"In my opinion, the M-1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised."
- Gen. George S. Patton, 26 January, 1945
guys weve been talking a lot about the time around wwii
it was a revolutionary time in firearms design
we talked about german guns in wwii
we talked about british guns in wwii
we talked about soviet guns in wwii
you know who were gonna talk about now
best country of all
us guns in wwii
this is the m1 garand
it was americas standard issue rifle from before the war even started
outclassed every bolt action anybody else was using
everybody else spent the war trying to match it
only problem is it was designed by a canadian
but he was a french canadian so i guess thats not so bad
lol
ok so john garand was born in a little town in quebec but his family moved to connecticut when he was a boy
he learned english in a mill
then worked at a shooting gallery
and ended up getting really into weapons designing
he made friends with people in the industry who liked his stuff
they helped get his foot in the door with the military
talking to the navy and the army
and he eventually got hired at springfield armory
that was a big deal because they were basically like the official gun factory of the united states
i dunno how this foreigner got in
friggin h1b visas
but yeah so since like 1901 the us military was kinda interested in trying out this whole semi auto thing in a rifle
it wasnt so hard in a pistol
but rifles are more powerful and that made it tricky
theyd put out a request and a bunch of people submitted designs
but the military had some kinda weird requirements
no protruding or detachable magazine
no bullet lube lol
but yeah people submitted designs
the military tried them out and the designers did tweaks
this went on for a while all through wwi
well garand submitted designs too
he had some troubles making it strong enough
in fact his first .30-06 prototype broke and they had to do testing with .276 caliber rifles
but eventually he got it to work and not explode and the military selected his design
the rifles were first delivered in 1937 and the army was pretty much completely changed over by the end of 1941
which is good since thats when japan attacked
it served in all theaters of wwii with all branches of the military
it served in korea too
soldiers loved it
not too heavy
very powerful
8 rounds instead of 5
semi auto
reliable
easy to take care of
it was friggin great
everybody else was trying to play catch up
in fact the very first article i posted
[the sks]
it was made by the soviets in 1945
and thats just one attempt at giving soldiers a semi auto in response to what the us had since before the war even started
murica
after the korean war the us went about modernizing and replacing the m1 garand
it took way longer than youd think it should have
and they ended up with the m14
but the m1 garand
and the m14
are very friggin similar
in a broad way the m14 is just a garand with a detachable magazine
full auto
though that was quickly removed
and chambered in .308 winchester
but even then the .308 was just a modern reformulation of the .30-06 to take advantage of newer powder chemistry
guys its basically an m1 garand with a detachable magazine
the m14 served in vietnam and in limited capacities on into the modern day
there are probably some still in various special forces armories right now
so the garand is such a great design it and its derivatives have served for over 80 years
pretty damn good
so lets take a look at the design
this was back when militaries were worried soldiers would lose anything not tied to their body
including magazines
so instead of a detachable magazine garand used an en bloc clip
you load up 8 rds into the clip
then just stick the whole thing into the rifle
its lighter than a magazine but much faster than loading one at a time
so thats pretty neat
and the whole thing works with a long stroke gas system
theres a gas port drilled under the barrel right before the muzzle
this pushes gas against a gas piston and a long twisted operating rod that tangles its way back to the bolt
its pretty tricky
the bolt is a two lug rotating bolt
and the fire control group has two hooks grabbing a big hammer that rotates up to the end of the bolt
this is an adaptation from a design by john moses browning
patron saint of all gun owners
so field stripping is actually really easy with no tools
just what you want in a weapon
put the weapon on safe and pull down the trigger guard
the fire control group will slide out
then you can pull the receiver out the top
push the op rod spring forward a little and remove the follower extension
then you can remove the op rod
remove the bolt and the weapon is field stripped
super easy
if you want a garand today
hell go buy one
they have been sold by lots of people in many waves
the civilian marksmanship program has sold them
people use them in shooting matches
they can be found anywhere from very valuable rare specimen to cheap shooter
tho cheap is still probably close to 1000 bucks i dunno
you can buy accessories for it
but really are you going to mess up a piece of americana lol
pew pew
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Memediana_Jones ago
The soviets were actually producing the avs36 at around the same time as the US was in the 30's however it was not as successful of a design. This would be improved with the svt40 and reverse engineered by the Germans into the k43. The US was the only major power to enter the war with semi auto being a standard rifle issued to all front line troops.
It is a shame that the ordinance debacle that followed stuck the US with the m14, which while not being a terrible rifle was unsuited and outdated by the time it hit mainstream use. Many other competing designs were available such as the FAL and the G3, but the ordinance department insisted on an updated garand with a box magazine that could be produced by state arsenals. This let to complications in veitnam where it was easily outclassed in CQ jungle fighting by the then ubiquitous, smaller, lighter, more controllable, and easier to maintain sks or ak47.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
true stuff
nobody used the m14 but the fal and g3 were super popular
and honestly the assault rifle was the new game in town before the m14 even came out
still we found uses only it could do
and its only now being finally removed from service