New guy intro and a couple of Garand questions

[A34]

Hey Guys,

New guy here. I have a 2 Garand's, but I am new to shooting them. One is a '55 model and the other a '42. They are both CMP rifles in decent shape, new barrels.

I want to put a scope on one of them. Could someone tell me the max effective range of one with a scope and any recommendations on scopes to buy? I want to use it for hunting, most likely deer.

Also, is there a way to tell by serial number where my '42 M1 was issued? What unit? Just curious if the Army kept those kind of records or allowed access to them.

I ran into a guy at the CMP that told me how to strip/clean the stock and then suggested using Danish Wood Oil to reoil. Is that what most of you guys use?

Thanks !

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[Griff Murphey]

Anyone on this forum is going to say:"Have your rifle checked before firing by a competent gunsmith."

The subject of scoping the M-1 could take up volumes. Suffice it to say the M-1 is not an inherently scope-friendly rifle. My personal favorite mount is the CMP Amega Ranges mount that clamps on the barrel. You must use a long eye-relief or pistol scope. Most "issue" M-1's will do two to 4 MOA off of the bench, about like a 30-30; we are not talking heavy-barrel 1 MOA varmint rifles here. I would suggest to you that such an M-1 rifle probably should not be hunted past 200 yards.

You could also build one of your rifles into a replica of an M-1D "sniper" rifle although their scope system is not inherently tack-driving.

There are some military records of units issued particular serial numbers available through a book published by SRS. However, particularly with M-1's, the odds of finding anything are long.

There are many stock finishing oils available. I like Tung oil. Many people like to leave new "dry" stocks just that way, which is also legitimate.

[Kirk]

The CMP sells a scope mount base that replaces the rear hand guard. It requires a long eye relief scope and, since the scope is forward of the receiver, you can load the Garand normally. With a decent scope and presuming your rifle groups 2 MOA or less, your effective range on dear-size game would be about 250-300 yds. I say that taking into consideration the typical Garand trigger, typical 2.5x - 4x power of long eye relief scopes as well as the accuracy potential of most Garands. YMMV.