I was at a gun shop one day and an old timer brought in an M1, from WWII, in absolutely mint condition, in the original DOD rough hewn lumber case. It was gorgeous. The tool kit in the stock was brand new. It really was something to see; something that old that was in new condition. The owner of the shop was gobsmacked as he went through the contents of the crate. I was pretty impressed too.
I’d like to see Trump approve new M1 Garand imports. We need them. I don’t have one.
Would load to smallest 30 caliber bullet. Our charge measure was a cut off 30-30 brass.
The charge was so low that we had to stuff a piece of toilet paper down the brass to hold the powder down against the primer so it would not layout.
Was not as cheap as 22s but my father did not care because we were learning our way.
I believe we came across these loads in the Rifleman magazine. To this day it was amazing how it would 9 out of 10 times cycle the Garand.
I have her gdaughter now, the M1A and have ran thousands (if not 10s of) rounds through a M14 but hunting rabbits with our reloads through those ol surplus Garands I will never forget.
Hopefully Trump will open sales of these back up to the US that ObucketOshit shut down. Just another in the long list of eff you America coming from this administration.
Terrific weapon.
Not to mention the legendary men who wielded it.....
ping
Ironically, an earlier rifle was used later.
The M1903 Springfield, replaced by the M1 Garand in 1937, was mostly used in WWI. However, when the production rifles were being inspected, those that were “perfect” were given a star indentation on the end of the barrel. They were called “star bore” rifles, and instead of being issued out, they were given an identity card and warehoused. And forgotten.
However, some inquisitive congressman asked about all these warehoused rifles. When told they were unusually accurate, it was agreed that they should be issued out as sniper rifles. While they had a lower rate of fire than an M1 Garand, their accuracy was what was needed for snipers.
Used in WWII, Korea and even Vietnam.
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.