The AR platform is a standard but having a nice early morning at the range with some of my Garands shows that the "semi-automatic rifle, caliber 30, M1 is still a fine weapon. General Patton called it "the greatest battle implement ever devised".
If Platt & Mattox had been carrying an M1 Garand instead of a Mini 14, the Miami Florida Shoot-Out that brought about the .40 S&W might have ended quite differently. The agent who finished off both of them had taken a round to the arm just as he raised his arm in front of his heart. The bullet shattered the bone in his arm, but otherwise stopped. A round from the Garand would have kept right on going and would have killed him, preventing him from firing the rounds that finished the fight. PS: Nice rifle!
Yes, beautiful rifle! I'm curious, did you purchase this new as it looks fantastic? Also, how heavy is it?
When the DCM resumed selling rifles as the CMP they were selling Service Grade M1's for $310 I picked up more than 1.. https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1-garand/ A few years later, they sold some M1 Carbines that were returned from Bavaria, and they are selling some 1911's on a lottery basis. 1911 Information - Civilian Marksmanship Program
Still a damn fine choice. Just as accurate, reliable, and deadly as when it was first issued. Clips instead of detachable mags are not a limitation for this round and arm as I see it and frankly have some advantages.
I have one that my father left to me years ago. Pleasure to shoot but the barrel is wallered out near the muzzle. Should probably look into having it re barreled one of these days. Don't know if there are any places that still do it.
Always have had a Garand, first serious rifle I ever shot, and was gifted one from my Dad in my 10th birthday! It is a serious tool even today, mine is a International Harvester, and sort of a mix master, but she shoots lights out with millsurp, and with her gas plug and charge handle mods, she can handle full pop hunting loads quite nicely! I finally installed a fancy grade stick I found at a gun show maybe 20 years ago, and after a full teardown and rebuild including bluing and all tjr other goodies, is going to last well beyond me! There are many much better rifles out there, but Damn, few can hold up as well as the Old Garand can! Grand Dad carries one all across Europe, and he loved it, he often said you were no kind of man if you couldn't carry and shoot a Garand, even calling a cousin a pussy for complaining about how heavy he thought the rifle was, Grand Dad always pointed out how he carried his damn rifle and all his gear all the way from the beaches of France to Hitlers front door, never once complaining except for being low on ammo a few times more then any would like!
I ran across this while looking for a carbide miner's headlamp just this morning. I have too much shit...
