Range, accuracy, and lethality. The M-1 Garand was the apotheosis of infantry rifle. In many ways it was superior to the M-16. The Army Infantry Department did a survey after World War II and found that only 25% of infantrymen engaged in a firefight fired their weapons. They figured it would just draw fire on themselves. BAR men fired about 90% of the time. The psychological effect of automatic fire encouraged men to fire. (Also, the BAR would be used for covering fire when closing with the enemy.)
This was the thinking behind the M-16. It is an easy weapon to fire, with little recoil, and good accuracy and lethality. It also provides a high volume of fire, which is necessary for suppression fire.
Every Patriot should have a M-2
Speaking for a friend (many years ago):
M1 Garand training in the military, was poor. The weapons sighting was poor. Training for setting the sighting, was poor - if even allowed. There was no accuracy past 50 to 75 yards, depending upon the weapon’s condition.
The best shooting was performed by “the kid from Tennessee.” All the shooting by kids from big cities, was a disaster - including wild rounds that shattered the target frameworks (bootcamp).
The rear sight of the M1 Garand is firmly attached (usually), to the barrel.
The front sight of the M1 Garand is *NOT* firmly attached to the front end of the barrel.
The tolerance of the clearance between the front end assemblies, must be respected - but is not, and that accounts for some of the slop. I would use a feeler guage (thousandths of an inch) to fill the gap.
But the majority of the slop, is because the following was not permitted: the individual rifleman needs to relax and spend time learning until it is second nature, how to *tune* the sighting - at short range. Walking the bullet holes around the target, with sight adjustments.
If the front sight assembly is in order, and the sights aligned, the M1 Garand can be deadly out to 300 yards.
I much preferred the M1 Garand in that condition of marksmanship.
On the other hand, the M-16 at short range, can send rounds thru gaps of 1 inch, consistently. IMHO.
Myself: I was never anywhere near active wartime military ground combat.
My brother-in-law: Went ashore at Omaha Beach, third week of June, 1944. Soon in fighting on the Cherbourg Peninsula - the Fortress area. Thereafter, “walked across France” engaging in ground combat, up to Christmas Eve 1944, when somebody realized that he had not had any break from action -— and he was sent to Paris. Where, he arrived “right when the alert was sounded” re the German surprise attack. They sent him back toward the front, but he did not get there; instead, being sent here and there, until finally attached to a unit with which he saw the end of the war, somewhere in Austria. He told me, that the thing he remembered most, “was all the dead bodies in the ditches alongside the roads. They were everywhere, but you cannot easily see them in pictures.” He arrived back in New York City, in time for his 19th birthday.