Thoughts on an old rifle

[Utah Bob #35998]

So, looking at a Garand, what do I see? I try to discount the hundreds of times I saw it in my youth. On the screen in the hands of the Hollywood heroes and in documentaries like The Big Picture and Victory at Sea that used to air on the weekends in glorius black and white. The color guard leading the parade on the 4^th of July, Memorial Day, and Armed Forces Day (yeah there used to be more parades). So many memories my youth. It was an iconic and familiar image. It was on posters at the recruiting station and magazine covers. On the news it was seen still serving in the hands of our fighting men in far off exotic places. I didn't know the names. I would learn them later.

But now that I'm older....much older, I look at the M1 with the eye of a shooter, an amateur historian, one who has used, worked on, and owned many firearms in my time, I try to see it as if I'm seeing it for the first time.

 

And this is what I see.

At a glance, I can see that it is different from the other guns of its era. It looks more modern than the Russian Mosin. More streamlined and maneuverable.

It looks less like a big game rifle to me than the venerable British Enfield.

It looks stronger than the dainty appearing but deadly Arisaka.

It looks perhaps less artistic than the gleaming German Mauser but equally well engineered.

It appears to be purpose built. Robust and strong but not ungainly. Built to be carried at the walk or the run, ready to perform its intended function at a moment's notice. It seems ready to strike even when at rest. It looks as if it is as much a part of a soldier or Marine as their arms and legs, rather than a burdensome thing to be endured, whether wading ashore, scaling a cliff, or descending from the sky.

All this I see without looking at the actual functioning and performance, which is itself simply amazing. Ground breaking. It changed the very concept of rifles forever.

 

It also changed men forever, and history, and the world.

Some would say it's an ugly weapon of destruction. I say it's a tool. As was David's sling and Arthur's sword.

To me, It looks like a friend.

A close and valued companion.

It looks like freedom.

 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

Bob, I do not think anyone could have said it better.

 

I subscribe to that idea also.

I could never hope to express it as you have done.

Thank you.

[Chantry]

 

It looks perhaps less artistic than the gleaming German Mauser but equally well engineered.

 

 

 

The Garand was better engineered, at least as a combat weapon, if some of what I've read about the Mauser K98 is true. Apparently if used in rapid fire the K98 action became very difficult to manipulate as the receiver and bolt became hot and expanded just enough to bind the action.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

 

The Garand was better engineered, at least as a combat weapon, if some of what I've read about the Mauser K98 is true. Apparently if used in rapid fire the K98 action became very difficult to manipulate as the receiver and bolt became hot and expanded just enough to bind the action.

 

I think that's an old wives tale... or old somebody's tale!

 

Pick up a Mauser someday. Open the bolt and draw it back... feel that wobble? Scammers used to do that to try to convince "rubes" that their rifles were "worn out" and they should sell 'em cheap.

 

Not so... they were engineered thus to avoid any sort of binding. Wobble is good - no binding!

 

There've been all sorts of "old wives tales" regarding the rifles of our father's and grandfather's generations... like how the German 'smiths would spit on the threads when installing barrels on Mausers to make 'em tight. Or the one about Arisaka's would blow up if you ever tried to shoot 'em - they had tapered bores, don'tcha know!

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

Can't find much to fault with that. The only thing I might is the ungainly part. As wonderful a weapon as it is, to me the Garand has a feel and balance similar to a railroad crosstie. JMHO. Worth what you paid for it.

 

JHC

[Subdeacon Joe]

Beautifully said, Bob.

You should maybe think about writing poetry sometime!

[Subdeacon Joe]

[Dustin Checotah]

Well said Utah. I carried and drilled with an M1 in highschool Jr. ROTC 11th grade. They switched to the M14 my senior year. I liked the M1 better. I have an M1 and an M1A. Like them both for shooters.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

That was a stirring read indeed, Utah.

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to share that with some old friends who are long-time M1 guys.... with proper credit to the author, of course!

[Bama Red]

Thanks, UB. You have a talent for setting in print what we can only think or feel. As my first military rifle, I'll always have a real soft spot for the M1.

[Iditarod Kid]

UB: Send that to Garand Collectors Assoc. for their publication.

See you down the trail......

[Papa Irish]

Shot a match grade M1 (.30-06) for two years on the base rifle team. Loved it. In one match I shot 200 11x sitting. Gen Patton called it the best battle implement ever devised by man.

[Tascosa, SASS# 24838]

You have a talent UB!! One other thing I might add when I pick up my M1 is... It's dang heavy after carrying one for 8 hours on the flight line.

But its still a beautiful, well balanced work of military art..

[Chantry]

 

I think that's an old wives tale... or old somebody's tale!

 

Pick up a Mauser someday. Open the bolt and draw it back... feel that wobble? Scammers used to do that to try to convince "rubes" that their rifles were "worn out" and they should sell 'em cheap.

 

Not so... they were engineered thus to avoid any sort of binding. Wobble is good - no binding!

 

There've been all sorts of "old wives tales" regarding the rifles of our father's and grandfather's generations... like how the German 'smiths would spit on the threads when installing barrels on Mausers to make 'em tight. Or the one about Arisaka's would blow up if you ever tried to shoot 'em - they had tapered bores, don'tcha know!

 

I've come across that in 2 different books, one by a British captain who taught British snipers and one by a Russian sniper.

[Utah Bob #35998]

The Garand was better engineered, at least as a combat weapon, if some of what I've read about the Mauser K98 is true. Apparently if used in rapid fire the K98 action became very difficult to manipulate as the receiver and bolt became hot and expanded just enough to bind the action.

The Mauser action, like most things from Germany, is impeccably engineered and manufactured.

[Subdeacon Joe]

The Mauser action, like most things from Germany, is impeccably over-engineered and manufactured.

 

 

Fixed it for you, Bob.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Great post Utah. Though, to be 110% honest. From 100 to 250yds, using only iron battle sights, I would go to my K98s. Both are tack drivers. Many times over, even using WW2 Steel coated surplus ammo, I could cover a 3 shot group with a quarter, or barely have paper breaks showing from edges. Its one reason why they are also so highly prized. I bought both of mine from the Aldens Catalog for 12.50 each. Wrapped in wax coated paper and cosmoline. Both dad and me used them way back when hunting was still something I did. We used them without sporterizing. MT

[Trailrider #896]

A note about the Mauser 98, in whatever form or variety: The U.S. Rifle M1903 was based on the Mauser, although it had that two-piece firing pin. Through WWI, the United States had to pay Mauser Werke a royalty on every Springfield we produced!

 

I am too young to have used the M-1 Garand as part of the U.S. Military in peace or war. However, it was my first big-bore rifle and I have always liked the look and the feel. I even used one on a wild boar hunt in Tennessee when I was in college! Yes, it is heavy, and "only" holds eight rounds, but compared with bolt action rifles it could be the difference between life and death in war. (Pinnng, my alpha-sierra-sierra! )

[Elk Creek LeMieux]

If you can't do it with 8 rounds of 30-06 though...

[Utah Bob #35998]

Great post Utah. Though, to be 110% honest. From 100 to 250yds, using only iron battle sights, I would go to my K98s. Both are tack drivers. Many times over, even using WW2 Steel coated surplus ammo, I could cover a 3 shot group with a quarter, or barely have paper breaks showing from edges. Its one reason why they are also so highly prized. I bought both of mine from the Aldens Catalog for 12.50 each. Wrapped in wax coated paper and cosmoline. Both dad and me used them way back when hunting was still something I did. We used them without sporterizing. MT

Note that my intent was not really to compare the functioning of the various rifles. Just what I see. Never said it was the most accurate.

Your perceptions may differ of course.

 

But an infantry company on the attack can cover 250 yards pretty quickly sometimes.. And I'd prefer to have a faster shooter if a bunch of fellers were closing on me.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

Minute of infantryman at 250 yards is good. Minute of 7 or 8 infantryman at 250 yards is whole

lot mo better.

[Chantry]

The Mauser action, like most things from Germany, is impeccably engineered and manufactured.

And under certain circumstances, perhaps a little too well made, with tolerances just a hair tighter then preferred for a combat rifle.

[Bugs Bonney SASS # 10171]

I think it was John George in his book "Shots fired in anger" who served both at Guadalcanal and with Mearles Marauders who said that when a force armed with bolt action rifles meets a force armed with semiautomatic rifles, God is on the side with the semi automatic rifles.

[Tom Bullweed]

UB, I can certainly appreciate your feelings for the Garand. It is a great rifle that sits in the #2 position for me.

#1 is a rifle that I grew up with, shot in DCM matches for years and have owned in at least six configurations. If was used by a victorious country in two world wars and at least a dozen lesser conflicts. It is still popular in third world countries today. It was mostly designed by an American named Lee. My special rifle is the SMLE, especially a Savage-made Mk III, though the peep sites on later versions work better for my eyes now.

[Clueless Bob]

My dad would say that if the business end dried up, just turn it around and start swinging. When I bought mine, I didn't have any info and forgot to buy some when I bought it. I got it home and showed it to him. I asked if he remembered how to take it down, you can see some fog cleared, he was diagnosed with Altzhimers and it had been likely 30+ years since he last handle one. He removed the trigger group first and paused, thinking, then turned it over and tapped the heel of the stock and proceeded the tear down like he had been doing it his whole life. I think of that day every time I pick it up.