eclancy
Member
Gentlemen,
I think many of you have No/Lost interest in the History of the M1 Garand Rifle.
This post is a peek at Vol. 2 of "The Garand Papers 1938 to 1939." The way the book is laid out is the first sixty or so pages are my written text tieing all the files together and highlighting the Garand information. The 150 pages that follow are the Orders themselves as written by Ordnance. Of course all this data follows the date of the Order. The data is printed on one side of a sheet so it is easy to flip back to the Order and see what else is on it. I don't write what I think they are talking about, just what the Order actually reads. This book deals with the history of getting the M1 Garand Rifle into production. This is just a peek at Vol.2. Have fun. I hope you enjoy.
"Our next file is dated June 3, 1938, and it is from Major L. J. Meyns, Ordnance Department, Headquarters Fourth Corps Area, Office of the Ordnance Officer, to Major Guy H. Drewry in the Chief of Ordnance Office, Munitions Building, Washington, D.C. Major Meyns writes:
“On a recent inspection trip to Fort Screven, Ga., Col. Ganoe asked me if the Ordnance Department was considering the Johnson semi-automatic rifle. Personally I had never heard of a Johnson rifle and could not answer his question. Could you give me any information relative to this question?
“Col. Ganoe apparently is a personal friend of Mr. Johnson and has watched the development of his rifle for several years. He showed me numerous photographs and lots of descriptive matter on it and says that this rifle is now in production by one of the commercial manufacturers. He also states that he has fired both this rifle and the Garand and that there is no comparison between the two, the Johnson being superior with respect to accuracy and simpler, in that it has fewer parts. Any information that you can give me on this subject that I can transmit to Col. Ganoe will be appreciated.”
Our next file is the June 7, 1938, answer from Major Drewry to Major Meyns. Major Drewry replies:
“In regard to Mr. Johnson's rifle, he is, as you probably know, a lawyer by vocation and as an avocation designs guns. He wrote an article on Automatic Weapons for the ARMY ORDNANCE which was published in the September-October and November-December, 1936, issues.
“I have seen his rifle on several occasions but have never seen it fired. It was informally tested at Springfield Armory and also the Proving Ground sometime ago. These tests were made with the first pilot model that he built. The functioning was not satisfactory in either of these tests. Several months ago he asked the Ordnance Department to test his rifle, which we agreed to do, and he submitted it but withdrew it and took it to Fort Benning to demonstrate it before the Infantry Board before we had an opportunity to test it. This model was supposed to be an improvement over the previous ones. The demonstration at Fort Benning was not satisfactory so he took the gun back to have some changes made in it. Since that time I have not seen him, nor has he resubmitted his gun for test.
“I don't know how many component parts are in his rifle, nor has anyone in the Ordnance Department made a study of it to determine the ease with which it can be produced in large quantities. From what I have seen of the gun, I certainly would not judge that it is any easier to produce in quantity than the Garand rifle."
Gentlemen you know what to do.
Thanks again
Clancy
NRA Life Endowment
NRA Training Counselor
NRA Instructor
FSS 90% / BW X Speed Div by 1000 = PF
THA 63
I think many of you have No/Lost interest in the History of the M1 Garand Rifle.
This post is a peek at Vol. 2 of "The Garand Papers 1938 to 1939." The way the book is laid out is the first sixty or so pages are my written text tieing all the files together and highlighting the Garand information. The 150 pages that follow are the Orders themselves as written by Ordnance. Of course all this data follows the date of the Order. The data is printed on one side of a sheet so it is easy to flip back to the Order and see what else is on it. I don't write what I think they are talking about, just what the Order actually reads. This book deals with the history of getting the M1 Garand Rifle into production. This is just a peek at Vol.2. Have fun. I hope you enjoy.
"Our next file is dated June 3, 1938, and it is from Major L. J. Meyns, Ordnance Department, Headquarters Fourth Corps Area, Office of the Ordnance Officer, to Major Guy H. Drewry in the Chief of Ordnance Office, Munitions Building, Washington, D.C. Major Meyns writes:
“On a recent inspection trip to Fort Screven, Ga., Col. Ganoe asked me if the Ordnance Department was considering the Johnson semi-automatic rifle. Personally I had never heard of a Johnson rifle and could not answer his question. Could you give me any information relative to this question?
“Col. Ganoe apparently is a personal friend of Mr. Johnson and has watched the development of his rifle for several years. He showed me numerous photographs and lots of descriptive matter on it and says that this rifle is now in production by one of the commercial manufacturers. He also states that he has fired both this rifle and the Garand and that there is no comparison between the two, the Johnson being superior with respect to accuracy and simpler, in that it has fewer parts. Any information that you can give me on this subject that I can transmit to Col. Ganoe will be appreciated.”
Our next file is the June 7, 1938, answer from Major Drewry to Major Meyns. Major Drewry replies:
“In regard to Mr. Johnson's rifle, he is, as you probably know, a lawyer by vocation and as an avocation designs guns. He wrote an article on Automatic Weapons for the ARMY ORDNANCE which was published in the September-October and November-December, 1936, issues.
“I have seen his rifle on several occasions but have never seen it fired. It was informally tested at Springfield Armory and also the Proving Ground sometime ago. These tests were made with the first pilot model that he built. The functioning was not satisfactory in either of these tests. Several months ago he asked the Ordnance Department to test his rifle, which we agreed to do, and he submitted it but withdrew it and took it to Fort Benning to demonstrate it before the Infantry Board before we had an opportunity to test it. This model was supposed to be an improvement over the previous ones. The demonstration at Fort Benning was not satisfactory so he took the gun back to have some changes made in it. Since that time I have not seen him, nor has he resubmitted his gun for test.
“I don't know how many component parts are in his rifle, nor has anyone in the Ordnance Department made a study of it to determine the ease with which it can be produced in large quantities. From what I have seen of the gun, I certainly would not judge that it is any easier to produce in quantity than the Garand rifle."
Gentlemen you know what to do.
Thanks again
Clancy
NRA Life Endowment
NRA Training Counselor
NRA Instructor
FSS 90% / BW X Speed Div by 1000 = PF
THA 63