#M1Garand

Nearly two weeks ago, I published an article that caused a great deal of consternation among my readership, even resulting in a prompt rebuttal video from Ian and Karl with InRange TV. That highly negative article was entitled 7 Reasons I Don’t Like The MP-44 Sturmgewehr. As a result of the unexpected waves it caused, the Sunday after the article ran I took to the proverbial recording studio with Ryan Michad to discuss the Sturmgewehr, its context, and to hopefully explain some of the more controversial talking points of the article.

Some firearms have had such a great impact on global events that their very silhouette is synonymous with global events. This is a list of 5 truly revolutionary firearms that have helped shape the world as we know it today.

TFBTV Presents: The Blue Danube Waltz (In 30-06).

Part of my trip to the UK took my to Le Havre, France. Being so close, I had to go to Normandy and see Omaha Beach. I went to the Normandy American Cemetary. The visitor center has a wonderful exhibit with a few firearms inside.

In 1957, the T44E4 rifle was formally adopted by the United States Armed Forces as the United States Rifle, 7.62mm, M14, but this only marked the beginning of the rifle’s troubles. After numerous delays and production crises – including the rejection in December of 1960 of 1,784 of H&R receivers (about ten percent of the receivers that had been made up to that time) that could not withstand the pressure of firing due to a steel mix-up – Robert McNamara made a famous speech on the rifle program in June of 1961, stating: “I think it is a disgrace the way the project was handled. I don’t mean particularly by the Army, but I mean by the nation. This is a relatively simple job, building a rifle, compared to building a satellite or a lunar lander or a missile system.” At that time, there existed a grand total of only 133,386 M14 rifles, despite the type having been adopted four years prior.

The Czech Republic has always been a nation that hits above its weight in the small arms field. Despite being a relatively small country with a somewhat checkered history, it has consistently put out high quality, innovative firearms that compete very well with those offered by much larger and older nations. For having risen from the ashes of the shattered Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Czechs have done quite well.

Rock Island Auction seems to always have something special, but this particular item is exceptional even by those standards. Forgotten Weapons has a video overview of an extremely rare Pedersen GY rifle. This rifle was a Pedersen design from the late 1930s that copied its entire mechanism from the M1 Garand rifle. John D. Pedersen, it seems, was not above acting on the old axiom “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”:

This is the first part of a series of posts seeking to describe and analyze the 7.62mm Light Rifle concept promoted by the Americans, and subsequently adopted by NATO in various forms. This series will cover development from before World War II to the present day, but will focus primarily on the period from 1944-1970, which constitutes the span of time from the Light Rifle’s conception until its end in the United States with the standardization of the M16.

Nearly two months ago, I wrote a critique of the M1 Garand which pointed out a vulnerability in the design – the great degree of openness it has, exposing the moving parts and critical surfaces to sand, mud, dust, debris, and the elements at large.

In my critique of the M1 Garand rifle on Sunday, I noted that John Cantius Garand was not only a firearms designer, but a machinist as well. It was his intimate understanding of the world of the shop floor that made his rifle economical to produce, which is in my opinion by far the most outstanding attribute of the weapon.

Check out these old archived films from 1941.

Tim Shufflin of Shuff’s Parkerizing does a nifty M1 Garand conversion called the Mini-G. He cuts the barrel down, modifies the op-rod, installs an adjustable gas plug and parkerizes the receiver, barrel and a number of other parts. The .30-06 barrel optionally can be replaced with a .308 Win. barrel or .35 Whelen barrel (a more powerful necked up .30-06 cartridge). Tim can even convert the rifle to use M14 magazines, turning it into a M1/M14 hybrid.

Kit Up has reviewed a modern mole-compatible ammo pouch designed to hold M1 Garand en-bloc clips.

A lot of people will disagree with me, but I like Sage EBR Tactical Stock System for the M1 Garand. It is a drop-in stock that does not require permanent modifications to the rifle.

A kid saved up to buy a Garand, was warned by the gun shop employee to only to shoot M2 Ball, but then went to go buy cheap reloaded ammunition from a gun show. The ammunition he used caused a kaboom. The kid was fortunately unhurt.