Another piece of history came through the shop: the semiautomatic rifle that won the war for US Gi’s during WWII. The Famous Springfield M1 Garand, which saw service from 1936 to 1957, was replaced by its big brother, the M14 (M1A). The M1 Garand is a .30 Cal (.30-06 Springfield, gas-operated, eight-round “clip” feed rifle, where the shooter places the clip into the internal “magazine”. Yes, it used a clip. Today, we have the luxury of using box feed magazines, which were one of the differences between its big brother, the M14(M1A) rifle. They changed the furniture, re-chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, and added a 20-round box feed magazine. Interesting fact, the M1 Garand was also re-chambered to 7.62x51 and saw action early in the Korean conflict before being retired from service. A common injury from the M1 Garand is called “Garand-thumb”. This is where the shooter’s thumb gets smashed by the bolt slamming home during the loading process. Thumb trapped by bolt. The painful ...
