VG
Member
Yea, and it's a bolt action by the way. I find it ironic that the German armed forces' standard issue battle rifle was still a bolt action. They were so far ahead of everyone else in nearly all other types of weaponry. What on Earth were they thinking?
They were thinking the same as almost everyone else. The United States Marine Corps conducted a service rifle evaluation in December of 1940. Tested were the M1903 Springfield, Garand, Johnson, and a Winchester semiauto. The winner was - drum roll since it's the USMC's Birthday - the M1903 Springfield.
The Marine Corps and the Germans and just about every military outside the U.S. Army, were concerned about the mechanical reliability of a semiautomatic, and the possibility of prodigal use of ammunition.
If one looks at the status of American aircraft, armor, and other war weapons in 1937, it is even more impressive that the Army (ranked 14th in size in the world) would have taken the step of standardizing on the Garand in that year. Many armies had pursued the concept since WWI, including France and Germany.