Whipped Cream Difficulties

Before I get too far into this, I want to say: McThag is responsible for this. I don’t “blame” him, but he is responsible (as he noted in a previous post), and I owe him a very public “thank you” for this. So: thank you, Angus McThag. I also owe you a beer or three if we’re ever in the same place at the same time.

After the jump, an explanation of why McThag is responsible, as well as some background and pictures. I’m doing a jump because I expect this to be long, there will be pictures, and a lot of background for my readers who are not People of the Gun…

In the United States, we have something called the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP).

The mission of the Civilian Marksmanship Program is to promote marksmanship through firearms training, safety, competitions and youth programs. Our Vision is to lead the nation in marksmanship excellence providing safe, high quality and innovative programs with a focus on youth.

This is an official Federal government program, that Democrats and other evil people try to kill from time to time. One of the things the CMP does to promote civilian marksmanship is to put surplus service weapons into the hands of citizens for marksmanship training and competition. No surplus full-auto (or full-auto capable) guns, alas, but CMP is famous for selling surplus M-1 Garand rifles.

There’s a pretty stringent set of requirements to buy a CMP gun. It isn’t like going down to your gun shop, handing over money, and filling out forms. You have to belong to a CMP affiliated organization, you have to prove that you participate in a marksmanship related activity, you have to provide proof of citizenship and age, you have to go through a NICS check…then if everything is in order, CMP ships the gun to your gun shop, where you have to fill out a Form 4473 and go through another NICS check before you can take possession. It isn’t like they’re giving Garands to the cartels. (That’s BATFE’s job.)

Sometime around 2018, CMP got permission to start selling surplus M1911 pistols as well.

For those of you unfamiliar with the 1911, it was the standard US service pistol from 1911 until 1985. You’ve almost certainly seen it in some old WWII movie. If you’re still unfamiliar with it, check the link above.

CMP has been through three rounds of selling off these pistols. I missed the first two rounds for reasons I don’t recall. But Angus McThag posted on his blog when the third round started up, and I figured I’d go for it this time. McThag got his in the first round, so it wasn’t like I was competing with him. (Once you get a CMP 1911, you can’t get another one.)

So I put together my packet. The National Rifle Association is not a CMP affiliated organization. But the Texas State Rifle Association is. But my TSRA membership had expired (because my credit card number changed) and I had to renew it. As a backup in case my membership card didn’t come in time, I also joined the Garand Collector’s Association: that wasn’t needed, but they’re still a worthy organization.

Participation in a marksmanship related activity? Some of my friends who got M-1 Garands remember having to shoot CMP matches and get their logbook signed to prove participation. These days, you know what counts as participation in a marksmanship related activity? A Texas License to Carry. Got that.

So I put the package together, sent it off (as I recall, around September 28th: the deadline was September 30th) and heard back on October 3rd.

My number was 34,933. I figured it’d be a while before they called that one.

January 3rd, I was sitting at lunch with my mother when I got a call from an unknown number in Anniston, Alabama. I usually let unknown numbers go to voice mail, but I picked this one up.

It was the CMP, wanting to know if I still wanted a 1911. They only had “field grade” guns available at the time.

The grading system goes, in approximate order of condition, goes like this:

• Service grade, “Pistol may exhibit minor pitting and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips are complete with no cracks. Pistol is in issuable condition. Pistols may contain commercial parts.”
• Field grade, “Pistol may exhibit minor rust, pitting, and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips are complete with no cracks. Pistol is in issuable condition. Pistols may contain commercial parts.”
• Rack grade, “Pistol will exhibit rust, pitting, and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips may be incomplete and exhibit cracks. Pistol requires minor work to return to issuable condition but is functional. Pistols may contain commercial parts.”
• Range grade, “These are 1911 pistols for those that want a part of history and a shooter, not a collectable. These are 1911s that have been modified in some way, and may have some commercial parts.  No two (2) pistols are alike, the modifications / parts could be any of the following: Night Sights, extended Beaver Tail, Rubber Grips, Barrels, Oversized Slide Release, Target Triggers, Adjustable Rear Sights, Tactical Match Hammer, Competition Grip Safety, Sight Rib, Slides, Checkered Front Strap, Ambidextrous Safety, Different Finishes. Some of the manufactures of these parts are: Bar-Sto, Wilson, Ed Brown, Pachmayer, Hogue, Caspian and Bomar.”
• and auction grade, for what I guess are higher-end guns that CMP auctions off.

I wasn’t expecting this, and had to shift some money around and get Sportman’s Finest to email the FFL. But I did, they did, and CMP shipped the gun FedEx two day on a Wednesday. I picked it up on Saturday, January 7th. ($1150 total from CMP, including shipping. Sportsman’s charges a $50 transfer fee, but because they like me for some reason (that bottle of Ranger Creek I gave them for Christmas may explain it) they waived the transfer fee, calling it “a cool gun”.)

(As I recall, I paid $700 for a used Kimber Custom Classic II in 2000. November 7, 2000, to be exact. I remember that date well. $700 in 2000 dollars works out to $1,189 in 2022 dollars.)

CMP ships their guns in a serious hard case.

The gun, as laid out in the case. They only ship with one magazine. But it isn’t like 1911 magazines are hard to come by, and it isn’t like I don’t have other ones around the house.

Photos from both sides. (The book is The .45 Automatic, one of those NRA collections of articles from The American Rifleman.)

Closeup of the serial number and US property marking on the gun. Per OldGuns.net, the frame is a Remington-Rand produced in 1944, so it is entirely possible (in my humble opinion) this gun saw service in WWII.

Closeup of the “Ithaca Gun Co. Inc.” marking on the slide. This gun was probably serviced, and the slide replaced, by an armorer at some point. The gun doesn’t rattle: the slide seems tight, and could probably use a few drops of strategically applied oil. (When I have some time, I plan to field-stip and lube the gun following Bill Wilson’s recommendations.)

At the bottom of the case, under the foam, a little lagniappe: gun lock, chamber flag, and manual.

If you embiggen the photos, the gun does have some scratches. People laugh at me for making this distinction, but I refer to this as “honest wear”. It looks like a gun that was issued to various people, carried, shot, used, but not abused. It feels like the kind of wear that would have been picked up over 41 years of use in the field, not the kind of wear you’d expect from someone who pounded nails with it.

Another thing I owe Angus McThag a thank-you for: there’s a way to get information about these guns from the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama by filing a FOIA request. You can even email them. The information is on McThag’s blog. One note: they will want you to say, explicitly, “I am willing to pay the minimum payment of $25 for this FOIA request.” McThag does note that you should indicate a willingness to pay, which I did, but they are looking for you to say “I am willing to pay the minimum payment of $25 for this FOIA request.” or words very close to that. You have to specifically mention $25, you can’t just say “I’ll pay any fees.” They generally, as I understand it, do not charge for this service (unless it takes more than two hours), but you do have to say the magic “I am willing to pay the minimum payment of $25 for this FOIA request.” words.

My request is in the queue, with an estimated time of one to two weeks for processing. I’ll update when I get results.

Am I going to shoot it? Yes, as soon as I get a chance. I joked with Karl Rehn (official trainer to WCD) that I thought it would be fun to shoot a CMP Action Pistol Match with this gun. Karl responded that the tang on the back will tear a bloody hole in my hand, and the sights really aren’t suitable for precision work. Which is all true, but if I were shooting for scores, I’d use my S&W 1911, assuming that ever arrives. (Or my old Kimber, or my STI 1911.) This would be just for grins. My imp of the perverse is a curious critter. And I’d wear shooting gloves.

In any case, I’m happy to have it. And thank you again to the Honorable Angus McThag for tipping me off that CMP was starting an new round, and providing a handy guide to requesting the history under FOIA.

In part 2, we’ll be going back even further in time, and pushing some of my hot buttons along the way.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 16th, 2023 at 6:15 pm and is filed under 1911, Guns, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.