CMP Sets January 2027 for M14 Sales, Counts 2,027 Shotguns

Last updated October 2026 · By Nick Hall, surplus rifle buyer who has been through the CMP order process and owns a service grade Garand from it

Quick take: The Civilian Marksmanship Program now plans to start selling its converted, semi-automatic M14 rifles in January 2027, by mail order first. Its fall update also says the Army has identified 2,027 surplus pump shotguns for a one-time transfer, and only 438 of them are Winchester Model 1897s. No price or purchase limit has been published for any of it.

• What changed: CMP’s fall update, published September 30, 2026, says M14 conversion work begins over the next three months and sales are planned to start in January 2027.
• Why it matters: The Army’s shotgun list is 1,589 Mossberg 500s and 438 Winchester Model 1897s, and the law allows only a one-time transfer.
• Affects: Buyers who can meet CMP’s purchase rules, which start with citizenship, legal age and membership in a CMP-affiliated club.
• What’s next: CMP says more M14 details are coming later this fall, and the update carries no price and no purchase limit.

Most surplus news is either a rumor with a number attached or a promise with no date on it. This one is different. It’s a written update from CMP’s outgoing chief executive with a month for the rifles and an exact count for the shotguns, and the count is the part that should make collectors nervous.

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What the CMP M14 Sales Update Actually Commits To

The M14 section of CMP’s fall update is short. It says the converted, semi-automatic rifles are still coming, and then: "The schedule for this project is on track."

Then the dates. CMP says it will begin the conversion process over the next three months and "plan to initiate sales in Jan ’27." When CMP first announced the M14 sale in July, the only timing on offer was first orders being filled in the "late 2026 to early 2027" timeframe. A window has become a month.

Read the verb, though. Plan. Every one of these rifles has to be modified to be permanently and irreversibly semi-automatic before it can be sold, and that work is only now starting.

The update gives no rifle count either. Just the calendar.

Mail Order First, Then the Stores

Sales will occur "initially via mail order" and the racks come later. CMP says it will bring the M14s to all of its physical stores in Alabama, Ohio and eventually Wyoming "as soon as possible thereafter."

Today that means Talladega in Alabama and the Camp Perry store at Port Clinton, Ohio. The Anniston store has been closed since February, and the same update says its much larger replacement will be complete in the December 2026 to January 2027 timeframe, with converted M14s among the surplus firearms CMP plans to sell there.

Wyoming is the long wait. CMP’s retail presence there is planned for the clubhouse of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex in Cody, which the update describes as currently under development on 2,000 acres of state-contributed land.

If you were hoping to hand-pick your rifle off a rack, the choice is simple. Order by mail first, or wait longer.

2,027 Army Shotguns, and Only 438 Are Winchester Model 1897s

The shotgun news is the newer half of this, and for collectors it’s the bigger half. Congress added pump-action shotguns to the guns CMP can receive and sell in the fiscal 2026 defense bill, signed into law on December 18, 2025. 36 U.S.C. § 40728 now allows the Army, the Navy and the Air Force a one-time transfer each.

The Army has done its count. CMP says the service has identified 2,027 surplus shotguns for transfer: 1,589 Mossberg 500s and 438 Winchester Model 1897s.

So roughly four in every five are Mossberg 500s. The gun everybody will chase is the other fifth: the Winchester Model 1897, which CMP ties to "the iconic trench-gun era of the early 20th century" in the same update.

Jerry O’Keefe, CMP’s outgoing chairman and chief executive, didn’t dress that up. He filed it under "Expectation management" and wrote that "438 each Winchester Model 1897 shotguns is a small quantity, given the likely demand."

And there is no second batch behind it. The update says the defense bill allows for just this one-time surplus shotgun transfer, and it gives a count for the Army only, with nothing yet for the Navy or the Air Force.

What the update doesn’t describe is the guns themselves. It lists 438 Winchester Model 1897 shotguns and stops there, with no word on how many are in trench-gun configuration, what condition they are in, or how CMP will grade them.

What the Law Says About Price and Who Can Buy

Here’s what nobody can tell you yet: the price. The fall update has no price and no purchase limit for the M14s or the shotguns, and CMP’s M14 page still says pricing and limits will be published at a later date.

The statute sets the standard, not the number. 36 U.S.C. § 40732 lets CMP sell surplus rifles and surplus pump action shotguns "at fair market value" to eligible buyers. Anyone quoting you a dollar figure today is guessing.

The same section says who can buy: a citizen of the United States who is legally of age and a member of a gun club affiliated with CMP. It requires a criminal records check, and it bars sales to anyone convicted of a felony.

CMP’s eligibility page turns that into paperwork: proof of citizenship, proof of age, a current club membership card and proof of marksmanship activity. On the club membership it is blunt. "This requirement cannot be waived." The same page says membership in many affiliated organizations costs $25.00 or less and can be done online.

One more line in the law shapes the shotgun batch. The services can’t transfer any shotgun that meets the federal definition of a short-barreled shotgun, which starts with a barrel under 18 inches, or any shotgun that is a modular add-on to a service rifle.

What Still Has to Happen Before Anything Ships

For the shotguns, the transfer isn’t finished. CMP says it is working with Army officials to complete transfer requirements and develop "restoration, inspection and sales plans."

The statute adds a speed bump of its own, because each service has to send the Armed Services committees of the House and Senate a report listing the make and model of the shotguns it intends to transfer, and it may not transfer a single one until 60 days after that report is submitted. The update does not say whether the Army’s report has gone in.

It gives no sale date for the shotguns either. Back in May, CMP’s spring update expected the transfer and sales in "late 2026 or early 2027."

There’s a new name on the door, too. Fabian Lobera, CMP’s former chief operating officer, takes over as CEO effective October 1, 2026, with O’Keefe staying on as executive chairman of the board. Lobera is a certified public accountant and a former collegiate national champion in skeet and trap, which is a decent resume for the man who inherits the shotgun project.

My advice is the same as it was in July, only now there’s a month attached. Join an affiliated club, get your citizenship and marksmanship paperwork into a folder, and sign up for CMP’s sales email updates before the M14 details land later this fall.

A month for the rifles. A number for the shotguns. Still no price on either.

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