GCA - what's going on?

[mack]

I believe what was asked concerned the wisdom of letting groups go through cases of rifles and select ones for purchase. That smacks of favoritism and that is the one thing that no organization open to the public wants to stand accused of.

I think Orest Michaels is an outstanding administrator of the CMP, but such a convention perhaps never should have been held. The "cherrypicking" that was so rampant some years back is well known. I have talked with some folks there at the time and I saw the cherrypicking wars on the old Jouster forum. Those were brutal and long lasting affairs. People are now bitter enemies as a result and much of the information needed by the less experienced collectors was never discussed as informed posters left the site rather than be accused of various misdeeds. There was even a time when some posters attempted to only discuss collector information by PM's so the general public couldn't access the details of fakes, markings and details. Duff's informational texts help immensely, but there is new information almost daily. Still, there are some who want to keep these new bits to themselves. You can see this if you look around.

The only real way to have this convention is to restrict the sale of these rifles and that's exactly what the CMP doesn't want to do. These rifles need to be moved along into private hands, but some perceptions will be the result of having a convention that allows some to have access while denying it to others.

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[bearbadge]

I believe what was asked concerned the wisdom of letting groups go through cases of rifles and select ones for purchase. That smacks of favoritism and that is the one thing that no organization open to the public wants to stand accused of.

I think Orest Michaels is an outstanding administrator of the CMP, but such a convention perhaps never should have been held. The "cherrypicking" that was so rampant some years back is well known. I have talked with some folks there at the time and I saw the cherrypicking wars on the old Jouster forum. Those were brutal and long lasting affairs. People are now bitter enemies as a result and much of the information needed by the less experienced collectors was never discussed as informed posters left the site rather than be accused of various misdeeds. There was even a time when some posters attempted to only discuss collector information by PM's so the general public couldn't access the details of fakes, markings and details. Duff's informational texts help immensely, but there is new information almost daily. Still, there are some who want to keep these new bits to themselves. You can see this if you look around.

The only real way to have this convention is to restrict the sale of these rifles and that's exactly what the CMP doesn't want to do. These rifles need to be moved along into private hands, but some perceptions will be the result of having a convention that allows some to have access while denying it to others.

Exactly. Orest has said repeatedly that he does not collect M1 Garands or any of the rifles the CMP sells, smart. The CMP extends an invitation to the GCA for a special Crate opening and the GCA accepts? No sirs, the GCA should have been lilly white and declined. Image accounts for too much.