Re : Canadian obsession with an American Rifle

johann_seb

johann_seb

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So, near as I can tell, we all love m1 Garands. Except for me, that is. The highest proponent of the rifle, near as I can tell, is Gunny. He sings its accolades in a wonderful accent - love songs always sound better with an accent of some sort. The problem that I have with the M1-ophiles on this thread and elsewhere is their nationality. This is CGN, not the NRA-North. Surely we have better examples (and nearer and dearer to our hearts) of Canadian military engineering that far surpass the quality of the M1.

My suggestions for future CGN obsessions are the Ross (any version, although I've heard the .280 factory Sporter was to die for) or the FN products (C1A1 in particular; if anyone has one I'd love to see it). These rifles deserve our attention as well - and you sure as heckfire don't have to pay $1300 for the silly thing.

Britophiles would like the LE, I fear that the idealization of the M1 garand on this forum and elsewhere in pop culture might just be further diluting the Canadian identity in general and the Canadian military tradition specifically. Now now, before you all get your hackles up, remember its a friendly discussion - and that the money that you have all paid for an M1 invariably ended or started with the American government and their unwillingness to market these rifles outside their borders. I believe Canadian masterpieces deserve their own day in the sun.

And who better to offer it than Canadian Gun Nutz ?

(If you can't own 'em, troll 'em. :))
 
oh no you didn't just go there! ;>) What this thread needs is um...where is it...oh here it is...booyah!:D

shawn101-1.jpg
 
:stirthepot2:

Born Canadian, moved to the States 'as a child', according to the omniscient Wiki. Let's not muddy the issue - his rifle was, at any rate, not known for its dissemination to Canadian troops....you know, the ones that fight for our freedom... :):):)

The obsession I speak of has little or nothing to do with the creator; rather more about the (senti)mentality attached to a foreign-made, foreign-owned and foreign-fired rifle.
 
johann_seb said:
:stirthepot2:

Born Canadian, moved to the States 'as a child', according to the omniscient Wiki. Let's not muddy the issue - his rifle was, at any rate, not known for its dissemination to Canadian troops....you know, the ones that fight for our freedom... :):):)

The obsession I speak of has little or nothing to do with the creator; rather more about the (senti)mentality attached to a foreign-made, foreign-owned and foreign-fired rifle.
Click to expand...

His rifle was REVOLUTIONARY for it's time.
 
This is a Milsurp forum. And we here like milsurps. I like Garands, Enfields, Russians of all types, Mausers and even glance at the odd other nationality firearms. I see nothing wrong with singing the praises of a weapon you like. The Ross? Well, it's only iconic if you make it so. Generally a rifle will last if it works for the troops in the mud and the blood. The Ross didn't. That is not a knock on the Ross. It is simpley the fact that for some various reasons, the troops didn't take to it.
 
It took only ten years for minty CNo4Mk1* and M1 Garands to increase in value by 100%.
That's not a bad return on investment however I don't think the trend is over.
 
There is at least one other thread on the Ross "on the go" at this time so I will add nothing to what I say there except that, in my opinion, the only people who hated the Ross were the British Government which wanted to treat the Canadians as "colonials"..... and certain politicians who wanted rid of the Ross for personal, political and possibly pecuniary reasons.

As to the Garand, it wasn't REVOLUTIONARY. It was simply RELIABLE because it was built like a Tank. It incorporated that stupid 8-round Pederson clip because it was insisted upon by "the greatest living gun designer", not because it was PRACTICAL. Garand wanted to build the thing with a 15-round drop-out Lee magazine.

But what the H*ll did JOHN GARAND know about GARAND RIFLES, anyway?

Not much, obviously.

That's why he built a few with 20-round mags and fire switches in 1944: the prototypes for the M-14, adopted 13 years LATER.

Note: the Brits tested a semi-auto rifle in 1903: Cei Gas Rifle.

The French USED semi-auto rifles in World War I: Winchester 1907, A-6, Mle 1917 and Mle 1918.

The Germans used semi-auto rifles in World War I: Mauser Fliegerkarabiner and Mondragons.

Mexico was the first country to adopt a semi-auto as general issue: 1908 Mondragon.

The Garand was the first AMERICAN-DESIGNED, GOVERNMENT-DESIGNED semi-auto rifle to achieve general manufacture and general issue in the US FORCES.

They MADE 6-1/2 million of the things. They initially costed-out at $65, but were mass-produced for as low as $26 a unit during War Two.

Apart from television and the movies, I have NO idea why they are so popular.... or so expensive.
 
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Everything I know about the Huot?

What Huot?

Or should that be Huot What?

Not much more than you, if anything.

They are rebuilt Rosses and they are indescribably rare. I have photos, I have seen one and I have drawings of the guts, but I have never had one apart.

I sure would LIKE to, though.

Now you know as much as I do about them!
 
Well, I have German/Boer surplus rifles, Swiss surplus rifles and Swedish surplus rifles here in yUK, as well as a nice handful of others that are NOT military. Both my uncles and both my grandfathers and great uncles carried L-E of one kind in WW1 and WW2, but as yet, I don't have one. I'm still looking for that elusive Long Branch minter, and when I find it, I'm going to sell something I don't shoot much to fund it. Here in yUK the average Ross costs a small fortune, and a good Ross costs a bigger fortune, and anyhow, I have no mental or sympathetic 'connection' with such a gun. To give you an example of what I'm talking about - last year a trader offered a WW1 Ross sniper, complete in all respects, and with a documented family history that went back to 1917. It was part of a gun collection in an estate sale as the old homestead was handed over to the National Trust.

It sold for a little under $14,000.

tac
 
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