Garand Test Drive

mmattockx

mmattockx

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Done with sheeple
Well, I finally got out to shoot my M1 today. Between weather, being sick and work it has sat in my house for weeks now and I couldn't stand it anymore.

The weather was brutal, with 35kmh winds gusting to over 50kmh. Not the best sighting in weather, but that is what we had. It took a few clips to get it printing on paper at 100yds, then I ran a few more through after that. Functioned 100% with American Eagle 150gr FMJ.

This is my milsurp grail and I spent a long time shopping before I bought. After all that anticipation, I was a bit worried that the experience may be lacking something, but I was wrong. This is without a doubt the coolest gun I have ever fired. Lots of fun and a great history to add meaning and give a glimpse into the life of a WWII soldier carrying an M1 in combat made it even better. After shooting it, I can understand why it is considered the finest main battle rifle ever made, it completely outclasses my Mausers in every way.

Now I will have to set up for handloading, the only problem I found it had was the typical semi-auto one of making it too easy to burn through ammo at a very expensive rate.

You can color me :D:D:D:dancingbanana::dancingbanana: after my first M1 experience and I look forward to many years of enjoyment from my new toy.

Mark
 
You have just experienced the joy of Mr. Jean Cantius Garand's creation. Now you must smash your thumb as part of the initiation ritual :D I'm serious. You cannot call yourself a hardcore Garand lover until said ritual followed by the , "Ah SHZT!"

This is part of the tradition that dates back to the 30's and 40's... :D

Oh yeah, I cannot forget... now you can hold the M1 while watching "Band of Brothers" or "Pork Chop Hill"

:nest:

:cheers:

Barney
 
Hungry said:
You have just experienced the joy of Mr. Jean Cantius Garand's creation. Now you must smash your thumb as part of the initiation ritual :D I'm serious. You cannot call yourself a hardcore Garand lover until said ritual followed by the , "Ah SHZT!"

This is part of the tradition that dates back to the 30's and 40's... :D

Oh yeah, I cannot forget... now you can hold the M1 while watching "Band of Brothers" or "Pork Chop Hill"

:nest:

:cheers:

Barney
Click to expand...

Yup...you have to realize your reflexes are no where near as fast as an M-1 bolt.
The iconic "ping" is something every red blooded male has to experience...OK maybe not for the tie shirted, long haired, cannabis smoking, prissy peace nicks transplanted from the 60's. The Garand is for real men!!!!
 
I have NEVER caught my thumb in a M-1. Did have an unfortunate experience with a K43 though...... Always thought that an AG42B would be really bad.
 
I loved my first experience shooting my Garand as well! there was nothing like it. Just a heads up if you are shooting hunting loads get the gas plug because these rifles were not made for the high velocity rounds of today. I shot about 40 rounds of Remington Corelokt without problems this is just stuff that numerous people have told me, that stuff will start to break.
 
Welcome to the club. I just got back from the range myself and put a few rounds through mine with a smile on my face. I agree with tiriaq. There is no reason to get the "Garand thumb" unless you mishandle the rifle. Just re-read the manual if you're not sure.
 
I still have the scar mark on my thumb from the first and ONLY time that happened. Blood everywhere....Wouldnt trade M1 thumb for anything though, it is my favorite gun I own.
 
Armafix said:
And you'll not be disappointed, guaranteed.
I simply don't understand why people are selling them.:bangHead:
Enjoy it.

Regards, Kazimier
Click to expand...

I can agree, it would be the end of the world to force me to sell this one.

A couple of things I forgot to mention in my first post:

1) When seating a full clip, the bolt did not try to remove my thumb and required a bump to get it to pick up the first round. It seems I have seen this mentioned previously as not unheard of on Garands, is that correct? Once started, it functioned fine with no other issues. I will be stripping it and doing a thorough cleaning to ensure that it wasn't just gummed up, but I thought I would mention the issue.

2) The US Army manual says that you can load partial clips by seating an empty clip in the action, then manually feeding rounds down on the follower into the clip. I tried that and it didn't work at all well, is it supposed to?

3) Does anybody hunt big game with their M1? After getting a feel for it, I had the thought that I would like to try it on deer next year. Aside from it being a heavy beast and the aperture sights not working in low light conditions, I think it would work fine and add some history to the hunt.

sl66ICEcuba, the American Eagle ammo is one of the few factory loads that is close to the original M2 ball and is not as hot as much of the hunting stuff. I think the AE is still hotter than M2, but not as bad as most commercial ammo. I will be reloading for it very soon, so I can take good care of my baby and shoot more often without going broke.

Mark
 
M1 thumb. I had a friend that played with an M1 at a gun show. He tried to get the bolt to go back into battery. There was a barely audible "crack", a loud scream and lots of blood. Lesson learned. He had been warned not to do that by the vendor. The vendor was POed because there was blood all over the rifle and it needed to be stripped and cleaned immediatly. My buddy was looking for sympathy but only got lots of good humored "Hurts, don't it?" replies. The first aid attendant at the show wrapped it up and confirmed no breaks visible. The thumb swelled up and stayed that way for days. He hated M1s after that, claimed it was a design flaw to his dieing day.

Another biter is the Mauser 96 broomhandle. I took one to a police station to be registered and there was a fellow behind the counter that didn't want to be shown how to let the slide back down. He used his pinky finger to lower the follower and the extractor punched a neat square hole in it. He didn't scream, although he wanted to, but I got POed because the twit got blood all over a broomhandle/stock and it would be at least an hour before I could get it home to clean. At least he gave me some paper towels and water to get the blood off. His sergeant had a good laugh at his suffering the following week end at the range.
 
Before I had in my own paws, a dedicated bolt action target rifle, I used my M1 because it was the only rifle I owned with sights for 800 meters and beyond.
You know this rifle did not disappoint me that day.
Although I was not anywhere near the top scoring group, I had alot of fun.
The biggest bonus to me was, I walked away that day, knowing full well my sights were indexed correctly at all distances.
Plus I didn't hurt to remind fellow shooters, that organized full bore target rifle, started in the early days with a standard issue service rifle.
Sadly politics and firearm control laws have changed this forever, here and internationally.

Welcome to the M1 rifle club.........:cool:
PS:Some Garand owners are fully aware of the USA/Canadian Devil's Brigade of WW2 fame that had, American uniforms/equipment.
However from 1953-56, the RCAF issued M1 rifles, to Canadian base defence personnel, at NATO Western European airbases and radar installations.
This was stopped only when the FN-FAL rifles were accepted into service.
 
I am starting to regret not getting one when I had my summer job, now all my $$$ is tied up in school. Oh well, only 7 months to the season starts up again and hello M1 garand, (among others)
 
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