Century Arms M-1 Garand

[Captain Woodrow Cahill, SASS # 54363]

Got a lead on a Century Arms (CAI) M-1 Garand.

Price is reasonable, but I'm concerned about the quality. From the description it's a parts gun ... basically a kit. All the major components are from different manufacturers, and countries too.

 

Any milsurp experts know about these?

[Bama Red]

Price ain't everything. There are better guns to be had, albeit at higher prices.

 

Century has been doing the same with AK's and SKS's for years and don't necessarily have a good reputation for quality.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

CMP!

 

Unless you find a collectors item that somebody wants to sell, chances of

finding an original M1 intact is very remote. All of the rest will be reworks

and have parts from several rifles.

 

CMP has some really nice ones and their price is the best I have found.

I bought mine from them and then sent it off to a fellow in Tennessee

and he reworked it for me. New parkerized finish, gas operating springs and

a new stock. It was not that much $$$$. How it is tight as a new rifle and

looks like one also. If I had a way to do it, I would post some pictures of it.

[Alpo]

Just about all M1s are gonna be "parts guns", as they have been rebuilt time and again, throughout thief lifespan.

 

Howsomever, real M1s have their new parts attached to a forged receiver that was built correctly, and accepted by the government inspectors.

 

Century Arms uses cast receivers to build their parts guns. This ain't necessarily a bad thing. Plainfield and Iver Johnson did it with the Carbines. But CAI receivers have a reputation for being, how shall I put this, "not very good". A Century gun is usually considered to be worth the value of the other parts.

 

If it was me, I'd pass on it.

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

CMP!

 

Unless you find a collectors item that somebody wants to sell, chances of

finding an original M1 intact is very remote. All of the rest will be reworks

and have parts from several rifles.

 

CMP has some really nice ones and their price is the best I have found.

I bought mine from them and then sent it off to a fellow in Tennessee

and he reworked it for me. New parkerized finish, gas operating springs and

a new stock. It was not that much $$$$. How it is tight as a new rifle and

looks like one also. If I had a way to do it, I would post some pictures of it.

 

+1. CMP is the way to go.

[Captain Woodrow Cahill, SASS # 54363]

CAI receivers have a reputation for being, how shall I put this, "not very good". A Century gun is usually considered to be worth the value of the other parts.

 

If it was me, I'd pass on it.

 

Thanx Alpo for the insight. I did a Google search for "century arms cast receiver problems" and came back with 115,000 hits. Not much good to say about the CAI on any of them. Looks like the CAI Garand is the Chapparal '73 of the service rifle world.

 

Checked out the CMP site, and that looks to be the route to go.

[Buckshot Frank]

Century has a spotty reputation for building guns. Their AK's are good to go; probably due to the loose tolerances and ease of manufacture of the AK. In fact, the majority of the AK's in the US were probably built by Century. Their FAL's, Cetmes, Galils, and C-93's all are of dubious quality; something about monkeys with hammers assembling them...

 

If Century is actually manufactering the Garands with their own receivers, I'd check with CMP first. Century does import many C&R-eligible guns whole (SKS's, Mausers, Enfields, etc). If the Garands are imports (I don't know the latest on the Korean Garand import laws) , they would most likely be whole rifles and not of CAI manufacture.