This week Springfield Armory has released their all-new retro M1A Tanker Rifle. The Tanker features a 16.25″ Carbon Steel barrel and walnut stock giving it a classic look. With an overall length of just 37.25″, it comes in at about 7 inches shorter than its [Read More…]
The Civilian Marksmanship Program has been selling surplus arms to the American public for years. In that time, they’ve sold M1903 and M1917 bolt-action rifles, as well as M1 Garand and M1 Carbine long guns. Except for the Garands, they’ve all been sold out for [Read More…]
Made in October 1929, the working model receiver and trigger guard assembly of John C. Garand’s only T3E1 rifle is on display at Springfield Armory National Historic Site. From the museum’s records: “Armory was directed to manufacture (a) One caliber [Read More…]
During the interwar years, Springfield Armory shrunk drastically. To the extreme point of going from five thousand full-time employees to two hundred. One of the ways that Springfield Armory dealt with this was to commit to producing rifles for the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. At first the [Read More…]
At SHOT Show’s 2018 Industry Day at the Range, TFBTV’s Corey Wardrop speaks with Gina, CMP South General Manager. Updates include 1911 sales status, incoming Philippine Garands, incoming Turkish Garands, and the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park in Talladega County, Alabama. A very special [Read More…]
If you want a Mini-14 buy one. If you want a carbine for a specific purpose, however, and provided have access to virtually any other modern carbine design, pick just about anything else. I say this not to disparage Ruger or the people who own Minis, but because [Read More…]
The following is an article that was originally written in Russian by TFB contributor Maxim Popenker, and Andrey Ulanov, and translated to English by Peter Samsonov. With their permission, I have replicated the text here, and edited it, for the enrichment of you, our [Read More…]
With the soldier’s load growing beyond the bounds of reason, and the Army set to replace the M4 Carbine in some units with the new Interim Combat Service Rifle, questions have arisen about how the soldier’s burden has changed over time. In the comments [Read More…]
Back in the days of the fighting bolt action rifle, clever small arms designers came up with a number of minor but ingenious features to make the soldier’s life a little less hard when trying to cycle their rifle’s action by hand as they faced down the [Read More…]
The Civilian Marksmanship Program has received word that the Philippine government could be shipping 86,000 M1 Garand rifles back to the United States for distribution to American civilian shooters. Mark Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of the CMP, commented on the [Read More…]
Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it. Now, a good definition for “assault rifle” in my opinion comes from Anthony G. Williams, a British author, ammunition collector, and military [Read More…]
Previously on TFB we discussed the Lessons Learned from our WW II Squad Live fire which you can read about here, and watch the original episode here. In this episode of TFB TV we have a round table discussion from the actual participants and several subject matter experts who were present at the [Read More…]
The overall point of the WW II Live Fire, apart from creating an episode for our Youtube Channel, was to gain information and knowledge about these small arms that were used in World War II in ways that we couldn’t have gathered from shooting them on a square [Read More…]
Back in 2012, we mentioned a small outfit, Olongapo Outfitters, which was offering some unique wares for the day, molle compatible Garand clip pouches. Since then, they’ve done a bit of expansion, building up their retro-focused nylon empire to ensure that they [Read More…]
If a Garand pings in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound? The answer is “yes”, because German super-hearing allows them to detect high-pitched noises from up to a kilometer away! The funny thing about myths is that sometimes [Read More…]
In the fourth part of the series of articles I am writing on the Lightweight Rifle program of the 1940s and ’50s, we looked at some of the experimental rifles that were being tested and evaluated during and just after World War II as potential replacements for or [Read More…]
We’ve all heard it at gun shows or with friends: The M1 Garand was the first rifle that brought true semiautomatic firepower to the battlefield, but it came with a fatal flaw – the ping, which would alert German soldiers that the hapless GI was out of ammo, [Read More…]
Today we know the Kalashnikov family of rifles as one of the most successful and reliable weapon families ever designed. Even as the rifle’s legend has begun to be peeled back, the weapon’s reputation for reliability is still largely unquestioned, and many [Read More…]
The M1 Carbine is a lightweight, handy weapon that is well-liked by many. One of its weakest points for many people, however, is its cartridge: The .30 Carbine caliber is regarded by some as being too weak to be a true intermediate caliber round fully capable of [Read More…]
While the Garand was hailed by Patton as the “best” battle implement ever to hit the field, there arguably were better implements proposed to replace it. While the Johnson & Peterson designs typically gets the most attention, the Winchester company also [Read More…]
The American M1 Garand was the world’s first general issue semi-automatic rifle. It is famous for many reasons (such as the harmonious ping it makes when ejecting its en bloc clip), but it is a magnificent piece of engineering that you can only truly appreciate by seeing what’s inside. [Read More…]
Now, based on the four previous articles on gun operating mechanisms, some of my readers may be thinking “jeeze, Nathaniel, we already know all this stuff! Why are you telling us this?” Don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten about you, and that’s [Read More…]
Expos like the 2016 NRA Annual Meeting or the SHOT Show are usually places to find the latest and greatest in the firearms world. Sometimes, however, exhibitors bring along relics of the past, forgotten firearms that haven’t seen the public spotlight in decades [Read More…]
The nations engaged in World War II all fielded one or more main infantry rifle, and in this episode of TFBTV, we take a look at five that we believe to be the best. Remember this is a list of rifles, so submachineguns, machine guns, assault rifles, and so on are not included. Transcript … [Read More…]
What happens when you shoot commercial ammunition through an M1 rifle? No, what really happens? Take a look at InRange TV’s video on the subject, embedded below. Ian and Karl go one step further than the average “let’s find out” video, and [Read More…]
Making sure a soldier’s tools and weapons are clean and functioning are not a joke, his survival could obviously depend on them. However getting this message across to the troops without sounding completely draconian all the time can be tough. Thus we have satire [Read More…]
The US trials that led to the adoption of the first standard issue military selfloading rifle are together one of my favorite parts of small arms history. Recently, Forgotten Weapons’ van Dyked and ponytailed founder and host Ian McCollum got a chance to handle [Read More…]
The M1 is an old design, one of the very first successful selfloaders (certainly the first very successful one). That means that owning and shooting an M1 is an experience where almost anything can happen. Like, for example, the gun spontaneously disassembling itself [Read More…]
The Type 4 (sometimes also called the Type 5) was a clone of the US M1 Garand rifle developed by the Japanese Navy towards the very end of World War II. It’s a fascinating rifle for its combination of American engineering and Japanese style. Forgotten Weapons [Read More…]
Recently, a fellow has taken it upon himself to bake a cake for a bachelor party, and it isn’t just any cake, but is in the shape of an M1 Garand! The level of detail on it is pretty extreme, all the way down to the trapdoor in the buttstock and the associated [Read More…]
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