I am about to purchase my 1st M1 from the CMP, I understand the technical differences between the 2 grades, can you good folks tell me about the PRACTICAL difference between the 2? I'm not a match shooter or diehard collector, I've just always wanted a M1 to shoot and enjoy. The cost difference is only $100 between the 2 in SA and I wonder if I go with the FG that is money saved towards re barreling at some point down the road.

MB

If it's your first Garand, and you are going to use mail order, a service grade is the only way to go.  If you have an extra stock set, experience with Garands and lots of spare parts, you could go with a field grade.  If you are going to go to the south/north store, and pick out your own field grade, you have a chance of finding a diamond in the rough.  Otherwise, stick with a service grade.  I'd also include a post it note asking for a late Springfield.  Many of those have little wear and are recent returns from the Greek Air Force.
Email me if I can help.

If it is going to be mail order then get a Service Grade. The SG's that have been shipping lately have been really nice. If you are going to go and can hand pick a rifle you might be able to find a FG that is a diamond in the rough, but the cost of going in person will negate any savings in the purchase price. Just order a SG and add a sticky note for original finish and GI wood. If they have one like that handy it will be what you get.

All of my Garands except one were mail orders and I have not been disappointed in any of them. The one exception was a stripped Winchester receiver that I picked up from the CMP on the way home from a trip to see my sister and the kids at Cherry Point Marine Air Base. I used it for my first Garand build.

Service Grade is well worth the extra $$$$

right now the service grades are great, but the field grades have been very good. $100 more is so so, BUY BOTH, problem solved

I ordered 2.  My FG was very good but the SG was almost a Correct.

Yes there are some good Field Grades but they can also be shot out.
I have personally gauged hundreds of them at the North Store and many of them would swallow a Muzzle gauge.
They still fall within the Field Grade description.
As already said unless you can handpick I would order a Service Grade
Buying a new barrel and having it installed would cost alot more than the difference between the two grades
Good Luck

Another vote for service grade as your first. Unless you can handpick the field grade your chance of getting a beater is a lot higher. My service grade was beautiful.

Definitely Service Grade - best $100 I have ever spent.  I went to Anniston, and if you looked at the Field Grades, and then the Service Grades, the SGs represent a massive improvement in both looks and mechanics.  I gauged a handful of FGs that swallowed the ME gauge, AND had ugly wood.  The SGs have much nicer wood, and were all gauging under 2 in August.

shooter

Service Grade all the way...   Best bang for the buck out there....

Thanks guys, Service Grade it is with a note attached to see if I can get a nice one. Going into the mail in the morning.

MB

Based on what is coming out lately - you will be pretty happy.  I know I was, but I picked mine out myself.  You really can't go wrong, the staff their knows there stuff.

shooter

Recently got a SG SA that had a WWII receiver and the rest of the parts SA except the bolt.  The MW on the non WWII barrel was about a 1.8!  The recent SGs blow away what they were shipping the last time I ordered.

I kind of like the Field Grades.  It all depends on what you are looking for, whether you want a safe queen or a shooter.  With a FG, you can have a lot of fun working on the stock, swapping parts, etc.

This is the Winchester FG that I got in August.  The serial number puts the receiver as made in May 1944.  The rest of the parts are mostly Springfield Armory:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/tqmoose/WRA%20M1/032.jpg

That isn't how it came out of the box, but it was fun cleaning it up.

You did a nice job cleaning it. I just went to the North Store and got a SG and was wondering how to clean the stock without ruining it. Any tips?

Service Grade is the best bang for your buck. CMP has some really nice ones and even the worst SG is still a great rifle. The top is SG SA and the bottom SG HRA. All I've done to either is clean the cosmoline off of them and greased em up properly (and shot them, of course). I haven't touched the stocks yet.

you

First I put it out in the sun for a few hours, and wiped off the excess oil and grease that oozed out of it every 10-15 minutes or so.  Then I used some Murphy's oil soap, and some orange cleaner (heavy duty hand degreaser).  The stock looked really nasty, like it had gone through a washing machine, no finish at all and lots of grease, oil and dirt.  I just rubbed the stock with the cleaners and green scrubby pads.  I also used some ultra fine steel wool (0000 grade).  

DON'T sand it –– you don't want to damage the wood, just get the gunk off of it.  After I cleaned it, I then used Formby's Tung Oil finish, and rubbed in like 8-10 coats.  For the last coat, I used some with a bit of gloss in it, just to give it a little shine –– not authentic, but it is how I like it.

The great thing about using an oil type finish is that you can (and should) re-oil it periodically, just to touch it up.  Good luck!

shot out is a poor choice of terms- most of the guns that most people call shot out it is actually more wear from a GI cleaning rod than shooting wear

I wholeheartedly agree.
My last SG.

Heres a summery of Part 1 of a article in the Garand Collectors Association:

The object of this test was to clean a barrel by stroking a conventional , segmented GI cleaning rod in and out of the muzzle end being as abusive as we could. Remember the purpose of this test was to ERODE the muzzle. We started with a barrel that gauged exactly a 2 and wondered how many strokes it would require to deteriorate the muzzle to a reading of 3 on the gauge.
One stroke consisted of running the rod, with a patch on it, thru to the chamber and then pulling it out again. We were very careful during this test sequence to bear FIRMLY on the wall of the muzzle for the entire stroke. Strokes were done in lots of 50 , and care was given during each lot of 50 to go "all around the clock" so that wear would be as uniform as possible.
In our opinion the useful life of a M1 barrel is approximatly 6,000 rds. Our experience has shown that after 6,000 rds a reasonable marksman will detect poorer scores on his target. The "cone of dispersion'
opens up noticeably beyond 6,000 rds. due to muzzle wear and throat erosion.
Now lets look at some data. So far we have aggressivly stroked this barrel 35,000 times and are approxamatly 71.5 % of the distance from 2.0 to 3.0 on our gauge. If we project this out it will take approx. 50,000 strokes to degrade the muzzle by one graduation, and this is being as abusive as we can with a segmented steel rod.
If we assume that a rifle is cleaned every 50rds (average of practice and match shootings) then 6000 rds would equal 1,440 cleaning strokes under my cleaning procedure. This is just 3% of the distance from the 2.0 to 3.0 on our gauge!
It seems reasonable to us that if we used a one piece , coate dcleaning rod as oppsoed to a segmented, steelone, that we could "conservatively" double the number of strokes required to degrade the muzzle by 1 graduation on the gauge. If that is true we could clean a rifle after every rd fired and not come close to degrading the muzzle by one graduation over the useful life of the barrel.
We believe that the reasonable conclusion drawn from this test is that cleaning an M1 rifle from the muzzle with a 1 piece coated rod and using a small amount of care will have minimal effect on the muzzle erosion as measured with a conventional gauge


A guy over on Battlerifles forum did a experiment.
He had a Garand with Throat Weat and Muzzle Wear of bath around 1.5 Over the course of the year he fired 3000rds rounds of M2 Ball through it. Cleaning every 250 rounds with an Otis pull-thru Cleaning system and using a bore-guide to center the pull-thru so it doesn't touch the bore. Firing wasboth rapid and slow-fire.

After 3000rds this is the results:
Op-rod spring- New when started, length was 20". Length after 3K rounds- 19-1/4".

Op-rod- tab showing wear, right at .317, started out at .319. Piston shows no wear, still mikes at .526.

Internals show no real appreciable wear.

Gas-Cylinder- still mikes at .530

Throat Wear- Final measure is 3.75

Muzzle Wear- Final measure is 3.5!

Muzzle Wear went up 2 full increments on the gauge!
I'm not trying to start any arguements guys but just giving some real interesting facts to think about. While I'm sure improper cleaning can add some to MW . But these real world results sure seem to point to something else. Seems that actual use and number of rds plays a bigger facter .