CMP Surplus Rifles – Revised Sales Policy and Procedures 

July 1, 2025

Civilian Marksmanship Program▸The First Shot▸CMP Surplus Rifles – Revised Sales Policy and Procedures 

An update from Gerald O’Keefe, Chairman and CEO, Civilian Marksmanship Program

During our competitions, I frequently spend time on the firing line, shaking hands and conversing with our most avid loyalists. I receive a lot of feedback, much of which rightly praises the efforts of our 150 employees. Each CMP team member wears multiple hats and works diligently to ensure the CMP mission marches forward. We are a rare organization given the long average tenure that our employees enjoy. That’s a signal that for them, CMP is more than a job; it forms a significant part of their identity. Our mission is their mission, and they live it. They work tirelessly, driven by the simple smile of a competitor, firearm purchaser, or youth camp attendee.

However, as we strive to serve various groups under the banner of “promoting marksmanship” and as we advance our numerous operational activities, we recognize opportunities for improvement. With each social media post, email, forum comment, or in-person critique, your passion for our shared mission is evident. Because we are so invested in our mission, we take your suggestions to heart. They remind us that what we do matters to many good people.

Recently, these questions and suggestions have centered around our policy to sell receivers/rifles reclaimed from previously inoperable drill rifles. You’ve expressed your concerns about the transparency associated with this sales effort, the noticeably diminished supply of surplus rifles and, ultimately, the financial viability of CMP and the many activities we support in the shooting sports (spoiler – our financial viability is strong).

The policy change detailed below represents our commitment to operational transparency.  As you know, the CMP is a unique creation, enabled by a public law to carry out a mission of national importance. Promoting marksmanship, firearm safety, and youth development requires us to uphold traditional values of openness and integrity in our efforts. We acknowledge our responsibility to you and the mission we serve, a mission that I firmly believe is as important today as it has ever been.

Overview

The CMP’s surplus firearms sales business model is dependent on authorized inventory transferred from the Department of the Army. While this has been plentiful over the years there are ebbs and flows. We are in one of those periods now where our inventory of M1911 pistols is extremely strong while our surplus rifle inventory is somewhat diminished. We’ve forecasted this for some time and are taking the following actions:

1) Replenish the surplus rifle pipeline and inventory to the CMP.  The primary solution here is working with the Department of the Army and Department of State to repatriate US owned Garands and Carbines from certain countries.  These efforts have been underway for approximately two years.  They are complex diplomatic efforts between countries but progress has been made in terms of identifying quantities of guns on hand, locations and other administrative and logistics information.  Country-to-country discussions continue — I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll have success here and we’ll certainly keep you informed.

2) Reclaim Drill Receivers/Rifles.  As we’ve communicated previously, we successfully conducted programmatic testing on a number of Garand and M1903/A3 samples and are testing each and every rifle coming out of this program to ensure the metallurgical integrity and safety of these guns.  This article will address the issue that some of you have raised in terms of our transparency of these items in the sales process.  Bottom line up front – we agree and are going to change to full transparency in terms customers knowing exactly what they are buying — reclaimed or not reclaimed.  It’s important to note that we have a strategic quantity of these reclaimed guns and going through the process to make them available is the right thing. There are in fact many, many great guns in this group and they are safe.

3) Produce a CMP Commercial Variant.  Again, and as we’ve recently communicated, we are producing a M1 rifle with a commercial, forged receiver as its centerpiece. We are in the final test phase and hope to have production receivers/M1s available for sale later this summer.  This is an important initiative to begin to flex CMP’s muscles outside the surplus firearm space which we all know is finite.  

State of the Business

As many of you know or might suspect the surplus rifles sales segment of the CMP’s business model is the backbone of our business and our current inventory of non-reclaimed Garands and other legacy rifles is well below historical norms. That said, I do want to assure all our customers, competitors and friends that the CMP continues to operate in a strong fiscal position – actually a very strong position. The reclaimed receivers/rifles number in the tens of thousands, they are in great condition and represent the full suite of shootable and collectable guns.  Our other surplus gun sales channels, notably surplus M1911s, have plentiful inventory and sales are strong.  And as discussed above we are working diligently to restore a reliable rifle pipeline of Garands and other rifles as quickly as we can.  With all this, we are not cutting back on any programs, events or competitions.  In fact, we are looking at where we can do even more to fulfill our Federally-chartered mission to promote marksmanship.  The state of the CMP from a business perspective remains strong.  

With all this as a precursor and somewhat strategic overview the balance of this article will discuss in some detail how we are going to adjust policy and process to sell surplus rifles of all types given current inventory levels.  

The Foundation: Drill & Parade Rifles 

Over the years, CMP has collected and maintained an extensive inventory of drill and parade rifles returned from veterans’ organizations and schools throughout the country. CMP’s recent introduction of receivers reclaimed from this project seeks to responsibly leverage this inventory, returning tens of thousands of surplus arms to the collectors and marksmen of America.   

To understand the value of the project, our customers should first understand the condition of the inventory supporting the initiative. The inventory made available to this project consists exclusively of surplus drill rifles, rendered inoperable in a minimally invasive fashion to support ceremony use where live fire would not be required. Our inventory has not been cut, sectioned, or ‘de-milled’ by any standard. These rifles exhibit only tack welds in key locations to render them temporarily inoperable, meaning that they maintain status as regulated firearms for the duration of our process. 

Defining the Process: ‘Reclaimed’ vs ‘Reweld’ 

A reclaimed rifle is a firearm that was previously a drill rifle, rendered inoperable by minimally invasive means that maintains the general structural integrity of the receiver. When executed properly, these rifles have been professionally restored through a structured and documented engineering process that ensures quality control standards and safety margins equal to any other rifle. This includes painstaking removal of welds and re-machining each receiver to its original specification, along with verification of metallurgical integrity to ensure live-fire serviceability. 

A reweld rifle generally refers to firearms that have been crudely or privately reassembled from cut receiver parts or scrap components—often without metallurgical testing, safety verification, or adherence to inspection standards. These firearms, unless certified by a reputable program like the CMP, may pose unknown safety risks and typically lack provenance or quality assurance. 

The CMP’s reclaimed rifles are not rewelds—they are fully inspected, certified, and tested to exceed typical safety protocols and come with the confidence of our engineering and armory teams.

CMP’s Reclamation Process: Proof of Concept 

CMP partnered with industry experts to extensively test representative samples from our drill receiver inventory to determine the initial viability of this project. Worst case conditions were replicated in a subset by intentionally compromising heat treats, and all sample receivers were subjected to extreme pressure proof loads to determine the inherent strength of receivers in our drill inventory. All performed admirably, maintaining deformation deltas well within safety margins. Acknowledging the possibility of sub-surface defects at weld transition zones, all test samples were subjected to destructive micrograph inspection to determine the likely frequency of micro-cracks stemming from weld processes. Subsurface defects were detected in about 7 percent of the samples and drove significant production decisions to reliably identify and remove any receiver with defects from inventory. CMP’s unprecedented and extensive efforts to evaluate the potential of this inventory drive a high confidence in all the products that will use these receivers. 

CMP Reclamation Process: Production Process 

Every CMP receiver destined for reclamation undergoes an initial evaluation and sort to determine suitability for the process. Those receivers that make the cut are transferred to our industry partner for further evaluation and eventual reclamation. Old welds are inspected, removed, and filled as necessary to ensure the most uniform finish possible before each receiver is re-machined to USGI specification. To ensure metallurgical integrity and isolate the occurrence of any subsurface defect, all reclaimed receivers undergo advanced evaluation by dual field wet magnetic particle inspection. Only receivers that pass the wet MPI test and final QC inspections are permitted to enter CMP’s available inventory for rifle production. 

Integration of CMP Reclaimed Receivers 

In response to feedback received since integration of the drill receivers into inventory, CMP made the decision to begin differentiating products containing reclaimed receivers with a new series of item numbers. Effective immediately, any rifles containing a receiver associated with the reclamation project will bear an “RC” suffix, added to the traditional grade that the rifle represents. For example, rifles containing a reclaimed receiver that meets the criteria for a Service Grade will be observed with an RM1SERVICE-RC item number. Each of these products has been rigorously tested to meet or exceed the quality standards expected of their non-RC counterparts and come backed with the same Limited Lifetime Warranty offered on all our rifles. It is our hope that the effort to differentiate our inventory will provide clarity and aid in the selection of a product that meets your needs and expectations. 

Legacy Grades 

CMP’s non-reclaimed rifle inventory is somewhat diminished and generally does not support the demand for these products at our typical scale or sales volume. As described above, our efforts have therefore shifted to the production of the tens of thousands of reclaimed receivers and rifles (Garands available now; M1903/A3 rifles available Fall 2025). We are excited to return these to our customers as fully functional firearms that will continue to support the needs of shooters and collectors alike. Given this situation, and effective immediately, legacy/non-reclaimed rifles will now only be sold via two channels:

• In stores – Limited availability and dependent on inventory levels. (Note: The Camp Perry store for the National Matches is an exception. We have set aside and pre-positioned a strong inventory of non-reclaimed rifles for the event.)
• Via the CMP Auction site under a different process as described below. 

Legacy Grades Available Via the Auction Site

The CMP acknowledges that in-store sales represent a limited channel. To ensure a fair process and more/equal access for all, customers seeking non-reclaimed variants of our traditional rifles should begin monitoring the CMP Auction site for availability. Non-reclaimed rifles will be posted under a ‘Buy It Now’ format, for a set price, and on a first-come, first-served basis. Each rifle available for sale via this process will have photos of the exact product being offered.  While each one will not have the detailed description you’ve come to expect for other auction items, the information will be sufficient for customers to make an informed decision and will still provide more information than our legacy mail-order process which was singularly grade-centric in terms of information provided. This process will go into effect in the coming weeks and more information on exactly how it will work is forthcoming.  

Tagging of Rifles in Stores

Effective immediately, all rifles in all stores will be clearly marked to provide customers with complete clarity when making purchase decisions.   

Summary – Effective Immediately

Reclaimed Drill Rifles:

• Sold in physical stores, mail order and Travel Games
• Significant quantities of M1s and M1903A3s available (M1s – now; M1903/A3s in Fall 2025)
• Comprehensively and rigorously tested – safe
• Physical Stores – all surplus rifles will be marked/tagged accordingly to ensure clarity and transparency in the sales process
• Mail order – reclaimed rifles a separate category 
• Include a variety of manufacturers, serial numbers and other collectible attributes

Non-Reclaimed Rifles

• Existing inventories lower than CMP historical norms
• Sold in physical stores (possibly in limited quantities) and via the CMP Auction site via a ‘Buy it Now’ format – more details on timing and process to be published.   
• No further general mail order sales . . . for now
• Camp Perry store during the National Matches – good inventory of non-reclaimed rifles pre-positioned
• CMP working to replenish rifle stocks via a variety of means

Final Note

The CMP appreciates the loyalty and passion of our customers and competitors.  We have a like passion for all we do. We do understand that this shift in our surplus rifle sales process is a substantial change from our normal business operations.  It is what is in the art of the possible given our existing inventory. We fully intend for this to be temporary and are working hard to achieve that result.  I look forward to your questions and comments.