Years ago, I bought a NM Garand in remembrance of my father who carried one in WWII. It is a tack driver,and shoots better than I can,and it lets me shoot better than I have a right to. Still saving a number of bandoleers of Lake City black tip for that very bad day. If you’re in a thin skinned vehicle or wearing body armor, you’re going to have a very bad day.
I have three friends who have Garands, and all four of us went down to the range together...what a wonderful racket they made together! Heh, we had people craning their necks to see...:)
I cannot imagine what it was like with hundreds of men firing them at a range, never mind combat, without ear protection!
When my Dad was drafted into the Army for 2 years, around 1960, between Korea and Viet Nam, he trained with the M1 Carbine.
I know it's a lighter weapon that fires a much smaller .30 caliber round which is much less powerful than the Garand's .30-06 Springfield. I thought this was interesting, though, from the Wikipedia M1 Carbine page:
"Winston Churchill fires an American M1 carbine during a visit to the US 2nd Armoured Division on Salisbury Plain, 23 March 1944."
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 ...