re: So, I decided to order one of the Garands from Royal Tiger Imports

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I recommend anybody thinking about getting one go through the CMP. It's a great organization and IMO worth the little extra headache involved for the first one.

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I've heard nothing but good with the CMP, and it's likely you will get a gun in possibly better condition.

I know RTI gets a lot of grief, and some of it is well-earned. But here's the things I based my decision on:

1) I created an account, on their website, in about 1 minute. Upon checkout, I selected my recieving FFL from a dropdown list, based on my address; painless.
*no scurrying around getting forms signed, no signing up for a Garand Club and getting that, no going to get money orders, copies of birth certificates, passports, etc

2) they list the guns they have, with photos, relevant info like bore and chamber erosion, manufacturer of internal parts.
I saw this gun with the 646xxx serial #, stated condition, parts. I could see the stock and note that the wood matched color upon itself; some didn't.

3) These guns were imported back from Ethiopia. Doing a little research, I saw when the US sent them over:

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Country Year Description NSN Quantity Program Command

Ethiopia 1963 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 300 SA [Security Assistance] (Navy) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1963 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 19423 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1963 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 200 SA [Security Assistance] (Navy) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1966 RIFLE CAL 30 SNIP M1C 1005-00-674-1430 3 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1967 RIFLE CAL 30 SNIP M1D 1005-00-674-1431 6 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1968 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 758 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1970 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 1083 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]
Ethiopia 1971 RIFLE CAL 30 M1 1005-00-674-1425 39 SA [Security Assistance] (Army) CENTCOM [Central Command]

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LINK
Based on this, odds are VERY high it came from the Army, and was sent in 1963. 1971 at latest.

I saw the photos of how the guns were stored; just stacked on each other in sheds. Not ideal storage (athough I would suggest probably low humidity, based on what I saw). That also tells me they didn't go about dissembling or fricking with them much. In other words, same configuration as they came off the rack and were packed into crates.

The only real concern I had, was how much degradation of condition occurred while sitting in those sheds.
Some, not a lot. The wood was dry, but not rotting or cracking.
My photos- the ones on the truckbed, in sunlight, were from when I received it. That's how it came.

The one with the sling, is after I took it apart, cleaned and oiled it (and grease where it should be), and rubbed some linseed oil on the stock.

Some people will hate that it was purchased from RTI specifically, some may because it didn't come from CMP; that wasn't my concern. I could care less who sold it to me, I wanted an actual US-issued, WW2 era Garand, as it came off the rack. No restoring, reparkerizing, replacing stocks or anything done by the importer/seller.

To that end, I wouldn't care if I got it from RTI, the CMP, or my neighbor's uncle who smuggled one home in a duffle bag

**Oh, in looking over things, the barrel is actually 8-43, not 44. So maybe a replacement, or maybe SA had such a large amount of receivers that it sat the 4 months at the factory (from April 43 to August) until the barrel was installed. I like to imagine that's the case .

Any refurbishing seems to have been done in the late 40's, early 50's. That's when I would imagine the stock and rear sights were done.