[eclancy]

Hi all,
I have just updated my M1 Garand sites on the net.
These are the ORIGINAL US Ordnance files on the M1 Rifle, better known as the M1 Garand. This update is for all the newbies, you older guys should check it out also.
Here are the site addresses.
http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy
On the above address you must type in the whole address.
http://www.garandm1rifle.com
Both sites are linked to each other and each site has different data files on it.
If you have any questions just email me.
Thanks again,
Clancy

[Ian Sean]

What is the story with the blown up Garand picture? Was that an Ordinance Dept. test or an accident?

As usual your knowledge never ceases to amaze me!

Funny note, I went over to battlerifles.com to find answers to one of your quizzes and you were over there as well. :)

[eclancy]

Ian,
Thanks for the comeback. I am in Pa also near Whitehall Pa. The answer on the barrel question is grease in the barrel. I think the guy thought that the bullets would come out faster.
Thanks again
Clancy

[Daniel Watters]

I just surfed through the above sites and found a wonderful quote from a
1939 letter sent by Ordnance officer LTC Raymond Marsh (stationed at Fort
Benning) to Major G.H. Drewry (at the Office of Chief of Ordnance):

As a result of these tests and in reply to the communication from the Chief of Infantry, the Infantry Board disagreed strongly with the Infantry School and heartily endorsed the M1 Rifle with the M2 Ammunition. The School made a strong plea to have the Infantry board make some statements to justify the School's report, but the Infantry Board did not yield one bit. I think that we can now conclude that we are now through with all of these petulant complaints from the Infantry School about the M1 Rifle.

We tend to forget that most issue weapons have had teething problems, some worse than others. It is quite rare to find a new weapon that was not compared unfavorably to the proceeding standard issue weapon. Despite the current lionizing of the M14 rifle versus the 'Mattel mousegun', there were plenty of folks during the late '50s and early '60s who thought that the M14 was itself inferior to the Garand. As seen above, there were plenty of folks prior to WW2 who would have rather kept the Springfield M1903 or Enfield M1917 instead of issuing the 'inaccurate' and 'unreliable' Garand. (Or course, there were debates on the quality of the Enfield M1917 versus the Springfield M1903.) When the US adopted spitzer bullets for the .30'06 cartridge, there were folks who pontificated on how these would be inferior for accuracy and range versus the old round-nose slugs of the .30-40 Krag. I understand that the adoption of the Krag brought howls of protest from those who insisted the tiny .30 caliber slug could not possibly be as effective as the lumbering .45-70.

[eclancy]

Mr. Watters,
The battle over M1 and M2 Ball was still going on as late as 1940. Ordnance wanted this fixed. I don't have the file right at my finger tips but Ordnance was talking about using only the M1 Garand at the National Matches using M2 Ball. Ordnance wanted to show off the M1 Garand to the civilian shooters and prove that it had no problems.
Thanks again
Clancy