I fell into the same trap as boomer686, i work in the patch and was afraid i would miss the Garand boat so to speak , I have misses a few gems on the EE
because i am away a lot.
Anyway when rumours of the Garands comming in i spoke to a dealer
(not Epps) and placed a deposit on one price i was quoted was $600-$700
which i thought was a a little high , but anyway the dude promised me the pick of the bunch . and would send to me as soon as it arrived .
Several months later was informed that price was now $850 . but the rife they had for me was a real beut .explanation for price increase was , once they saw them they decided they were worth more (gouging) anyway said rifle duly arrived . the wife opened the package(i was away) and phoned me . now my wife is no firearms expert by any means . but she informed me that it was a piece of junk . When i got home i could have cried when i saw it loose wood no finnish on metal what so ever , the bore looked like a shot gun and the metal was pitted . the wood was in terreble shape . looked like the rifle had been cleaned in a cement mixer.
So i would have to spend quite a bit of money to make a wall hanger and not a shooter that was requested . Oh and the price diddnt include GST so price including came to about $950. Im almost embarased to post this . because i was taken for an idiot . and clearly was .
Needless to say said rifle went right back as quick as i could pack it .
I did get a refund but cost me shipping both ways . I do know they had better examples(but not much) and sold for less money as have been posted on this forum . The sadest thing is that there was a minty Garand for sale in out local store for $850 . which i thought was a bit expensive , but i already had a deposit on this one (Also i was expecting to max out at $700) and the minty one was sold by the time i went back to look for it .
Anyway lesson learned , i wont be purchasing another milsurp without
handling it first .