Bought a CAI Garand What Are My Options

bpm32 said:

I don’t know, man. If it were me I would just buy a Service Grade from CMP, which will be in military spec and perfectly safe to shoot. Charlie is probably referring to worn out CMP Rack Grades. Even if that’s not the case, smiths tend to have a much higher definition of “acceptable” than most casual shooters.

Second thing is, even if you end up sinking a fair amount of money into turning that CAI receiver into a nice gun, it will have little value because it’s not USGI. A CMP Service Grade is instantaneously worth more than you paid because most people mistakenly look at the CMP website and say, “well that’s just too much paperwork”.

Click to expand...

Doco Overboard said:

10-4 sounds like a good idea to hang on to it. You never know when something like that could turn into something useful.

I have a lot of Garands too and know next to nothing about them. Things like the CAI receivers help me learn about what makes them into clones of the other models with M1C scope mounts and other things like that.

Click to expand...

OverTheTop said:

Its certainly a consideration. The way I see it, is that I want a Garand to take out to the range and have fun with. Whether I buy a CMP gun or build the CAI receiver into a functional rifle I'm in atleast $700 either way. The original production receivers are more collectable, but that inherently means you have to be more careful with them so they retain the value.

That's why I'm leaning towards building on the CAI receiver, because it will give me a gun I can beat the shit out of and not have to worry about losing value. Plus I think it would be fun project to turn this into a proper rifle and again where I don't have to worry about screwing this thing up in the process.

I do intend to get a proper M1 at some point though and when I do I will be looking at what CMP has to offer, or see if I can track down a more valuable example.

I appreciate the input though, as you are right. If I restore the CAI receiver, I would be spending money I couldn't recoup if I were to sell the gun. From that perspective this is a dumb idea, but my intent is to get a shooter grade rifle and I think from that perspective it makes sense to rebuild with the CAI receiver.

Click to expand...

Augie said:

If you have Charlie do it the rifle will be right and it will be accurate, the number of match grade Garands and M14's he has built over the decades is amazing, my impression is he tends to look at building them more with function and accuracy in mind rather than collectibility.
Link to a thread on a CMP rack grade I had him inspect and screw on a new Criterion barrel.


https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=223283

Click to expand...