16 comments

      1. I always wonder why that design was abandoned. Probably because it didn’t contribute to a bloated Pentagon budget.

    2. Don’t buy a Turkish pump shotgun….6 out of 10 chances you’ll regret the purchase.

  2. I found the prices for CMP Garands and Carbines to be cheap to competitive. I saw quite a few CMP rifles for sale at absurd prices at various gun shows.

  3. What I’d like to know is whether they ship with the bayonet? Not a deal breaker but an incentive. And as far as $$$ are concerned, are you saying you’d pay $2,000+ for an M4 but not pick up one of these historical pieces, I suspect for less? Just wondering.

  4. Seems to me that after studying the CMP offerings that it was a whole lot of hassle to save a few shekels. The lower cost ones weren’t in any condition that I’d buy for the money. By the time and hassle of buying a really good M14 from them, you could add a few bucks and just get an M1A.

    I’ve seen better prices out in the wild.

    Far as a trench gun goes, fuggedaboutit. You can get a pump shotgun all day long for peanuts. I bought a decent mossberg 500 for $200. A new security barrel was like $80.

    1. You’re not buying an 1897 trench gun for the utility of a shotgun. You’re buying a piece of history.

      Frankly, CMP’s prices are very reasonable. I’ve bought a Garand and two 1911’s from them, and the Garand was downright cheap, compared to the usual gun show/dealer price. The 1911s were more expensive, but again, less than in the commercial market. And because CMP, you know that they are tested and shootable, though they are not always pretty. Personally, I like surplus guns with some history and character more than an unissued perfect gun.

  5. I’d love to have an 1897. You can keep the M14; the worst military rifle decision ever made by the US military. There is a reason it was the service rifle with the shortest service life.

    However, the decision to issue M14s, originally select fire, means that there is hope at some point for early M16s to be available as surplus as well. One can hope. I really want to build an M16A1 clone; when I think M16, that’s the rifle I think of, growing up in the Vietnam era on TV. Triangle handguard and all.

    1. “…M14; the worst military rifle decision ever made by the US military.”
      I qualified expert with both M1 and M-14, and much preferred the M-14, I think because I liked the M-14’s magazine with 20 rounds instead of the M-1’s clips with 8 rounds. For me, it was easier to stuff a mag in from the bottom rather than reach over the top to thumb in a clip.
      A small difference I noted that favored the M-14 for me was that the steel band between the M-1 front and rear hand guards got a heat riser in rapid fire that distorted the front sight a bit. The M-14 didn’t have one of those.
      Both were minute of man accurate out to hundreds of yards, and I don’t recall ever having a malfunction with either one.
      I believe the M-14’s bad rep was because it was envisioned not only as a replacement for the semi-auto M-1, but also the full auto BAR. The M-14 was too light to control on full auto, which left a squad without a legitimate auto rifle.
      In semi auto, it was one fine rifle. I once hit 87 out of 90 man sized silhouettes popping up randomly at 50 to 350 meters with the stock iron sights in a timed fire qualification. It gave me confidence that if I could see it, I could hit it with that rifle.

  6. I’d love to have one. I would have loved to have the SMLE’s that hit the market a few years ago, and the M1 Garand, & the Carbine.

    But I don’t have ammo, I don’t have time to shoot, and I’m old enough now to realize the utility/enjoyment of these kind of things, isn’t worth the ramp-up cost anymore. I still have my historical guns I picked up when they were cheap, with plentiful ammo. But they sit. I’m still a working puke, and our area has been overrun by Kalifornicators so the days of running out to the desert to plink at old beer cans, are long gone. O Tempora O Mores.

    1. You are all welcome come to the rifle shoot we’re having, this year on October 17. WWII rifles, pistols, and at least one sub-gun, a 1921 Thompson. El Dorado, Kansas, just east of Wichita. Turning money into noise for a good cause.

      We’ll have Garands, Enfields, Mosins, Mausers, Arisakas, Carcanos, a Browning HiPower, and a few other odds and ends. All to raise funds for our local WWII museum.

      Met our esteemed host there a few years ago; had read his posts for years, and finally had a chance to meet the man, as well as the legend. And he talked me out of a rifle – for more than fair trade.

      1. Hells fire it sounds like an awesome time. But a helluva drive for a non midwesterner

  7. I had a M1 Garand from the CMP back in the 80’s. It was the sniper rifle but it was missing the scope. I looked for one that did not cost more than the rifle but was unsuccessful. Times got tough with the wife on her first pregnancy and I sold it in 88 for almost twice what I had paid for it.

    I went to the In-person 1911 sales back in June. They were way overpriced. It is an easy pass on the shotgun but I would not mind a M-14 but they are auction only and I am not going to pay the prices they are going for. I would rather have a Ruger or Remington.

  8. I’m no longer a gun nut, but I could still be just a little bit nutty about a model 1897 in trench configuration, especially with bayonet. I’ve owned a 30″ full-choke break-down ’97, and that design is not like the others.

  9. The initial batch is going to be 2,000-3,000 pieces and probably sold on the auction site. Prices are going to be stupid.

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