CMP Opens Direct Membership With Three Tiers and Priority on Surplus M14 Rifles

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) opened a direct membership program on November 9, 2026 that satisfies its affiliated-club requirement for buying firearms, with three annual tiers at $65, $150 and $300 through December 31 and priority order processing on the surplus M14 rifles it expects to start delivering between late 2026 and early 2027.

Until now a buyer had to belong to a CMP-affiliated club or another qualifying organization before ordering an M1 Garand or any other rifle from the program. Membership “satisfies the CMP Affiliated Club membership eligibility requirement for ordering,” the CMP said in its release, and gives customers “a direct option when purchasing firearms in-store and online.” Every other purchase rule stays in place, and the program page says all sales remain subject to the CMP’s eligibility requirements and purchasing policies. A new member must watch a CMP safety video and pass a short quiz before the benefits activate.

Bronze membership carries priority order processing on M14 orders. Silver adds one rifle to the annual M14 purchase limit, for three rifles a year, and Gold adds two, for four. The program page describes the priority as best-efforts processing, with staff handling member orders first as they arrive, and its questions section says the higher limits apply only to M14 sales for now, with other products to follow. Each tier comes with a commemorative patch and hat.

Anyone who joins before January 1, 2027 pays a first-adopter rate of $65 for Bronze, $150 for Silver or $300 for Gold, savings of $35, $150 and $200 against the full rates. From January 1, 2027 the annual rates become $100, $300 and $500. First-adopter memberships renew at the full rate on January 1, 2028, and a standard membership runs one year from the date of purchase.

The M14 sale behind the program was announced on the CMP’s M14 page under what it describes as special authorization. Surplus rifles will be modified to be “permanently and irreversibly semi-automatic” before sale, which the CMP says keeps them within the legislation that lets it sell military surplus .30 caliber rifles. The page puts first order fulfilment in the late 2026 to early 2027 window and says the order process, pricing, purchase limits and sales channels, mail order and the program’s stores, will be published later. The M14, designed by John C. Garand as the successor to the M1 Garand, became the Army’s service rifle in 1957, and the CMP says it is the only body authorized to modify and sell them to eligible citizens.

All membership money goes to the CMP Scholarship Fund, with the program covering processing and handling fees. The fund awards up to $1 million a year in scholarships of $1,000, $3,000, $10,000, $20,000 and $40,000 to graduates active in marksmanship and to students near CMP facilities, and from 2027 current college students become eligible. “For more than a century, the CMP and its predecessor programs have helped preserve America’s marksmanship heritage while promoting firearms safety, training, and competition,” chief executive Fabian Lobera said in the release.

The first-adopter rates end December 31, 2026, and the CMP has said the M14 order process, pricing and limits will be published ahead of first deliveries in the late 2026 to early 2027 window.