M1 Garand
Overview
M1 Garand
Left side view of M1 Garand.
Source: Swedish Army Museum -
© GNU Attribution Share Alike license
1944 for M1C and M1D
John Garand
1950's (Italian production)
United States - Winchester
United States - Harrington & Richardson
United States - International Harvester
Italy - Beretta
Italy - Breda
M1E7 (early designation for M1C)
M1E8 (early designation for M1D)
Modelo 1952 (Italian production)
Description
Introduction
The M1 Garand is a self-loading rifle of US origin. It was designed in the 1920's and was the first semi-automatic rifle to become standard issue and adopted in quantity. The M1 Garand became famous in World War 2, where it proved to be more capable than the bolt-action rifles used by other nations.
Design
The M1 Garand is gas operated and uses a long stroke gas piston. The M1 Garand features a fixed magazine which is loaded from the top with 8 round en bloc clips. Originally it was intended to fire the .276 Pedersen with a 10 round capacity, but it was decided to use then standard .30-06 with an 8 round capacity. Externally the M1 Garand still looks like a classic rifle while being made out of wood and having an internal magazine that does not extend from the weapon.
Firepower
The M1 Garand is a semi-automatic rifle that fires the .30-06 from 8 round en bloc clips. The drawback of this mechanism is that it cannot be easily reloaded until all 8 rounds are spent. The effective range with iron sights is 400 meters and 600 meters when optics are used. Although less accurate than some bolt-action rifles the M1 Garand proved suitable as a sniper rifle.
Users
The M1 Garand was the standard issue rifle of the US armed forces during World War 2. In 1957 it was replaced by the M14 but small quantities were used up till the early stages of the Vietnam war. The M1 Garand armed many European nations shortly after World War 2 and were replaced by the FAL, G3 and other contemporary designs. Many other US allies received the M1 Garand. Nowadays the M1 Garand is obsolete.
Variants
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand is a self-loading rifle that fires the .30-06 round from 8 round stripper clips. Many variants of the M1 Garand were developed but none except the sniper version left the prototype stage.
M1C & M1D
The M1C is the sniper version of the M1 Garand. It was hardly used during World War 2 but quite common during the Korean War. The M1C features an offset scope mount and cheekpiece. The M1D is an improved model with a much simpler and less costly scope mount.
Details
Media
M1 Garand
US Army infantryman posing with M1 Garand in 1942.
Source: US DoD
Copyright: Public domain
M1 Garand
US marine firing an M1 Garand self-loading rifle in marksmanship training.
Source: US Marine Corps
Copyright: Public domain
Related articles
Springfield M14
In 1957 the M14 battle rifle replaced the M1 Garand as standard issue rifle in US military service.
M1 Carbine
The M1 Carbine was issued to US troops alongside the M1 Garand, which was the standard issue frontline rifle. The M1 Carbine was produced in larger numbers (over 6 million) than the M1 Garand (5.4 million).