How many Garands out there?

[stubbicatt]

I have a friend who is very much a Garand fan. He once told me that he was aware of a test where a couple of guys had to shoot a relatively high number of rounds through each a M14 and a Garand, and each of them cleared the Garand faster than they did changing box magazines on the M14.

I do not know anything more about this subject, but the individual who told me this I find to be a believable man, and so I take it as true.

Do with it as you will.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Hmmm.... Let's say that it is 40 rounds. Two 20 round M14/M1A mags vs five enbloc clips.
Or, with 30 round mags we can do four mags vs 15 enbloc clips and have an even number of rounds.

Sounds like a fun race. Only thing is if the final group size is to be measured, I think the M1A may have an advantage. Thinking of firing from field positions as in a CMP or NRA match, I always have to unshoulder the Garand to jam the clip in whereas it seems a mag change on an M1A could be done without breaking position aside from your trigger hand.

 

[housecat]

My interest in the M1 came from my dad. He carried one in New Guinea, the Philippines,and Japan before coming home in 1946. He was so impressed with the rifle that I bought a Winchester from a pawn shop when I became an adult. That was nearly forty years ago, and I have never regretted buying it. It is utterly reliable, more accurate than I am capable of shooting, and is a real pleasure to shoot. It is heavy, but that makes the recoil insignificant. Its historical significance, and the connection with my dad insures that whoever settles my estate may sell the rifle, but I won't.

 

[22250Rem]

One of my late uncles carried a Garand as a Marine in the Pacific Theater during 1944 and '45. Showed him my CMP Garand back in 2007 a couple years before he passed away. It was the first time he'd touched one since the end of WWII. He spoke well of them... with adjectives like "dependable", "tough" and "accurate". I got mine in 1996 from CMP and jokingly refer to it as "the semi-automatic .30-06 that I got from Bill Clinton". Don't shoot it as much as I used to but thankfully I reload .30-06 otherwise it would be too expensive to "feed". Used to shoot some NRA Hi-Power and CMP matches with it and with the correct loads that duplicate the military loadings they are indeed pretty accurate for an old, iron-sighted, battle rifle. Even worked up a hunting load with 150 gr. soft points and one of these years plan to use it in a rifle zone (with a 5 round hunting clip) come deer season.

 

[Cosmoline]

Supply and demand. Far more than 8 million guys would like to have a Garand, I suspect. The attention on WWII starting with Saving Private Ryan seemed to have a direct impact on their price as well. There are surplus arms that are both much rarer and had a much higher percentage of front line use. But they're not Garands.