The M1 Garand

Another great thread Joce.

Have you ever found out why the US Army went with 8 round enbloc (Mannlicher-style) clips rather than the 20 rnd magazines used in the BAR?? After all, the BAR in US service used the same ammo, and using 20 rnd magazines would have meant that there was no need to manufacture and issue mag pouches and enbloc clips specifically for the Garand.

Even Hatcher's Notebook doesn't say why enbloc clips were used and not detachable magazines.
 
shredder said:
Another great thread Joce.

Have you ever found out why the US Army went with 8 round enbloc (Mannlicher-style) clips rather than the 20 rnd magazines used in the BAR?? After all, the BAR in US service used the same ammo, and using 20 rnd magazines would have meant that there was no need to manufacture and issue mag pouches and enbloc clips specifically for the Garand.

Even Hatcher's Notebook doesn't say why enbloc clips were used and not detachable magazines.
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I never found out the reason. Maybe they figured that was more pratical using the"en bloc" clip since the clip is ejected when empty so the rifle is ready to receive a full clip and clips take less space(in my opinion) than box magazine and are also very cheap to manufacture. Still the drawback with the Mannlicher type clip is that without clip, the rifle is a single shot one(same goes for Carcano and berthier rifle).
Joce
 
Great thread guys. I just inherited an M1 Garand, bayonet and a bunch of en bloc clips and ammo. I really look forward to shooting it.

Now... GET OFF MY LAWN!

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Regarding the "why en bloc?" question, I read somewhere recently something about a concern of soldiers losing the magazine after feedback from the Brits about the Lee Enfield. I guess they must have been thinking issuing only one mag and a stripper clip loading system rather than large scale production of mags which added cost, weight and bulkiness.
 
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Just wanted to drop in and say thank you for the detailed information here. You've been helpful to me in both the disassembly and reassembly of the SKS and Garand as well as I always enjoy reading the history behind them :)
 
Anyone make a short barrel M1 Garand using BM59 original barrel, op rod, stock and handguard? Been thinking about doing it.
 
Haven't done this one, but I did do a couple of builds of the Italian Tipo 2 7.62mm rifles using standard Breda receivers. What they did for these conversions was to shorten a standard .30-06 bbl at the breech end, shorten and re-thread it, and re-chamber to 7.62. This lost approx .5 inch from the barrel. The stock, op rod, and rear handguard were shortened to match. Everything else is standard spec M1 Garand parts. They also fitted a removable block in the magazine well to prevent accidental chambering of a .30-06 round. they work very well.
 
I've got three builds on the go... ...one is tanker Garand in 308 w/ tanker barrel (that is just over legal min, tanker op rod straightened and BM-59 cylinder/short comp - just need to finalize stock decision and weld some tabs onto the follower rod to get me a bit more spring length), while the other two will require complete receiver mods to accept the bm-59 series mag before I can do final assembly of relatively complete semi-auto clones. I'm using the folding stock on both and have the fixed tri comp for one and para tropper (QR) version for other. The onlt problem I see if you look to do Garand with a complete BM front end is that the op rod is usually modified to remove the bit that engages the catch that would ordinarily hold the bolt back on last shot.
R
 
Great thread indeed.

There is a .308/7.62x51 M1 Garand kicking around and would like more info on it.

I believe it's a post war model and had a US Navy anchor on it and I don't remember if it had the .308 insert or not but i would guess it didn't. North American brand, unsure again but it's not a Breda .308.

Thx.
 
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