Everything about the m-1 garand? - Answers

Scott Duff has a book that is very good. Everything is a lot to ask for on the computer, so I suggest you follow the above advice and read the book, but here are a few highlights. Like most inventors, John Garand was somewhat eccentric. The Garand rifle was originally chambered for the .276 Pederson cartridge, but Doug MacArthur was Chief of Ordinance in the 30's and he decreed (wisely in my opinion) that all US rifle-caliber weapons be 30-06, reducing the M-1 Garand's capacity from ten to eight rounds. The M1903 sling was also compatible with the Garand, and the US ammo pouch accepted the 8-round Garand clips as easily as the 5-round M1903 clips. The M-1 Garand was adopted by the US Army in 1936 but produced in small numbers. In 1941 the Garand rifle beat the Johnson rifle and the M1903 as the USMC rifle. After the US entered the war, production could not keep up with demand, and an M-1 Garand was not in the hands of every American rifleman until 1943-44, although the M1903 continued for sniping and grenade-launching. The Germans had a semi-automatic rifle called the Gewehr 43 which was a good semi-automatic weapon, but simply was not as reliable and robust as the M1 (due to being made of crude parts and machining from mass supply shortages) nor was it as easly to produce or mantain in the field as the Garand rifle, so it was used mostly as a sniping rifle instead of a battle rifle, even then, it was very rare to encounter since it was never mass produced. The M-1 rifle fought again in Korea with the US and other armies, and it was replaced by the the M-14 in 1956. The US M-14 and the Italian BM59 are near-copies of the M-1 Garand in operation, but firing the smaller .308 Winchester cartridge.