The possibly to be repatriated Garands

I was just wondering what you fellas thoughts are on the idea of suddenly 80 to 90,000 Garands coming to our market. Suppose that they do come back and they are a decent deal, let's say $700, do you think it will affect the value of the rifles we have now, and if it did would it bother you that possibly your rifles are worth a little less because of a flooded market? I've been reading about this on a couple of other forums here and there and there is a lot of fellas that are crying, whining, and ****ed because they think their rifles are going to be worth less. My thoughts are that I would be very glad to see a whole lot more people be able to own such a historic rifle because more could finally afford it and the thought of my Garands being worth a little less because of it doesn't bother me a bit. I think any time we can get more of our history back into the hands of the people it's a great thing. I also can't wait to see what some of the rifles are going to be, low serial numbers, original WWII barrels, cartouched stocks, and who knows what else. It should be a lot of fun.

If you are talking about the ones from Korea, I doubt that you will see Them!

I know I'm in Canada and we're in a different boat...BUT, I think the ones in Korea hardly will compare to the collector rifles. Most will likely have seen better times. That is IF they actually materialize!

I agree with JIm. Every since these first came up and everyone started saying they wanted them to be imported, I figured they'd be nothing like the ones the CMP has been selling. Most of the carbines that came out of Korea years ago had been rode hard and put up wet. If these do get imported, I'd expect poor condition, paint and marks on stocks, with an import stamp on the barrel to top it off.

I own my milsurps because I like them, value is not a concern for me.
If more Garands are brought in then more people can enjoy them.
If it brings the price down I do not care about the value of my own gun but maybe more people can afford to buy them, especially young people.

In 1996 I looked at a Korean Garand at a local gun store - price was $350 and it was beat up with a well shot barrel. I bought the 03A3 instead. Those rifles will not de-value your WW2 garand or your CMP Garand. They are going to be beat up and import marked. They may not even be safe. The CMP guns will hold value because of their quality.
Just my 2 cents.

From what I have heard these Garands are mostly those that have been in storage in SA made cans. If so these rifles will be in fresh rebuilt condition. The selling price will be at or what CMP is selling them for. $700 Garands won't sell fast as people can get them cheaper from CMP. And remember in each can along with the rifles were the bayonets,cleaning kits and slings. But the only way to know will be when they do come in and as they have been approved it's just a matter of time. But the carbines also in storage cans too have not been approved and will not be all because they take those nasty terrible magazines that hold 15 or 30 rounds and have a bayonet lug on them. The liberal mind set is way out there for sure but they are the ones in comtrol right now so we have to live with and be happy the Garands will be coming back home one day soon.

of the Korean Garands and carbines...

[Exclusive] US allows import of 86,000 M1 rifles from Korea

So...nothing is done yet!

Had a professor at RIT that served in the Korean Military.
He indicated that they had rifles that were held in reserve that were in pristine condition and they trained with beat up rifles.
If hostilities ever broke out the reserve would be released.

lets hope that these are from the reserve - if it still exists

I purchased my first M1 around 1990 for $227. It was from Arlington Ordinance and came out of Korea. It was really rough. Had to replace the barrel, Op Rod and stock plus some small parts as timing would not work to release bolt when loaded. It is now one of my favorites and shoots great. The only good thing about it when received was that it was a WWII Springfield serial number range, 1.3 Mil. IMHO, if those come in they will be pretty much the same as this. Saw a lot of them at gunshows back then and the were beat to hell and had oriental writing on the stocks.

The fear of flooding the market and crushing values comes around every time a new bunch is imported. It doesn't happen. The junk gets hurt, the good stuff holds and then increases. More people get interested, then some decide they want "one of each maker." You know where that goes :)

I really don't worry at all about the value of my rifles. Makes no difference to me if they go up or down. Maybe this has to do with my age :D I have no intention of selling them in my lifetime. May make a trade now and then. I figure that when I check out the wife will sell them all at about $ 50.00 each anyway. That's about what I tell her I paid for a rifle when she catches me sneaking it in the door. :lol: What a way to have to live, but it keeps the peace.

I put the Value section on the GCA Data Sheet for exactly that reason -- fill it out and keep it up to date, your family will thank you if you die. If you need some, you can download them from the Supply Shack section of the web site for free (theGCA.org).

Personally I also do not worry about my Garands Market Value. It was a gift from my Father in Law (still trying to figure out his angle LOL) and one day it along with most the rest of my firearms will go to my son with a few to my daughter.

As to the Korean returns. I would guess it could be a mixed bag. If a company like BLUE SKY is involved in selling them then from my experiance with Carbines condition of the metal could bevery good to acceptable. The wood on the other hand tends to be well traveled.

I just replaced the wood on my Inland with reproduction wood from Numrich and when I showed it off on a couple forums the guys thought it loked amazing. The carbine shoots very well as good as any of the four I have owned over the years.

if it does turn out that the importers are selling the Korean returns for $700.00 the I might be real temped to buy another. I would though only concider it if I could do it in person.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob seijas

I put the Value section on the GCA Data Sheet for exactly that reason -- fill it out and keep it up to date, your family will thank you if you die. If you need some, you can download them from the Supply Shack section of the web site for free (theGCA.org).

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Thanks for the "Value Chart" Bob. I surely don't want to end up as a story such as Ricks, "Another War Story", at Garanditis. :)

The thing that gets me, is that some of those political decisions on not allowing them to come into the U.S. was based upon pure wrongful speculation that they would "fall into the wrong hands" and become a dangerous liability. What a crock! How many times, I would like someone to "please count them" that some bad guys robbed banks or went on a killing spree with M1 Garands, or M1 Carbines. I mean come on man, what a lame excuse, Dont they mean to say instead thier afraid the ATF will sell them to someone in Mexico? Even that would still be rediculous, I doub't they'd want them anyway. We're the ones that crave them, take them to service rifle matches, teach our children the great sport of high power shooting, and some of us could use the parts to say the least. I don't know why they would ever worry about Garands and Carbines that are older than I am, many of which have seen thier better days for sure, and many may require additional work to be top notch again. They cant see, or don't care about the real reason the DCM and CMP needs to have access to the rifles of times long ago. The government had a chance, years ago, and actually did care. Back then rifles were cheaper and easier to come by. The programs that trained civilians were up and running just great. They are still up and running, only now the CMP is not run by Uncle Sam, but we still need access to the other Garands and Carbines just as we did before, and for the same reasons we did before. I just don't understand the negative politics attatched, anyway, I got that off my mind, and hope that I didn't start an arguement, that wasn't my intention at all, so I appologize ahead of time if i came off on the wrong foot here.

Glad you got that off your chest, and I understand the frustration, but this is not a forum for political discussion so let's let the politics end there, shall we? Thanks, folks, for your cooperation and for keeping the forum a pleasant place.

Bob