Oh man, LAGun, that's just awesome, congrats ;D
You did well, the CMP service grades are just fantastic, a real bargain. The Springfields and the HRAs are definitely the way to go for a shooter. The Winchesters are sold for more, but that's only because they have higher collector value, having the recognizable name and not being as common and all. The Winnies were towards the bottom as far as quality goes...although they were still good enough to meet military standards, obviously. The Springfields are the ones that were made by the folks who designed it...all during their production run John C. Garand was still working there. They were constantly upgrading and improving the design along the way (Winchester never did this, they just got it working once and never changed...Winny never really cared for the rifle, in general, relative to Springfield...they just made it because they had to for the war effort...the Springfield engineers were actually incensed when they first learned that Winny would be making a copy of their M1...they were that proud of it). These Springfield guys really, really knew how to make a rifle, and the M1 was at the time one of the most difficult and complex to manufacture in the world (although the final product was quite simple and extremely rugged). After all, it was our government's main arsenal since it was built in 1778, the site for the armory was selected by George Washington himself. Absolutely cannot go wrong with a Springfield. The name is sterling, which, incidentally, is why the name was hijacked when the real Springfield Armory (of Massachusetts) was closed in 1968 by Robert McNamera, and an Illinois firearms maker decided it would be of some benefit to try to confuse people into thinking that they were the same as the federal armory. Notice that the company that makes the M1A, the XD, etc., is the Springfield Armory, Inc., while the real armory was a government entity, not an incorporated business. Do not be deceived, they are not the same, although I do admit that SAI makes and imports some neat firearms. And their M1A certainly is not bad, and I wouldn't have any qualms about buying one (although it could be better in some ways...it is not built to the same standard as the original M14, or the original M1 Garand).
Back to the M1s...the HRAs were fantastic, as well. But either way, the ones that the CMP sells, particularly the ones shipped out via mail, tend to be graded very conservatively, and the service grades are very nice. They don't want to deal with complaints and such. The service grades usually don't have all matching parts, matching by make, era, etc., but what they do is take USGI parts in excellent condition and assemble them into a very nice rifle. All the critical dimensions are checked, the headspace, bolt wear, bore erosion, gas piston wear, gas cylinder wear, clip latch wear, etc., etc. What you get is a very nice shooter.
I just went over to their store last week with a buddy to get him a nice service grade. You can order it via mail like you did and get a great one, but if you live close to one of their two stores like I do picking one out by hand is pretty cool. We found one that was all HRA: receiver, barrel, bolt, trigger group, op rod, etc., which is rare for a service grade. The bolt looks brand new, the muzzle and throat erosion is as-new, and the parkerization on the whole thing was pristine. The stock is a nice Springfield stock, but if I'm remembering right HRA did use some Springfield stocks in their production. So I'm thinking that he basically got a Correct-grade rifle that somehow snuck in as a Service-grade, for a lot less money ($500 difference in price).
I came that close to picking up a Field-grade Springfield that I really, really liked, it was just calling to me. The action and trigger on it were just absolute perfection for an M1...bolt looked new, great park, nice stock. I mean I had just finished looking over probably about 50 Service-grade M1s really closely for my buddy, and we finally found his rifle, which is very, very nice, but I thought this Field-grade Springfield felt better than even that best-of-50 HRA, to me. Only thing I could find "wrong" with it, to justify why it was graded as the lower-end "Field," is it had a little frosting in the bore. But the bore erosion gaged as new, and a little frosting never hurt accuracy or longevity, it probably would've lapped out. $500. But, I was feeling really cheap that day, now I'm kind of wondering :-\ I guess it's a good thing to go ahead and get as many of these things as you want, now, to the extent that you can, since they aren't getting any cheaper, and they are going to run out eventually (maybe a few years, they ran out of M1 Carbines about 6 months ago, now). And on the private market they go for a lot more than the CMP sells 'em for.
I even put a postit note asking for a sn range 4.2 million and recieved it! I have to channel this addiction into the Marlin 357 I hope to pick up monday. NOTE! If you reload for your garand, use IMR 4064 or 4895 powder. Garands have to operate in their pressure range. Otherwise you bend an op rod and do other damage. Try Jouster for parts and avoid the dreaded M1 thumb. hth greg
