>>What is rack grade? (The term makes me think of something that is
>>meant to be used for display only, as in "put it on the gun rack, and
>>never load it if you value your life.".)
>
>Information on the various grades is here:
>
>http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/m1-garand/

Just to follow up on this, I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the "rack" in "rack grade" refers to the storage racks found in arsenals, as in "this looks like it just came off the rack after who knows how long in storage, because that's basically what it is."

Rack-grade rifles do work—Ian and Karl over at InRange TV bought a rack-grade CMP Garand a while ago and have featured it in a few of their videos. It looks a bit like it just fell off a truck, but it works just fine. :) The CMP has a disclaimer stating that none of their rifles is guaranteed to work safely and the buyer should have all such examined by a gunsmith before shooting them, but they aren't in the business of selling nonfunctional rifles; that's legal CYA.

Anyway, as you see in the descriptions, it's mainly about the provenance of the parts, or rather the lack of guarantees about same. Field-grade is the same way, but with less expectation of being in visually rough shape. Mine is pretty beat up, particularly the wood, but no worse than my SMLE or my Mosin-Nagant carbine. (Its wooden parts are also still sticky from the preservative grease it was stored in, though the metal parts have all been cleaned.) In either case, a Serious Collector probably wouldn't be interested, because some of the bits may be new and in any case they're unlikely to be original, but as a shooter, I'm not concerned about that. I just wanted to have a working M1 without spending a fortune on it. And now I do, and I didn't. :)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
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