Posted on 12/31/2016 9:29:45 PM PST by MtnClimber
In January 1945, just months before Germany's unconditional surrender in World War Two, George S. Patton famously declared the M1 Garand as "the greatest battle implement ever devised."
The accolade is well-deserved. This semi-automatic rifle served American troops in the fields of Northern France, the coasts of Okinawa, the dry heat of Africa, and the oppressive humidity of the Philippines. And in more ways than one, the M1 Garand helped win the bloodiest war in human history.
THE BEGINNING OF A WORLD WAR WEAPON
Fittingly, the gun that would help to liberate France was created by a French-Canadian—John Cantius Garand. Twenty years after moving to America at age eleven, Garand began working at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts on a series of semi-automatic rifle designs in 1919.
His timing couldn't have been better. After the nightmarish, bloody demonstration of modern warfare that was World War I, the U.S. military needed to replace its bolt-action rifles with a modern semi-automatic weapon that could vastly increase the average infantryman's firepower. During the First World War the U.S. had seen how useful semi-automatic rifles could be, especially the French-made RSC 1917, the first widely issued semi-automatic military rifle.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
It depends on the powder burn rate...they were really designed around IMR 4895 powder or its equivalent. There is modern ammo available specifically targeted to M1s (essentially recreating the old M2 ball), and a ported gas plug is available that will take the risk out of “uncertain” ammo.
Some things are best left unmentioned....
(Ironically, in the book on the Chauchat, the author described a mint 8mm French example being “tuned” by an armorer. Once some rough edges and other “bugs” were corrected, it actually performed well for a machine gun of the time.)
They really need grease to work right, at least on the bolt and op rod. Little pots of grease (that stowed in the buttstock) used to be issued...the original milspec grease was Lubriplate, more recently Plastilube, but I’ve heard a lot of guys say that Mobil-1 grease works well with the Garand design.
Something to watch for with Garands is the “reweld” rifle. Garands were not commonly available on the civilian market in the 50s and early 60s, and a number of enterprising souls purchased Garand receivers that had been scrapped (by shearing or torching in two) and welding them back together, then building up rifles using surplus parts. There are issues with fit-up and alignment of the two halves, metallurgic issues related to the original metals and whatever weld rod was used, and the reality that Garands scrapped in the 50s were not “surplus” but were condemned for a valid reason, such as having been in a fire or worn beyond spec.
Would love to own a Garand, but at my age I will not be entering combat operations. If, OTOH CQB arrives at my door, mt Rockola M1 Carbine should get me through ...
It’s said there’s two kinds of Garand shooters...Those who’ve already received their “Garand Thumb” and those who’re going to...
You’re welcome in the club!
Just don’t pull back or bump the op rod while touching the follower and you’ll be OK...
I believe the Marines were still using Springfields on Guadalcanal in 1942-1943.
Think the 3 star standing behind the Prime Minister is George Patton.
My dad’s contribution in WWII was writing the manual to field-dress the M1 rifle. His post was Ft. Benning, GA.
We had ONE copy of it and the brother who wound up with it lost it.
My dad lost most of his hearing in WWII in N. Africa, Italy,
and Germany - the rifles, the bombs, the machine guns and
the rest of the ordnance were so loud. I hope they’re using
some sort of ear protection now. :o(
No problem! There’s another one I forgot about - http://seebettershootbetter.com/Magnetic%20Shooting%20Aperture.pdf
This looks great...thanks pa_dweller...:)
Happy New Year, FRiend!
Oh man. Sorry to hear that...it would have been a nice thing to have.
I was lucky...I ended up with all my dad’s personal documents...I won’t lose them!
I was in a USN boot camp in 1951, where we drilled with bolt action Springfiels with the firing pins removed (some idiots snuck 30-06 rounds off the range and loaded them into the Springfields “to try them out”, with the usual results.).
We got to fire M1s in the final week though. The dry firing, I thought, was ingenious. You assumed the firing position with an empty Garand while another guy laid on his back, facing you, with his forearm raised right by the breech. When you pulled the trigger, he used the side of his palm to slam the retracting handle all the way back, simulating the recoil.
Then you had to stick your thumb down into the magazine well and trip the release to close the breech. You also learned about “The M1 thumb” at that point. For the uninitiated, if you didn’t pull your thumb out IMMEDIATELY, the breech block tried to feed your thumb into the chamber.
I always thought that the “Garand Thumb” clip loading problem was the big weak point of the rifle. I have often looked at the design to imagine how I would have changed the design to prevent that problem.
Thank you for your comprehensive reply. It explains a lot, so basically infantry tactics changed from individual soldiers shooting individual enemy soldiers, as it were, to laying down a curtain of fire to force the enemy to keep his head down and then incapacitate him.
It makes sense, and from a US point of view a very cost effective way of doing things, with America’s huge industrial and logistical capacity there is no need to worry about using up ammunition as there’s always plenty more of it, which Japanese troops holed up in Pacific islands don’t have.
It also nullifies the advantage that a battle-hardened, extremely well trained, army like the Germans would have over a hastily recruited citizen army of fresh volunteers like the Americans.
Well, I can't say I'm an expert on reloading for the M1, Laz, 'cause I'm not. But I had a friend who worked out a good load for himself over the years, and he gave me his specs:
o Lake City brass trimmed to 2.484 in. case length, primer pocket fully reamed out
o Sierra 150 gr. jacketed pointed soft point bullet
o 47.5 gr IMR 4350
o 3.185 in. O/A
I never saw a reason to change this for target shooting. However, I did look up the powder loading for this bullet, in the Lyman 47th Reloading Handbook, and their suggested starting load was 49.0 gr of IMR 4350, with a max loading of 57.0 grains. I never increased the load, but it looks like the powder my friend suggested was a light load. If a heavier load for the Garand was desired I'd start looking for bulged primers, or stretch marks on reused brass.
Then I looked at the IMR Handloader's Guide, and for the above type 150 gr bullet they had 59.0 gr (!) of IMR 4350.
I don't know what else to say. Maybe you have some advice or experience on this?
Upon assignment to a guard company in 1967, I was issued an M-1 manufactured during WWII by International Harvester. I gave it an initial cleaning and readied it to stand inspection sans oil - a “dry” weapon.
Aside from cleaning during qualification, over an 18-month tour it remained a “dry” weap that only required a periodic dusting off and running a patch through the bore.
And that was in the humidity prone climate of Washington, DC. International Harvester manufactured a remarkable piece.
Happy New Year to you also. If you go with the Merit sight you might want to include a tiny screwdriver in your range bag.
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