Justin
Moderator Emeritus
My understanding is that most of the current records for High Power rifle shooting are held by people shooting AR15s.
There are still competitors that use Garands in High Power, but the impression I've gotten is that those who run Garands do so more for reasons of nostalgia and personal affinity than anything else.
This is not to denigrate the M1. It's a capable rifle, especially in a National Match configuration. In its heyday, it was a state of the art design.
But in the intervening years, superior self-loading rifle designs have been released.
If all you're interested in doing is going to the range and plinking around without much intention, then get whatever gun strikes your fancy. If you want nostalgia, wood, and a big caliber, get the Garand.
If you want something modern, easy to shoot, more modular than Voltron, and more than capable of covering practically any niche short of hunting big game, get an AR15.
There are still competitors that use Garands in High Power, but the impression I've gotten is that those who run Garands do so more for reasons of nostalgia and personal affinity than anything else.
This is not to denigrate the M1. It's a capable rifle, especially in a National Match configuration. In its heyday, it was a state of the art design.
But in the intervening years, superior self-loading rifle designs have been released.
Again, this is for a range gun, not a competition gun, not a tactical match rifle, but a range piece for fun.
If all you're interested in doing is going to the range and plinking around without much intention, then get whatever gun strikes your fancy. If you want nostalgia, wood, and a big caliber, get the Garand.
If you want something modern, easy to shoot, more modular than Voltron, and more than capable of covering practically any niche short of hunting big game, get an AR15.