Back in February I ventured to the North Store and was able to snag a carbine, which was my first CMP purchase. While there waiting for paperwork on my rifle to finish with 30 other guys I was browsing through their collection of Garands and discovered the CMP Special Grades.

For those unfamiliar with the Special Grade...



http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/m1-garand/

So, it's not all original and it has a new barrel. I don't obsess over originality and wanted a Garand I could shoot and not worry about correct original parts breaking and these seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I wanted one.

SO I decided I'd get myself one for my birthday. And I did.

Here is my 6-digit M1 Garand Special Grade in potato-quality pictures. The receiver was produced in ~February 1942.





Full Album

I love my CMP special. It's a shooter for sure.

Here's my before/after. Stock came bone dry. I used tung oil finish for a more durable/water resistant finish.

I absolutely love my special grade Giraud.

Make sure you oil the stock per their recommendations to keep the wood from drying out. It's very easy to apply with just cheese cloth (I can't remember what they recommend, I called them). I think it was Tung oil.

Here is a good read.

http://www.garandgear.com/m1-garand-new-oil-finish

Edit: I just checked and I did use Tung oil. I love the color of Tung oil, never been a fan of the red tint from linseed oil. YMMV

A guy in the store said to use lindseed oil or boiled lindseed oil depending on the color I wanted out of the stock. I'd like to keep it lighter, so BLO is the one to use, correct?

You want to use either BOILED linseed oil or PURE tung oil if your'e going for a correct type of finish.  Don't use raw linseed (will not dry) or "tung oil finish" (it's got other stuff in it).  

 

FWIW both BLO and Tung oil will darken with age and use.  

I love my special grade! It's crazy accurate with the Criterion barrel and 1970's surplus ammo. I used about 6-7 coats of tung oil over a 2 week period and the stock is beautiful now

What's with the 7 in the serial number being so pronounced?  Re-stamp?

I forget what the mantra was exactly for hand rubbed oil finishes but I think it went something like:

Once a day for a week

Once a week for a month

Once a month for a year

Once a year for the rest of your life  


But that's assuming you use it daily IIRC. So you will likely be able to get away with less. The wood will tell you when it's soaked up enough.

That is exactly what I tried to do. I made it to the once a month for a year and my wife had a baby. Then I realized my baby was 1.5yrs old and remembered I had an M1 Garand

Thanks for my reminder to oil it this year :)

Some of this information is not accurate.  You can use raw linseed oil, if you can find it, but you will have to cut it with some drier so it doesn't take forever to dry.  Raw linseed oil is the one that will turn reddish with age.  BLO has so many additives, it doesn't get the reddish hue as it ages.  BLO is probably what most people use, if they are not using tung oil, since it is the one that is most readily available.  Whichever linseed oil you use, make sure to use it sparingly, or wipe off the excess, and give plenty of time to soak up and dry between coats, or you are going to wind up with a gummy mess.   And don't apply BLO in a humid environment.  It will develop a milky haze that you can't get rid of unless you strip the wood back down.

Just applied my first coat of 100% pure tung and it's beautiful.

I also cleaned up my spare surplus carbine stock and I'll re-do that in BLO.
(My CMP carbine stock is WAAAAY too loose so I bought a spare from J&G surplus and the fit is MUCH better)

 
So how good/bad are those stocks from J&G?  

So my carbine sounded like a spraypaint can with the stock from the CMP. Not the normal carbine rattle. If you look in this picture you can see that the recoil plate is round but the cut in the stock is square, being the main source of the rattle.



That needed to stop. Additionally my carbine is a Saginaw receiver with Rockola barrel. I don't know the other parts because I'm new to the CMP but basically it's already a mixmaster.

So I heard the J&G stocks weren't perfect but they were in working condition. I heard reports of small cracks but nothing unmanageable with some crack filler.

Mine came very dark, a mix of dirt and oil. I didn't take a pic when I got it, but once I started cleaning I realized I should.
You can see the dark near the butt how it came, and the forend showing it getting cleaned up.



Here's the stock cleaned up



You can see some dings and scuffs but for the price I'm happy with it. There's also some light numbering I can see. Unfortunately the top cover didn't clean up as well. I'm still happy that I have a shooter stock. Very happy with the cost and what I got. If I had more carbines I'd definitely buy more.

I look forward to oiling it and seeing how it looks.


Here's a photo album from a Reddit post where I learned about these stocks and showing what they look like and how they clean up.

My Garand was a beast this weekend and the belle of the ball with my group of buddies. They all loved shooting the rifle from Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.

Someone got a shot of me shooting it with a .30-06 casing in the air, which I think is pretty cool.




Overall I think I love it even more after shooting it and I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

Great shot!!!

I used BLO on my CMP Garand a long time ago after putting it in the dishwasher.  

Your Carbine stock looks like it might be a potbelly stock.....