These series will have content taken from Wikipedia, the largest online en­cyclopedia, as you are allowed to copy or modify the content as provided for in the GNU Free Documentation License. Thus, it also compiles related information provided at Wikipedia and be able to deposit these information here. In the second installment of the series, we are featuring the M1 Garand rifle.

The M1 Garand (formally the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1) was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry in any nation. In 1936, it officially replaced the Springfield M1903 rifle as the standard service rifle of the United States military, and was subsequently replaced by the M14 in 1957. However, the M1 continued to be used in large numbers until 1963, and to a lesser degree until 1966.

The M1 was used heavily in World War II, the Korean War, and, to a limited extent, in the Vietnam War. Most M1 rifles were issued to American troops, though many were also lent to other nations. It is still used by various drill teams and is a popular civilian firearm. The name "Garand" is pronounced variously as [gəˈrand] or [ˈgærənd]. According to experts on the weapon, the latter version is preferred.

History

Though the U.S. Army became interested in self-loading rifles with the Bang and Murphy-Manning of 1911, and there were trials in 1916-8, the M1's origin properly dates to 1919, when armies around the world were realizing standard rifle cartridges were more powerful than necessary for typical engagement ranges, leading to heavier weapons than really required. The Army trials in the 1920s had a .256in minimum caliber requirement, compared to the .30-'06 then standard.

Firearms designer John C. Garand, working at the Army's Springfield Armory, began with a .30 caliber primer-operated breech. Twenty-four rifles, identified as "M1922", were built at Springfield in summer 1924, and at Fort Benning during the summer of 1925 they were tested against the Thompson autoloading rifle, Berthier, Hatcher-Bang, and "highly promising delayed blowback Pedersen rifle". This led to a further trial of the improved "M1924" Garand against the Thompson, ultimately producing an inconclusive report. Therefore, the Ordnance Board ordered a Garand variant .30-'06, while in March 1927 the Cavalry Board reported trials between the Thompson, Garand, and '03 Springfield had not led to a clear winner, leading to a gas-operated .276 model.

During the spring of 1928, both Infantry and Cavalry Boards ran trials with the .276 Pedersen T1 rifle, giving it high praise (despite its use of waxed ammunition). On 13 August 1928, a Semiautomatic Rifle Board carried out joint Army, Navy, and Marine Corps trials between the .30 Thompson, both cavalry and infantry versions of the T1 Pedersen, "M1924" Garand, and .256 Bang, and on 21 September came back with no clear winner. The .30 Garand, however, was dropped in favor of the .276.

Further tests by the SRB in July 1929, which included Brauning, Colt-Browning, Garand, Holek, Pedersen, Rheinmetall, Thompson, and an incomplete White, led to a recommendation work on the (dropped) .30 gas-operated Garand be resumed, and a T1E1 was ordered 14 November 1929.

Twenty gas-operated .276 T3E2s Garands were made and competed with T1 Pedersen rifles in Spring 1931. The .276 Garand was the clear winner of these trials. The .30 caliber Garand was tested at these trials in the form of a single T1E1 prototype but was withdrawn with a cracked bolt on 9 October 1931. A 4 January 1932 meeting recommended adoption of the .276 caliber and production of approximately 125 T3E2s. Meanwhile, Garand redesigned his bolt and his improved T1E2 rifle was retested. The day after the successful conclusion of this test, Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur personally disapproved any caliber change, in part because there were extensive stocks of .30 ammunition. On 25 February 1932, Adjutant General John B. Shuman, speaking for the Secretary of War, ordered work on the weapons and ammunition in .276 caliber cease immediately and completely and all resources be directed toward identification and correction of deficiencies in the Garand .30 caliber. The Garand worked in .30 caliber and MacArthur wanted it.

On 3 August 1933, the T1E2 became the Semi-Automatic Rifle, Caliber 30, M1. In May 1934, 75 M1s went to field trials; 50 were to infantry, 25 to cavalry units. Numerous problems were reported, forcing the rifle to be modified, yet again, before it could be recommended for service and cleared for procurement on 7 November 1935, then standardized 9 January 1936. The first production model was successfully proof-fired, function-fired, and fired for accuracy on July 21, 1937.

Production difficulties delayed deliveries until September 1937. Springfield reached an output of 100 per day early in September 1939. Despite its production status, design issues were not at an end. The barrel and gas cylinder assembly were redesigned and entered production in early 1940. The problem proved so thorny, even the Johnson had to be deferred so Springfield could concentrate on the problematic Garand. Production ramped up in 1940,reaching 600 a day by 10 January 1941, and the Army was fully equipped by 1941.

Following the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Winchester was awarded an "educational" production contract for 65000 rifles, with deliveries beginning in 1943. The British Army tested the M1 Garand as a possible replacement for its bolt-action Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk III, but rejected it after trials to simulate combat conditions.

The M1's semiautomatic operation gave United States forces a significant advantage in firepower and shot-to-shot response time over individual enemy infantrymen in battle (German and Japanese soldiers were usually armed with bolt-action rifles). The impact of 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 called it "the greatest implement of battle ever devised."

Much of the M1 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 1953-56, M1s were produced by International Harvester and Harrington & Richardson. Beretta also produced Garands using Winchester tooling. Most recently, the M1 was produced by Springfield Armory, Inc. of Geneseo, Illinois. This civilian variant is offered in either .30-06 Springfield or .308 Winchester chambering.

The M1 proved an excellent rifle throughout its service in World War II and the Korean War. The Japanese even developed a copy for their own use near the end of World War II, but it never reached production. Surplus M1 rifles also armed many nations of the free world in World War II and postwar, including Germany, Italy and Japan. Some Garands were still being used in the Vietnam War in 1963; despite the M14's official adoption in 1957, it was not until 1965 the changeover from the M1 Garand was completed in the active-duty component of the Army (with the exception of the sniper variants, which were introduced in WWII and saw action in Korea and Vietnam). In other components of the armed forces, such as the Army Reserve, Army National Guard and the Navy, Garands continued to serve into the 1970s or longer. For example, photos of Ohio Army National Guard troops at the Kent State shootings in May 1970 clearly show Garands.

Some military drill teams still use the M1, including the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, the Norwegian Royal Guards Drill Team, and almost all Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) teams of all branches. Modern Drill Team M1s are permanently disabled by having a metal rod welded into the barrel. Exhibition teams often use fiberglass stocks In place of wooden ones, the latter being heavier and more prone to breakage when dropped.

Design and Mechanics

The M1 rifle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic, clip-fed rifle. By modern standards, the M1's feeding system is archaic, relying on clips to feed 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 without a clip, such as while reloading.

Garand's rifle was originally chambered for the .276 Pedersen 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 500 yards (457 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.

Garand's original design for the M1 used a complicated gas system involving a special muzzle extension gas trap, later dropped in favor of a simpler drilled gas port. Because most of the older rifles were retrofitted, pre-1939 gas-trap M1 Garands are very rare today and are prized collector's items. 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. 

Features

The weight of the M1 varies between 9.5 lb (4.31 kg) and 10.2 lb (4.63 kg) unloaded (depending on sling type and stock wood density), a considerable increase over the previous M1903 Springfield. The length was 43.6 inches (1,107 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 open. 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. Much criticized in modern times, the en-bloc clip was an innovation for its time. The concept of a disposable box magazine had not been embraced and en-bloc clips were cheap and reliable. It was even harder and slower to reload the M1903 rifle. Modern arguments ignore that the only contemporary rifles with the ability to easily top-off a magazine were the Johnson M1941 and the obsolete Krag-Jørgensen.

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. However, armed with the Garand, U.S. Infantrymen were able to sustain a much higher rate of fire than their Chinese counterparts. 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.

Ejection of an empty clip created a distinctive and unnatural metallic "pinging" sound. In World War II, reports arose 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 soften the sound, though no improved clips were ever adopted. During the Korean War, American soldiers supposedly used the sound to their advantage, noting 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.

The M1 Garand was designed for simple assembly and disassembly to facilitate field maintenance. It can be field stripped (broken down) using only a rifle round.

Operation

The Garand is loaded with a full clip of 8 cartridges. Once all eight rounds are expended, the bolt will be automatically locked back and the clip ejected, readying the rifle for the insertion of a fresh clip of ammunition. Compared to contemporary detachable box magazines, the M1's "en bloc" clip is light, simple, and only has to be oriented with the rounds pointing forward prior to charging the rifle (the clips have no top or bottom).

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. 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.

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.

Contrary to widespread misconception, partially expended or full clips can be ejected from the rifle by means of the clip latch button. It is also possible to load single cartridges into a partially loaded clip while the clip is still in the magazine, but this 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. 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.

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.

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, oiler 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.

Variants

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 World War II. 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 supplement the venerable M1903A4.

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. 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 7.62x51mm NATO round.

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.

Descendants

As stated earlier, the M1 Garand was the direct predecessor of the M14 rifle that replaced it. During the 1950s, Beretta developed the BM-59 series of rifles, which would also be produced, under license, in Indonesia as the "SP" series. Ruger produced the Mini-14 rifle, which utilizes a reduced-size operating system and a different gas system. The AK-47 was developed from an earlier Kalashnikov carbine which heavily drew from the Garand design; particularly, the locking system with its rotating bolt is based on Garand's design. The AK-47 also uses a highly simplified form of the Garand trigger group.

Despite similarities in naming, there is no relationship between the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine, other than a similar rotating bolt design. Additional confusion may come from the adoption of several other "M1" weapons ("M" being an abbreviation for Model), such as the M1 Thompson submachine gun and M1 Abrams tank.

Civilian use

United States citizens meeting certain qualifications may purchase U.S. military surplus M1 Garand rifles through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). The CMP is run by the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety (CPRPFS), a not-for-profit corporation created by the United States Congress in 1996 to instruct citizens in marksmanship and promote practice and safety in the use of firearms. From 1903 to 1996, the CMP was the DCM (Department of Civilian Marksmanship). It was initiated by Theodore Roosevelt to promote civilian marksmanship after he witnessed the lack of skilled marksmen during the Spanish-American War. The DCM was administered by the Department of Defense, formerly known as the Department of War. Military surplus Garands and post-war copies made for the civilian market are popular among enthusiasts around the world.

The Philippine government still issues M1 Garand rifles, together with M1 Carbines, M14s and M16s to their civilian defense forces known as Civilian Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO).