M1 Garand Rifle

The M1 Garand (more formally the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1) was the first semi-automatic rifle in the world to be generally issued to infantry. It officially replaced the Springfield M1903 rifle as the standard service rifle of the United States military in 1936, and was in turn replaced by the M14 (which was derived from the M1) in 1957.

The M1 was used heavily in World War II, the Korean War, and, to a limited extent, in the Vietnam War. The majority of M1 rifles were issued to American troops, though many were lent to other nations. It is still used by various drill teams and is a popular civilian firearm. The word "Garand" is pronounced variably as [gəˈrand] or [ˈgærənd], although descendants (and close friend Julian Hatcher) of the rifle's designer, John Garand, generally agree it should be the latter

The M1 was developed by Springfield Armory firearms designer John Garand. The prototypes were refined during the 1920s and 1930s. Although officially adopted in 1932, it did not formally enter service until 1936, and then only through an executive decision by then-Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur. The first production model was successfully proof-fired, function-fired, and fired for accuracy on July 21, 1937.[2]

Springfield Armory produced modest quantities of the M1 Garand in the late 1930s and in ever-increasing numbers from 1940 to late 1945. Following the outbreak of WWII in Europe, Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Connecticut, was awarded a production contract. Winchester deliveries began in 1941 and ended in 1945. The British Army tested the M1 Garand as a possible replacement for its Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk III, but rejected it after a series of environmental tests designed to simulate combat conditions.
John Garand presents his rifle to Army officials.
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John Garand presents his rifle to Army officials.

The M1's semi-automatic capability gave the Allied forces a significant advantage in firepower and shot-to-shot response time over individual enemy infantry in battle (German and Japanese soldiers were usually armed with manually operated bolt-action rifles). The impact of the Garand, and faster-firing infantry small arms in general, soon stimulated both Allied and Axis forces to greatly augment issue of semi- and fully automatic weapons then in production, as well as to develop new types of infantry firearms. The Garand remains popular among civilian weapons collectors and enthusiasts all over the world. General George S. Patton acknowledged the rifle's prowess when he called it "the greatest implement of battle ever devised."

Much of the M1 rifle inventory in the post-WWII period underwent arsenal repair or rebuilding. While U.S. forces were still engaged in the Korean War, the Department of Defense determined a need for additional production of the Garand, and two new contracts were awarded. During the period of 1953 to 1956, M1 Garand rifles were produced by International Harvester at their Evansville, Indiana, facility and by Harrington & Richardson Arms Co. in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Beretta firm in Italy also produced Garands using Winchester tooling. Most recently, the M1 was produced by Springfield Armory, Inc. of Geneseo, Illinois, which is a commercial firm sharing the name of the military arsenal. This commercial variant is offered in either .30-06 Springfield or .308 Winchester chambering.

The M1 proved to be an excellent rifle throughout its service in World War II and the Korean War. The Japanese even developed a prototype copy for their own use near the end of World War II, but it never reached the production stage. Some Garands were still being used in the Vietnam War in 1963; although the M14 rifle had officially replaced it in 1957, it was not until 1965 that the changeover to the M14 was completed, with the exception of the sniper variants—these were introduced in WWII, seeing action in Korean and Vietnam.

Some military drill teams still use the M1, including the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, and the Norwegian Royal Guards Drill Team. In certain high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units, M1 rifles are used for regular and interschool competition drills, including elaborate exhibition spinning routines similar to a majorette spinning a baton. For safety reasons, JROTC M1s are made permanently unable to fire by having a metal rod welded into the barrel. Exhibition teams often use fiberglass stocks in place of wooden stocks, the latter of which are heavier and more prone to breakage when dropped.
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Design and mechanics
The M1 Garand with important parts labeled.
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The M1 Garand with important parts labeled.

The M1 rifle was a gas-operated, semi-automatic, magazine-fed rifle.[3] By modern standards, the M1's magazine system is archaic, relying on a Mannlicher-type system of clip-fed ammunition, and is the principal source of criticism of the Garand rifle. Officials in Army Ordnance circles demanded a fixed, non-protruding magazine for the new service rifle. At the time, it was believed that a detachable magazine on a general-issue service rifle would be easily lost by U.S. soldiers (a criticism made of British soldiers and the Lee-Enfield 50 years previously), would render the weapon too susceptible to clogging from dirt and debris (a belief that proved unfounded with the adoption of the M1 Carbine), and that a protruding magazine would complicate existing manual-of-arms drills. As a result, inventor John Pedersen developed an "en bloc" clip system that allowed ammunition to be inserted from above, clip included, into the fixed magazine. While this design provided the requisite flush-mount magazine, the clip system increased the rifle's weight, and prevented it from being fired while changing magazines.

Garand's rifle was originally chambered for the .276 Pedersen (7 mm) cartridge, charged by means of 10-round clips. Later, it was chambered for the then-standard .30-06 Springfield. With this new cartridge, the Garand had a maximum effective range of 600 yards (approx. 550 m), with the capability of inflicting a casualty with armor-piercing ammunition well beyond 880 yards (approx. 800 m). Because of the larger diameter of the .30-06 cartridge, the reworked magazine design held only eight rounds instead of ten.
Two of John C. Garand's patents, showing the original gas trap design and revised gas port system.
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Two of John C. Garand's patents, showing the original gas trap design and revised gas port system.

The original Garand design used a rather unreliable gas system involving a special muzzle extension gas trap that was later dropped in favor of a simpler drilled gas port. Because most of the older rifles were retrofitted, pre-1939 gas-trap Garands are very rare today and are prized collector's items.[4] In both systems, expanding gases from a fired cartridge are diverted into the gas cylinder. Here, the gases met a long-stroke piston attached to the operating rod. The operating rod was therefore pushed rearward by the force of this high-pressure gas. Then, the operating rod engaged a rotating bolt inside the receiver. The bolt was attached to the receiver via two locking lugs, which rotated, unlocked, and initiated the firing cycle when the rifle was discharged. The operating rod (and subsequently the bolt) then returned to its original position.
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Features
An M1 Garand en bloc clip loaded with eight .30 caliber rounds.
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An M1 Garand en bloc clip loaded with eight .30 caliber rounds.

The weight of the M1 varies between 9.5 and 10.2 pounds (4.2–4.6 kg) unloaded (depending on sling type and stock wood density), a considerable increase over the previous M1903 Springfield. Length was 43.6 inches (1,100 mm). The rifle is fed by an "en bloc" clip which holds eight rounds of .30-06 Springfield ammunition. When the last cartridge is fired, the rifle ejects the clip and locks the bolt to the rear. Clips can also be manually ejected at any time. The "en bloc" clip is manually ejected by pulling the operating rod all the way to the rear, and then depressing the clip catch button. Other than weight, the clip-feeding system of the Garand was the most heavily criticized feature of the rifle, and its use was not continued in later firearms designs.

The rifle's ability to rapidly fire powerful .30-06 rifle ammunition also proved to be of considerable advantage in combat. In China, Japanese banzai charges had previously met with frequent success against poorly-trained Chinese soldiers armed with bolt-action rifles. But armed with the Garand, one or two U.S. soldiers could kill an entire assaulting enemy squad before it reached its objective. In the short-range jungle fighting, where opposing forces sometimes met each other in column formation on a narrow path, the penetration of the powerful .30-06 M2 cartridge enabled a single U.S. infantryman to kill up to three Japanese soldiers with a single round.[5]

Ejection of an empty clip created a distinctive and unnatural metallic "pinging" sound. In World War II, reports arose that German and Japanese infantry were making use of this noise in combat to alert them to an empty M1 rifle in order to 'get the drop' on their American counterparts. The information was taken seriously enough that U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground began experiments with clips made of various plastics in order to quieten the sound, though no improved clips were ever adopted.[6] During the Korean War, American soldiers supposedly used the sound to their advantage, noting that the enemy would reveal themselves when they heard the clip eject, and would carry and throw empty clips as a decoying tactic. However, all of these reports are largely unsubstantiated, and, in reality, clip ejection noise in the larger cacophony of infantry small arms combat likely had little effect one way or another in most engagements.

The Garand was one of the first self-loading rifles to use stainless steel for its gas cylinder, in an effort to prevent corrosion. As the stainless metal could not be parkerized, these gas cylinders were given a stove-blackening that frequently wore off in use. Unless the cylinder could be quickly repainted, the resultant gleaming muzzle often made the Garand and its user more visible to the enemy in combat.[7]
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Operation
Inserting an M1 "en bloc" clip.
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Inserting an M1 "en bloc" clip.

The Garand is normally loaded with a full clip of 8 cartridges. As the reloading of partially expended clips was not practical, soldiers frequently fired the Garand until all eight rounds were expended, after which the bolt was automatically locked back and the clip ejected, readying the rifle for the insertion of a fresh clip of ammunition. Compared to contemporary 20- or 30-round detachable box magazines, the M1's "en bloc" clip is light, simple, and only has to be oriented with the bullets pointing forward prior to charging the rifle (the clips have no top or bottom), though the rifle's 8-round capacity required more frequent reloading, reducing its practical rate of fire. It also prevented the user from firing a chambered round while changing clips, a significant drawback in combat.[8]

Most operators find the "en bloc" clip simpler and quicker to use than a stripper clip. Once the clip is inserted, the bolt snaps forward on its own as soon as pressure is released from the clip, chambering a round and leaving it ready to fire.[9][10] It is advisable for the operator to ride the bolt forward with his hand (in order to prevent the bolt from closing on his thumb, resulting in the very common "Garand thumb" or "M1 thumb"), and to strike the operating rod handle with his palm to ensure the bolt is closed.[11][12] It should be noted, however, that, practically speaking, "Garand thumb" is possible only on an empty magazine.

The M1's safety is located at the front of the trigger guard. It is engaged when it is pressed rearward into the trigger guard, and disengaged when it is pushed forward and is protruding outside of the trigger guard.[13]

Partially expended or full clips can also be ejected from the rifle by means of the clip latch button.[14] It is possible to load single cartridges into a partially loaded clip while the clip is still in the magazine, but requires both hands and a bit of practice. In reality, this procedure was rarely performed in combat, as the danger of loading dirt along with the cartridges increased the chances of malfunction, not to mention the added delay in returning fire.[15][16][17] Later, special clips holding two or five rounds became available on the civilian market, as well as a single-loading device which stays in the rifle when the bolt locks back. It is also possible to modify the clip latch, disabling the clip ejection function, and thereby allowing the weapon to be charged like a traditional top-loading rifle.

In battle, the manual of arms called for the rifle to be fired until empty, and then recharged quickly. Due to the well-developed logistical system of the U.S. military at the time, this wastage of ammunition was generally not critical, though this could change in the case of units that came under intense fire or were flanked or surrounded by enemy forces.[18]

The Garand's en-bloc clip system proved particularly cumbersome when using the rifle to launch grenades, requiring removal of an often partially loaded clip of ball ammunition and replacement with a full clip of blank cartridges.
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Accessories

Both official and aftermarket accessories were plentiful for the Garand rifle. Several different styles of bayonets fit the rifle: the M1905 and M1942, both with 16-inch (406 mm) blades; the Model 1905E1 with shortened 10-inch (254 mm) blade; the M1 with 10-inch (254 mm) blade; and the M5 with 6-inch (152 mm) blade.

Also available was a grenade launcher that fit onto the barrel using the M7 spigot. It was sighted using the M15 sight, which fit just forward of the trigger. A cleaning tool and greasepots could be stored in two cylindrical compartments in the buttstock for use in the field. Because of the limitations of the Garand's clip-loading magazine, the rifle proved less than ideal for use in launching grenades, and the M1903 Springfield was retained for use in that role long after grenade launchers for the Garand became available.

The M1907 two-piece leather rifle sling was used with the weapon through WWII. From about 1944 onward, a green cotton webbing sling was provided, eventually replacing the earlier model.

Another accessory was the winter trigger, said to have been developed during the Korean War. It consisted in a small mechanism installed on the trigger guard, allowing the soldier to remotely pull the trigger by depressing a lever just behind the guard. This enabled the shooter to fire his weapon while using winter gloves, which could get "stuck" on the trigger guard or not allow for proper movement of the finger. The device, however, left the trigger completely exposed, and it is unlikely that the mechanism was left mounted, as it could easily cause the rifle to be fired accidentally.
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Variants
Rifle, Cal. 30, M1C with M84 telescope and rear sight protector.
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Rifle, Cal. 30, M1C with M84 telescope and rear sight protector.
Rifle, Cal. 30, M1D with M84 telescope and T-37 flash suppressor.
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Rifle, Cal. 30, M1D with M84 telescope and T-37 flash suppressor.

Most variants of the Garand, save the sniper variants, never saw active duty. The sniper versions were modified to accept scope mounts, and two versions (the M1C, formerly M1E7, and the M1D, formerly M1E8) were produced, but not in significant quantities during WWII.[19] The only difference between the two versions is the mounting system for the telescopic sight. In June of 1944, the M1C was adopted as a standard sniper rifle by the U.S. Army to suplement the venerable M1903A4.[20]

The procedure required to install the M1C-type mounts through drilling/tapping the hardened receiver was inefficient in terms of tooling and time. This resulted in the development of the M1D, which utilized a simpler, single-ring Springfield Armory mount.[21] The M1C and M1D first began to be widely used during the Korean War. The U.S. Marine Corps adopted the M1C as their official sniper rifle in 1951. The U.S. Navy has also used the Garand, rechambered for the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO round. During the 1950s, Beretta produced Garands in Italy on behest of NATO, by having the tooling used by Winchester during WWII shipped to them by the U.S. government. These rifles were designated Model 1952 in Italy, and eventually led to variants of their own, the best known of these being the BM-59 series.

Two interesting variants that never saw service were the M1E5 and T26 (popularly known as the "Tanker Garand"). The M1E5 is equipped with a folding buttstock, while the T26 uses the standard solid stock, and has a shorter, 18-inch barrel. The "tanker" name was also used after the war as a marketing gimmick for commercially-modified Garands. Another variant that never saw duty was the T20E2. This variant is, at its simplest, a Garand modified to accept Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) magazines, and has selective fire capability, with semi- and fully-automatic modes. Several Ordnance commands at various organizational levels in the Pacific also modified Garand rifles late in the war to produce both Garand 'Tanker'-type carbines and BAR-magazine-equipped Garands similar to the T20E2, though it is unknown if any of these weapons ever saw actual service.