How the Garand Operates Video - Amazing Design and Engineering

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PTMCCAIN

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I spent a good deal of time on Sunday downloading and working on improving/enhancing the audio, video and transitions in this old Army training film which, in my opinion, is still one of the very finest detailed explanations of how the Garand operates. I tweaked the audio to bring the volume and tone up and the video to make the contrast a bit better. Unfortunately, I know of no way to remaster the video to get an HD version of it.

The more I watch this, the more amazed I am by John Garand's engineering genius and both the complexity of the Garand itself and the testament to America's industrial skill and might that something this complex was able to be mass produced to efficiently and effectively.

I hope you enjoy it and I welcome, as usual, any/all constructive criticism.

Here's the video:

http://youtu.be/ixwNAuKavN4?hd=1
 
Very interesting and informative. I've never fired a Garand, but at least now I know how they work. Thanks!

I had one issued to me at AOCS, but it was for drills and had no firing pin.
 
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Thanks, that is really good footage.

Pure genious. Hard to imagine making such an effective and efficient device from a clean sheet of papre.
 
Now that is just cool! I am just amazed at the genius of John Garand and the workings of the M1. It is incredible that a mechanism so complicated and difficult to manufature turned out to be so utterly reliable under the harshest of battlefield conditions. I didn't know you could recock the hammer by lowering the trigger guard.

I had to chuckle a bit when I saw the prone shooter at 1:00-1:25. There is another guy lying there with his face about a foot from the ejection port with no eye protection at all like he is relaxing on the beach. The shooter is firing away, brass just missing this guy's face and he is just acting like he is watching a movie or something.

Dan
 
Berg, me either, that was a cool tip I picked up from the video, I mean, I knew it cocked the hammer, but didn't' realize it had a practical function like that.

No eye protection. No hearing protection.

The good old days?

It is actually the way they trained shooters back in the day. One guy would be shooting the other guy watching his technique.
 
Some have tried to put forward the argument that Garand just copied the French RSC-17. That's just not the case. Many countries were experimenting and trying to perfect a gas operated semi-automatic rifle, but only John Garand and the USA was successful. The RSC-17 was problematic, in several respects, to say the least. The gas system was kind of a mess and mechanical failures made it unreliable.
 
Thanks Rob, appreciate it. It's a great resource for explaining and understanding the way the Garand works.
 
Interesting, thanks for sharing that.

I have noticed that sometimes my Garand bolt does not close automatically when the ammo clip is inserted. I was relieved to see soldiers closing the bolt manually in this video.
 
Yes, closing the bolt like that was the norm, and auto closing the exception.
 
Just amazing how many little details he thought of and incorporated a mechanism to handle, which are left out of most other rifle designs.

The hammer having the ability to help cam the bolt into battery just before striking the firing pin? Amazing!

A surface to cam the firing pin back into the breechface before ejecting the case? Wow.

A work of art!

I have noticed that sometimes my Garand bolt does not close automatically when the ammo clip is inserted. I was relieved to see soldiers closing the bolt manually in this video.
Click to expand...
Yep! That's the way it works. Insert clip, give the bolt handle a tap to start it forward, and away you go!
 
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Agreed! It really is, and was at the time especially, a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Only the USA was able to field a semi-automatic rifle as the main battle rifle. Every other nation was experimenting with semi-auto rifles, but finally went with the old five round bolt actions when WWII started.
 
Monsieur Garand, Ne au canada sous le nom de Jean Cantius Garand. Oh! surprise... d'une famille Francaise, en fait jusqu'a un certain age il ne parlait que le Francais, cela explique peut etre son intelligence, et comme le disait si bien Jacques Verges, " Il est tres difficile pour un Francais vivant au US en constant contact avec les Americains de ne pas develloper un complexe de superiorite".
Click to expand...

http://www.tircollection.com/t5910-rsc-1917-et-garand

There's nothing for it. The line has been crossed. Gentlemen, this means WAR. We muster in southern England, then take the Chunnel to deliver insults at the Metro station!

Seriously, though, it's true that the French were frequently at the forefront of military innovation, inventing smokeless powder itself. But they rarely had the wherewithall to capitalize on their own innovations, and suffered during most of the 19th and 20th centuries with ineffective governments and military high commands. But that doesn't mean the Garand is a French design, anymore than the Mauser 98 is. Though both certainly had French innovations in their heritage. As you can see in the thread Varook cited, there are some similar concepts in both rifles. But the French design is far cruder, less refined and in places downright slapdash in execution. Bits seem to have been salvaged from old Lebels. It's not a rifle one would want to be stuck with in combat. The Garand's bolt design in particular is much more practical and less prone to jamming. And remember that it wasn't his choice to go with the archaic clips--borrowed from sources that predate both rifles.
 
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If anyone knows how to acquire the original films, I have the ability and resources to make a much better digital transfer.

Let me know.
 
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