of the “REAL RIFLES” the military ever issued, other than a few used for ceremonial purposes, apparently have been modified into highly effective “Squad Designated Marksman” rifles for issue over in the sandbox.
A few of the ROK milsurp M-1s made it back here about 10 years ago, but they had obviously been “rode hard & put away wet” and most needed a lot of TLC in order to restore them to decent serviceable condition. Also the ROKS typically sawed a couple of inches off of the stock to accommodate the short, stocky Korean Infantryman... some of the toughest examples of the human species I have ever encountered, by the way.
CMP also got a lot of ROK M-2 Ball ammo, which our club has used in a number of CMP shoots, and it was decent stuff.
If you can get some of the Greek HXP though, it is prime.
Assuming that a lot of M-1s would fall into criminal use is just as you have pointed out, pretty absurd; about the first time a gang-banger got an “M-1 Thumb” that would be the end of that, and those 8-rd. enbloc clips would not be terribly popular among thugs more accustomed to 30rd. AK magazines. Any punk worth his ink would be laughed off the hood if he came toting one of those old relics and a bandoleer of enblocs.
The Garand was indeed a fine Infantry weapon in it’s day, but even by the end of the Korean “conflict” (which never really “ended”, by the way) it was woefully obsolete.
As some have opined, I agree that it would best serve today as a last ditch DEFENSIVE rifle, and probably serve reasonably well in the hands of an experienced Rifleman - but way out of it’s league for any effective offensive tactical application.
The carbine, as cute as it is, is notoriously underpowered and under-ranged, and even the SKS is a generally superior combat arm firing a superior tactical round (7.62X39mm) at about the same size and weight. The AKM series simply leaves it in the dust of historical curiosity. It’s primary usefulness now is in teaching riflery to young shooters stepping up from the .22, informal plinking, and perhaps small pest control.
The Russian PPSH submachine gun round (.30 Tokarev / 7.62 X 25mm) is nearly as powerful as the M-1 carbine round and the “Paypayshay” could spray them out of an 80 rd. drum mag at around 900RPM. Troops facing them in Korea called them the “Buzz Saw” for good reason, and even the select fire M-2 carbine was reportedly no match for them in battle.
I know that several international arms Importers, some of whom you are probably familiar with, have been monitoring the Korean M-1 situation for quite some time now, anxious to negotiate a buy - but they face a formidable opposition in the anti-gun / anti freedom Obama Regime and the red tape jungle imposed by it’s bureaucracy.
From what I’m hearing the ROK Military bureaucrats have not been terribly helpful, either.
There is a discussion regarding this situation over on the CMP discussion forum, if you’d like to peruse it.
Korea Garand Deal Problems - CMP Forums
www.thecmp.org
http://www.thecmp.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22783
Brother are you ever right about that. I remember watching some ROK's start their days by engaging in Tae Kwan Do practice at 0500 every day without pads.
Amazing.