Ballseye's Boomers: Mossberg M44

This is my first and only CMP rifle. For those of you not familiar with the CMP, it is the Civilian Marksmanship program. It is run by the United States government, and it sells things like rifles, surplus rifle parts and accessories to the public. Isn't that sweet. I think it is, because you get these things at a pretty good price.

Folks I have to tell you, the cost of this rifle to me was a great bargain. My only regret about the rifle was that I did not by two or more of them, I think the limit was three. If I live long enough - I may learn something from my mistakes. I will admit when I first bought it, I was a little leery; I kind of wondered about how good a deal I could get on a used rifle from the U.S. government for only $75.00. Yes folks, you read that correctly - only $75.00. Of course there were a few added expenses but that was okay. There was shipping which raised the price to $94.96 total from CMP. Then there was the issue of needing to buy magazines for it as it did not come with a magazine. That was okay by me, even though the magazines went for about $30 each if I recall correctly. So with one magazine, the complete package was less than $130.00, and that is a great deal on a rifle in so good a shape especially considering the cost of them now, much higher than just a few years ago.

When I say so good a shape, I mean pretty much excellent. While not an unused rifle, it at some time or another had to have been arsenal reworked, it was in excellent shape. The bore is excellent, very distinct lans and grooves. The bolt is in excellent condition and operates smoothly and flawlessly. The rifle feeds, fires, extracts, and ejects every time; but what would expect from a quality bolt action rifle. The rear sight is a peep sight, the front sight is a post. Not the best combination, I really should find the correct front sight which would likely be a globe front sight of some type. The finish is Parkerized, and is laid on thick. As it is my only Parkerized firearm, I don't know if this is right or not, my guess is that is how they come when this finish is added. It is seemingly a durable finish. The wood is also very nice, oil finished from the look and feel of it. The trigger guard is the only non-metal part (besides the stock) that I can find, it is plastic. There were concerns that this would have turned brittle and cracked, but this is not the case with mine - it maybe a replacement put on at the arsenal. The magazines though after market production are great (again I got these after I bought the rifle, and not from the CMP). The rifle will fire .22 short, long and long rifle, and the magazines I purchased have an adapter allowing each of those rounds to be used. As for accuracy, this is a tack driver, its inherent accuracy is much better than my ability and I am no slouch, not by a long shot.

Just in case any of you are wondering why a U.S. arsenal would have rifles in .22LR caliber, they were for training purposes. Those rifles no longer being needed are then sold to the public. Sometimes you get a clunker, other times you get a really nice one. Their descriptions of the available rifles seem to be pretty much right on from what I have seen, and from what I have heard from others. The CMP also offers other rifles such as Garands in larger calibers. The CMP is invloved with national matches, gun clubs and so on. You can check out the CMP and what it has to offer at:

http://www.odcmp.com/

By the way, I just checked my paperwork on this one. I bought it in February 2001. The serial number is 101911. I never realized the last three of the serial number before, that makes it a little more special to me.

All the best,
Glenn B