The Civilian Marksmanship Program has just announced that it will be selling true military surplus M14 rifles to the public.
In a surprising but exciting twist, the Civilian Marksmanship Program has just announced that the organization has received special authorization to begin selling surplus military M14 rifles. Why is it surprising? Because the ATF has long held the position that any receiver that was once a machine gun is always a machine gun. Because original military M14s were built as select-fire rifles, most people never expected that they’d be able to be legally sold on the civilian market. Seemingly, at least for this specific case of surplus M14s, the ATF has made an exception. Whether that decision will have downstream effects on other surplus firearms is yet to be seen.
According to the CMP, the surplus M14s will be “modified to be permanently and irreversibly semi-automatic rifles. The modified semi-automatic M14s will be fully compliant with CMP enabling legislation authorizing the transfer and sale of military surplus .30 caliber rifles.”
The CMP says that it will begin fulfilling surplus M14 orders sometime between late 2026 and early 2027. No prices have been announced yet, but the word around the campfire is that they could be anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000. That’s steep. Hopefully the rumors are wrong and there will at least be some lower-grade options available at more reasonable prices. Either way, serious military collectors will definitely be grabbing these up as soon as they can, and it’s very cool to see happen whether you can afford one yourself or not. For those of us who can’t, I guess we’ll have to stick with the commercial reproductions.
For more information, visit thecmp.org.
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Recent comments by CMP state that they may get over 100,000 rifles, they will be moving the first release back to Jan 2027 to have as much stock in hand as they anticipate it will need. Pricing will start rack grade guns under $2,000 – the market price for semi autos is already in that range. Select, rare, and exotics will go on auction, not standard rack pricing, just like 1911’s. Having already followed that introductory cycle, I agree, the idea of getting a $450 rack grade based on prior service, etc was a disappointment. The CMP is a non profit – all the proceeds go to hosting rifle safety and qualification instruction. They are not “getting rich” off of these sales. You do by going to matches and taking your children to classes.
You must already be qualified to buy under the CMP requirements which are based on law and regulation as a non profit and its charter. The sales are now hosted on Gunbroker and prior registration with them is required to bid and buy there. The CMP will also need the name of your local FFL who can receive it if the cannot ship direct, no exceptions to state law, and there are plenty of states who make things difficult. If you are not already processed by CMP to purchase, do so now as this will bring in a new pool of buyers who previously didn’t take advantage of the 1911 offer – I found a SW 4566TSW for less than half of the cheapest rack grade 1911 and got a better gun for it. If you don’t know why, search for “1954 Army Pistol Trials” and discover that Command wanted to junk the 1911’s post war and get a Walther P38 derived pistol. They finally did – in 1984 – the M9 Beretta – because pistols are not the primary battle weapon, they are Officer Belt Jewelry and a tool for MP’s when needed.
Will there be an “overwhelming” number of applicants, not so much. When the 1911 was offered, there were over 24 million veterans, now, even with all the units mobilized for GWOT, there are only 17 million veterans. The overall aging out of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam vets is accelerating and sadly, many aren’t here to take advantage of this new offer.
No way I would pay that much money for a surplus M14 rifle that has been modified to a semi auto. I can get one much much cheaper through other means.
$4-$6K?! Utterly ridiculous! Imagine what the prices will be once the neckbeards start putting them up on Gunbroker for! SMDH.