During the 2016 Small Arms Firing School at Camp Butner, a representative from CMP shared with the class that they had secured 86000 Garands from the Philippines, many in “rough shape” within the next year or so. He also went on to say they would run out of Garands in the next year or so likely before they had more.
Fast forward a year or so, CMP Garands are not “gone” but they have slowed to a trickle. Gone are the days of piles of Garands at the Eastern and Western games, as in the header.
Over the summer, things started to look grim for the Filipino Garands when, the Obama administration ordered the DoD to stop the transfer of these Garands.
Fast forward another 6 months, with the Obama admin gone, the path seems to be clear for CMP to receive these Garands. Currently they are still in the Philippines per CMP, who will cover shipping, Which means it could be some time until they are in the sales pipeline.
So what does this mean.
- Yes, if things go well it looks like there will be at least some new Garands coming to CMP. Don’t expect it to be 86000 Garands still packed in cosmo. There is a good chance most of them are in poor condition.
- No there are still not going to be $220 Korean Garands. Yes they were banned via executive order by Obama and that could at least legally be reversed by the Trump Admin. Even if that were to happen they will not be less than $1000 and they will not be going to CMP.
- Even with no Garands that doesn’t mean doom for the CMP. CMP’s mission is not to sell Garands at a discounted price so everyone can have a subsidized Garand. Sales are a fundraiser which supports their mission of promoting marksmanship.