laststandonzombieisland

In one of the gun groups I am in, an FFL recently posted the below group of badly rusted, crusted, and downright moldy M1 Garands. The story is that they had been brought in by a local unspecified Veterans group for service, likely after they got soaked during an event and put away (for a long time) without cleaning.

While there were lots of wringing hands, finger-wagging, “back in my daying,” and sighs in the comments section, few good ideas were introduced.

I will pass on what I passed on then: the Vet group should simply contact the Army’s Ceremonial Rifle Program via TACOM and see what can be done through their offices. Of course, TACOM notes in their FAQ on the program that: “The organization is responsible to properly maintain the rifles. If repairs are required, it is at the organization’s expense,” so they still may be out of luck but, still, it is worth a try.

Of course, where does the program get their guns from anyway?

The CMP’s role

In 2017, while touring the CMP’s sprawling facility in Anniston (across town from the 15,319-acre Anniston Army Depot– the “Army’s attic”), I got the low down on the Army’s ceremonial rifle program, which the CMP supports direction by servicing rifles for veterans’ groups and providing M1s refurbished for this program. At the time, there were an estimated 31,000 rifles out on loan to groups including such organizations as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Disabled American Veterans.

Before the CMP took over support for the groups, there were a myriad of blank-firing adapters and rifle models used, and they didn’t always work. The CMP standardized the process with a single BFA and standardized rifle (the M1) and hasn’t had any complaints about functionality. In a 2019 GSA report, CMP spent $3.6 million on the program since 2008 and at the time stored about 30,000 Ceremonial Rifle Program rifles for free in its warehouses for the Army.

But anyway, if you have a set of loaned M1s via the Ceremonial Rifle Program, please keep them clean and dry!