M1 Garand vs Mini-14 vs M1 Carbine

The mini 14 is the least interesting

Might be the most useful, though. Carbines are really cool, but not much utility. The Garand is a true rifleman's weapon.
You got some thinking to do.
 
I should probably just stick with the K-31 then, huh? Can use it for long range, coyote hunting, target practice, and field position practice. Can't sling up with it, though. It's more accurate than all three I've listed (no offense) and in already reload for it. I guess I should just stick with foreign guns. :P
 
You can get a membership to a CMP qualifying club for roughly 20-30.00 for a year.Even from another state. I think you may be able to sign up right at the CMP if i'm not mistaken. I had saved up 700.00 on my way to get an M1 Garand service grade special. But my wife drove thru the garage door. Guess where my money went. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
If you're not careful, you can become one of the people who tries to buy skill. The weapons you have will do you fine. Keep practicing with the K31 and your 10/22 or Model 514. With the .22s, you can even practice shooting bottlecaps or small printed targets from field positions at 25 yards first and then 50. That way you can get your muscle groups, breathing control, and shooting down without trying to make 100 yard shots right off the bat.

When the time comes for a new gun, identify what you need. You've gone a lot of places from the Arisaka to the CZ to the Mini 14 and even more than that. Nothing's wrong with any particular gun you've listed, but solid practice with the guns you have over a long enough period of time will increase your skills and then give you insight into what gap the next rifle should cover.
 
Dakota, you're right. Sorry. I tend to hop all over the place ( I'm still a kid at heart so if I see something I like... LOL). I am going to order two USGI Web Slings for the K-31 and the 10/22. I've been shooting my K-31 pretty well off the bench, that's my opinion however. Going. To keep working up new loads for it. Next to try is 46 grains of powder and maybe try a new primer/powder if that doesn't work. It was shooting 1 3/4" off a wobbly table the other day at 70 yards. Need to take it out to the actual bench and get it on paper. Anyway, don't get too mad at me in a few weeks time if I'm asking for help on slinging up or what not :D. Thanks again guys.
 
I absolutely love my carbine, it’s fun to shoot and won’t beat you up while doing so.

This website has really good info on carbines.

http://www.bavarianm1carbines.com/rifles.html


For reloading on the cheap lead bullets for the carbine work really well.
With the standard velocity of just under 2,000 fps there are usually no problems with leading in the bore.

Penn bullets have some of the best pricing I have seen.

https://www.pennbullets.com/30/30-caliber.html

As far as accuracy goes at 100 yards my carbine is not that far off from my Garands, but stretch out the distances a bit and the Garands leave the little carbine in the dust.

If your Grandpa’s carbine accuracy is really off, a re-crowning of the barrel might help.

If the barrel proves to be toast the CMP sells and installs new Criterion barrels. (Other places do as well.)


But I really like shoot the Garand better, right now I can reload a 168 match type load for about .45 cents.
This of course does not include all the equipment that I needed to start, it does take a little while to recoup all the start up costs.


I know you said the CMP is not an option, but just in case you change your mind here is something I wrote for another guy on how to go about getting a rifle from the CMP.

This fist link is all the requirements http://www.thecmp.org/Sales/eligibility.htm

The four main things you need to prove:
Citizenship
(I scanned a copy of my birth certificate, the emailed it to the customer service people.)

Age Your birth cert. will take care of this.

Member of a CMP organization.

You may belong to a group right now and not even know it.

This link will let you search for a group that you maybe in or one you could join.

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php?do=clubSearch

I did not have a local group so I joined the Garand Collectors Association. ($25 a year)
Here is their link.

http://www.thegca.org/store/

They will send you membership #; you will then need to email/call this in to the customer service people.

While you are waiting on the G.C.A. set up an estore account on the CMP web site.

https://estore.thecmp.org/store/login/login.aspx

You can order other stuff while you are waiting (but no ammo)
The customer service people will get back to you when they change your account setting.

Until they change it if you try to buy ammo on your estore account it will say something like "club membership not valid"


Proof of marksmanship training.
Towards the bottom is the list.
http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/eligibility.htm

I did not have any official training that counted so I printed off this form.

http://www.odcmp.com/competitions/forms/marksmanship.pdf

Then I brought it to my local club, the range officer went through it with me and he signed it.

So far I have gotten three M1's; a sweet Springfield, a really nice H&R, and just recently an IHC. (just need the Winney;) )
 
If you are worried about Garand accuracy, don't be.

bf3zuc.jpg


As to which to buy.... Consider the parallel to Mark Twain's
counsel to... "Buy land, they're not making it anymore.” ;)
 
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I like all three.

M-1 Garand for its history. It's also the longest reaching of the three. However, its also the biggest and the heaviest. Carry it all day and think about the GIs who had to carry it along a cartridge belt that had 80 more rounds, sometimes a bandolier or two AND with all the other stuff they had to carry. Lt. Col. John George (Merill's Marauders) thought it could be lightened.
M-1 Carbine for its history and its small cartridge. About the power of the 38 Special, it's easy for women and smaller folks to use. Wish I had a 22 Jetfire barrel on my IAI non-surplus version of the M-1 Carbine.
Mini-14. No history, but slightly larger than the Carbine and with a heavier hitting cartridge.
 
M1 carbine has about the power of a 38 special? Maybe a really hot 38 special loaded by Elmer Keith and fired from a lever gun.
 
even +p 38 special is a little on the light side compared to 30 carbine ammo loaded for hunting. even from a carbine, 30 carbine can be loaded to nearly double the speed of the 38 special assuming 110 grain bullets are used.
 
They are completely different guns. Do you have any specific purpose in mind or just to own and shoot for fun? Any will serve that purpose.

If you don't reload (and why don't you?) the 223 Ruger will be the cheapest to feed. The Garand will be the most historical and cool to uncase at the range (with the Carbine a bit behind and the Ruger way back in the distance). For plinking around either the Carbine or Ruger with higher capacity magazines is more fun.

If you can get a Carbine as a gift, that would be my obvious choice. You can always buy the others later. Although with the CMP running out of guns the Garand prices will go up dramatically in the next decade or so. The 30C ammo used to be cheap but nothing is cheap any longer. Again, you need to start reloading which is also much more expensive these days but still beats buying ammo.
 
I already reload for the K-31 and I plan to ask for the Carbine this Christmas along with some dies and bullets and about 100 round to start me off.
 
M1 Carbine ammo isn't as expensive as the OP makes it out to be. Here's some decent ammo for $28 per a box of fifty or 56 cents a round. Sure that's not quite as cheap as 223 can be had, but you would have to shoot a lot of ammo to make up the price difference between a Mini-14 and the free M1 Carbine the OP has access to.
 
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For some reason, I always remember .30 Carbine ammo being expensive, even when surplus was plentiful. One of the reasons I never really bothered with one.
 
Is TulAmmo .30 Carbine good for plinking? I found some for $15 a box. If not, I'm just going to buy about 200 rounds of .30 Carbine in brass cases and start reloading for it after I shoot it. I looked at bullets last night, $19! That's cheap for 100. I imagine it would have a relatively light powder charge as well so powder wouldn't be too expensive either. Does it take small rifle primers? If so, that'd be a little cheaper than Large as well.
 
Most M1 Carbines, in decent condition with good ammo(reload), will shoot circles around any standard Mini-14. The Mini-14 is an over priced, inaccurate, piece of junk that's fun to shoot but not in the same class as either battle rifle.
However, like Saxonpig says, you're comparing apples to oranges.
 
tula is not very good, it would probably be better to get american eagle, sellier and bellot or some other cheaper brand for plinking and save the brass.
 
PPU is good, then?

At this point, I don't even know if my Grandpa would let me have the rifle for Christmas. Asked my parents and they said they don't think so. Might just ask for some accessories for the K-31. Pretty sure it would shoot more accurate than all 3, anyway.
 
The last factory 30C ammo I bought was some S&B for $11.50/50. Then 2 years ago (or so) gun panic buying set in and ammo prices over the moon, past Jupiter and somewhere in the Milky Way.

I've been playing with some 86 grain JHPs for my Carbine. Got them up to 2200 FPS so far. I suspect expansion at that speed would be dramatic.
 
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