Posted on 05/11/2018 11:33:51 AM PDT by Simon Green
The military of the Philippines had warehouses full of vintage M1 rifles. Getting them back to the U.S. was an epic struggle.
The Garand Collector’s Association, which has been helping the Civilian Marksmanship Program inventory and classify a literal shipload of repatriated M1s, produced the above video chronicling the return to the states of some 86,000 Garands loaned to the Philippines over the years. Fighting poor storage, threats of critters and hazardous materials, the CMP invested millions in cleaning the guns, packing and sending them via truck, train and ship back to Alabama.
It goes almost without saying that accurately accounting for and transporting approximately 90,000 small arms from the other side of the globe is challenging under any circumstances,” noted the Army’s Defense Logistics Agency in their coverage of the event. “Throw in termite infestation, monsoon season, and asbestos contamination, and you will have a recipe for disaster.”
The good news is that, while some of the guns are in bad shape and have been bubbafied by Filipino field gunsmiths unknown, others are in amazingly good shape.
bump
First firearm I ever learned to shoot - and the first firearm I ever bought as well.
Still my favorite. Nothing else like it.
The M1A is sweet as well, but it wouldn’t be here without the M1 Garand before it.
Dang ol clips
I taught my kid on a Romanian PSL when he was 12
A .30 caliber round from an M1 will go thru an engine block. Two or three rounds will cut a person into pieces.
True, but it still seems awfully expensive as militaria when 100,000 of these are going to be hitting the market over the next decade and you don’t have any chance of getting something really desirable, like a Singer. All of those will be auctioned.
I expected about $200 lower at each grade.
RE Clips:
Fast loading, though. Got dozens of them. A Rifle Company in WWII put out a hellacious amount of firepower with that rifle.
The Germans and Japs were ... suitably impressed... :^)
Just back from breakfast and the gunshop, went out there to hear my buddys adventures upon his return from UAE, but the butthead was down in the river bottom at his gun range
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8eRnks9bM
Yup. Very familiar with the Garand’s enbloc C clip. I have dozens of them. That great little “Ping!” when it ejects is music to my ears.
I have “stripper” clips for my older bolt action rifles, too.
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