Honor Guard Rifles

[calebtornado12]

Hello everyone! Just had a quick question that I hope some of you can answer. I am currently the cadet in charge of my unit's honor guard. Right now, we only have a few parade rifles that we can use. A few SM and I have been talking about trying to buy new ones, our only problem is that we don't know where to buy them. Does anyone know a website that sells the brown version of the parade rifle for affordable price and decent quality? Thanks for all your help!  (Oh also, just so we are clear, these are the non-operating ones, just in case there was any misconception).

corrected thread title spelling - Pace

[Eclipse]

https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=parade%20rifle&index=blended&link_code=qs&tag=wwwcanoniccom-20

http://www.paradestore.com/index.php/our-products/replica-rifles.html

Don't spend a lot of money on these, and if you can get the plastic ones, that's the way to go - you can't see detail from
the audience or parade route anyway.

These look great, have an operation bolt (generally useless for anything but between parade cadet playing) and only cost ~$42.



http://www.paradestore.com/index.php/our-products/replica-rifles/drillamerica-parade-rifle.html

[calebtornado12]

Yeah currently we don't have a lot of $$, we are kinda looking for maybe used rifles that we could polish up and look better. The ones on amazon are a different model.... thanks though! We do actually have one of those models, but its busted in half  . Do you think they would sell them at like Army/Navy surplus stores?   

[Eclipse]

Do you think they would sell them at like Army/Navy surplus stores?

Doubtful.

See above for the $40 plastic one I added.

[calebtornado12]

The one on the parade store link that we need is that one that's 41.95! And they have a color option! still a little pricey, but hey, awesome start! Thanks!

[calebtornado12]

Yeah the one in the picture is exactly what we need!

[RogueLeader]

Yeah currently we don't have a lot of $$, we are kinda looking for maybe used rifles that we could polish up and look better. The ones on amazon are a different model.... thanks though! We do actually have one of those models, but its busted in half  . Do you think they would sell them at like Army/Navy surplus stores?

It never hurts to check.  I've never seen them in any Army/Navy surplus stores that I've been to, but you never know.  The used non-functional parade rifles that I've seen for sale were not, in my opinion, in what I would call Serviceable Condition.  I've seen one that someone tried to make serviceable, and it looked worse than before the attempt.

[calebtornado12]

Yeah currently we don't have a lot of $$, we are kinda looking for maybe used rifles that we could polish up and look better. The ones on amazon are a different model.... thanks though! We do actually have one of those models, but its busted in half  . Do you think they would sell them at like Army/Navy surplus stores?

It never hurts to check.  I've never seen them in any Army/Navy surplus stores that I've been to, but you never know.  The used non-functional parade rifles that I've seen for sale were not, in my opinion, in what I would call Serviceable Condition.  I've seen one that someone tried to make serviceable, and it looked worse than before the attempt.

Ha Ha, I know what you mean. Right now we arent really in a rush, but what we are trying to do is get more riffles to make a honor guard drill team. We have a awesome active color guard team right now, but only two rifles that are worthy of using. The other two are the same rifle, but white, so they cant be used, and the other one we have is broken in half.  Other than that, all we have are wooden practice rifles that really suck.

[Eclipse]

2x4s cut to the general shape are fine for practice.

My advice on this is to get people involved and trained and worry about appearance later.

I've seen a lot of units spend uber$$$ on parade equipment for a team to never materialize.

Also, you check with your Group and Wing CP folks.  A lot of that magic HMRS money was spent by
wings on parade gear which was then issued downstream.  Your wing might have either rifles in boxes
or money waiting for someone to request it.

[DakRadz]

White- meet my friend, Spraypaint. I think y'all will get along just fine.


This is actually what you yourself mentioned about getting some old ones and cleaning them up. If the color is the issue, fix that.

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[calebtornado12]

Thank you to all of you! I'll definitely be mentioning these things to my SM.

[Holding Pattern]

Reach out to your local American Legion outpost. See if they will front you a pair of rifles and flags.

[RogueLeader]

Reach out to your local American Legion outpost. See if they will front you a pair of rifles and flags.

All of the American Legion posts that I know of have active rifles, not the deactivated rifles required by CAP.  YMMV of course.

[DakRadz]

Reach out to your local American Legion outpost. See if they will front you a pair of rifles and flags.

All of the American Legion posts that I know of have active rifles, not the deactivated rifles required by CAP.  YMMV of course.

This is may be true, but if they front the cost, not the rifles, you can get a nice Post to actually purchase the equipment as a donation. That's what I've seen.

[stillamarine]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/233245899/practice-drill-rifle


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[Eclipse]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/233245899/practice-drill-rifle

These are nice enough to just use for the parade!

[Mitchell 1969]

Reach out to your local American Legion outpost. See if they will front you a pair of rifles and flags.

All of the American Legion posts that I know of have active rifles, not the deactivated rifles required by CAP.  YMMV of course.

I've never seen an active rifle at any Legion Hall. They usually had either bolts welded shut or barrels filled with lead.

That said, they are heavy. For cadets, better to go with the facsimile parade rifles.

[SarDragon]

That said, they are heavy. For cadets, better to go with the facsimile parade rifles.

Agreed.

I wrestled a Springfield, avec baïonnette, when I was on an ROTC  drill team, and it got to be a struggle sometimes. We have a local unit with '03s, and they practice many hours a month to achieve and maintain their skills.

[audiododd]

That said, they are heavy. For cadets, better to go with the facsimile parade rifles.

Agreed.

I wrestled a Springfield, avec baïonnette, when I was on an ROTC  drill team, and it got to be a struggle sometimes. We have a local unit with '03s, and they practice many hours a month to achieve and maintain their skills.

Same here, but with an M1 Garand with a blocked barrel.  I think I had Popeye arms by the end of the semester!  We used to have field stripping competitions for bragging rights.

[Shawn W.]

Having been a Color Guard Commander when I was a cadet and then managing my Squadron's Color Guard for four years, I will say that personally I like the Drill America replica M1 Garands the best. They are a little heavier but they look sharp. I have used the springfield models and have found their quality to be poor. After time and use, the bolt likes to pop open randomly, the slings loose their tightness and are a pain in the butt once they do and the sling adjustment piece tends to get bent up which then leads to many sling problems. Our Color Guard uses the M1s only for public performances and we keep our springfields for practice. I would suggest that if you have the means to, buy two sets of rifles for the same reasons.

Just my two cents.

Good Luck