Recent Rack Grades from CMP

East of Here

East of Here

De-gen from Upcountry
2A Bourbon Hound OG
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CMP recently put rack grades back in stock online. I have wanted another HRA, preferably to use as a practice rifle for Garand matches. So I decided to roll the dice and order two of the rack grades, hoping one of them would be an HRA or that one would group well. They came in earlier this week, and BOTH were HRAs. And luckily, both grouped pretty well. I have seen some rusty dogs coming out of this CMP rack grade batch, but I have no room to complain.

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They both have moderate pitting below the wood line on the receivers (as advertised). And there was some active rust on one of the barrels that I had to deal with. But nothing that would affect function. Both main springs were rusty and short, so I just swapped them both out with some new Orion 7s I had lying around. They are both complete mixmasters. One has a complete Beretta trigger group and a Beretta clip latch. Both had mismatched wood - 1 stock with a GAW proof stamp and the other a very dry stock with a 3/8" DAS stamp.

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I put them on paper at 100 yards. I did 2 three round groups with each rifle. They both shot about the same. All the groups were between 2 and 3 inches. I didn't have a target with any contrast, so it was really hard to hold the same spot. If I put up some black reduced bullseye target centers, I might could shrink those groups a little more. But it surprised me how well they both shot. The only issue that I found was that the rear elevation knob on one of them is almost completely worn out (it no longer clicks), allowing the aperture to move slightly under recoil, and it needs replacing.

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BillWild said:
Good catch. Sounds like you got just what you were wanting. I have a HRA that I got from the DCM years ago. Looks durn near new.
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I got a service grade HRA 6 or 7 years ago, CMP luck of the draw, that was like brand new - in amazing shape. And it will shoot sub-moa groups with 167gn Lapua match ammo. I shoot it at Butner every year because it is a laser. But I don't practice with it because I am afraid to wear it out. So I want a beater to do the dirty work!
 
East of Here said:
I got a service grade HRA 6 or 7 years ago, CMP luck of the draw, that was like brand new - in amazing shape. And it will shoot sub-moa groups with 167gn Lapua match ammo. I shoot it at Butner every year because it is a laser. But I don't practice with it because I am afraid to wear it out. So I want a beater to do the dirty work!
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haha, i'm with you. i got a 1942 that I have shot... at ONE session in about 15 years i've had it. I decided i needed one i'm not afraid to shoot, so i blew a pile of cash on the cmp builder class. I don't think it's as accurate as yours, but now i have 2 i don't want to shoot...
 
DrScaryGuy said:
haha, i'm with you. i got a 1942 that I have shot... at ONE session in about 15 years i've had it. I decided i needed one i'm not afraid to shoot, so i blew a pile of cash on the cmp builder class. I don't think it's as accurate as yours, but now i have 2 i don't want to shoot...
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The funny thing is, I bought a "rack special" with a Criterion barrel a couple of years ago for just this purpose, but have been unable to get it to group well. I believe it may be a stock fitment issue. But none of my adjustments have worked.
 
Really nice.
It has been hit or miss and most have been built up from parts guns.
I have not ordered for 2 years now. Most of mine come from batches about 10 years back when they had collector grade guns and unissued metal with replacment stocks.

Remember gking up to Butner and I would spend most the day picking out and gauging guns. Found about 8 one year and 6 the next then it slowed down with most being parts guns they rebuilt.
At that point I focused on replacing parts and barrels to correct some and fix others.

Always enjoy the M1 platform. Got into it a little heavy rebarreling and building them.
Picked up all the tooling to install new barrels or swap them.
 
I think I might have finally gotten the rack special sorted out. I did a full stock fit, removing a bit of wood wherever it looked to be making contact where it should not. That helped some, but not all. I figured out it was losing gas at the port, which made me think the gas cylinder was loose. I replaced the gas cylinder with a spare, and peened the barrel splines to ensure it remained tight. Then I replaced the op-rod just in case it was adding tension somewhere.

Took it out yesterday with 167gn Lapua ammo to test and after sorting out elevation, I managed to shoot a few roughly 2" groups at 100 yards from prone. It needs a click or two right windage, but otherwise, it was spot on. With the conditions (late afternoon glare) and my old eyes, I think that I can safely say that if it is printing 2" the rifle is now doing what it is supposed to do!

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BillWild said:
Looks like you have it going in the right direction.
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Yeah. I believe it is pretty well sorted out now and probably shooting better than my skillset can exploit. I don't know that there is anything else that I could do to make it more accurate and still keep it match legal. I just hope it will also group with some HXP surplus or cheap handloads, because that 167gn Lapua has gotten pricey!
 
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