military were able to both increase production and work out some of the early problems the firearm experienced prior to WWII, according to the National Park Service. The timing for the development of the M1 rifle worked out well. Navy and Marine Corps adopted the rifle in 1940. Army as a standard infantry rifle in 1936, the first M1 rifles didn’t enter service until 1938. That design was for a blowback rather than a gas-operated rifle, but Garand ultimately abandoned the idea. Ordinance for a semi-automatic rifle, according to the Garand Collectors Association. In 1918, Garand had provided a promising design in response to the search by U.S. Yet, the first M1 to pass a function-firing test came almost six years to the day in July 1937.Ĭonceived by Canadian-American inventor John Garand (pronounced like “errand”), the M1 rifle was his second attempt at a semi-automatic rifle. The prototype rifle that would become the M1 Garand - which can be seen on the National Parks Service’s Springfield Armory website - was manufactured in July 1931. The M1903 had served through WWI as the primary infantry rifle for the U.S. Beginning in 1938, it replaced the M1903 Springfield, a bolt-action rifle of the same caliber. 30-caliber M1 Garand was the first semi-automatic rifle to be adopted for military service. When the M1 Garand entered service on the eve of WWII, no other rifle even compared. George Patton who is claimed to have said, “In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised.”
It is almost sacrosanct in discussing the M1 Garand - properly known as the M1 rifle - to include the words of Gen. Yet, changes in the battlefield brought needs and challenges that required lighter, more compact rifles. Variations of the firearm properly known as the M1 were still in use as late as the Vietnam War.
Its service life spanned two decades and three major conflicts. The first of its kind, the famous M1 Garand remains a valued collector’s item, as well as a favorite rifle to shoot among many avid gun owners.
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