How's it going guys and welcome back to the pilot Patriot Channel we have a really special video for you guys today one
I've been wanting to do for a really long time
Today we're looking at the u.s. Rifle caliber 30 m1 or as you might know it the m1 garand
General Patton called this gun the greatest battle implement ever devised
Now what makes this rifle so special other than the fact that it's just a beast of a battle rifle is their history of it
So before we get into the features of the gun, we're gonna talk a little bit about its history
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Alright now let's get right into it. The m1 garand was designed by John garand. He was a
Canadian-born gun designer that worked with Springfield Armory now, even though his name is John Guerin
This rifle has been commonly known as the m1 garand
now after World War 1 the US military realized that the future of warfare was going to be sheer volume a fire that you could
Put downrange
So they decided they needed to move to a semi-automatic rifle to replace the 1903 Springfield
And John garand definitely delivered on this one
His design would go on to be one of the most iconic rifles in all of American history
The garand was the first standard-issue
Semi-automatic rifle ever issued to any military which is pretty significant considering that all of our enemies in World War two were still shooting
five-round
Bolt-action rifles that meant that we could put down a lot more firepower a lot faster
a lot of people even credit the garand with winning World War two
I don't really know about that
But I definitely know that was a major factor and gave the American troops an advantage over their enemies
the m1 garand was in production from 1936 to
1957 and served in two major Wars World War two and the Korean War
some of these rifles were even used in the Vietnam War and several other conflicts around the
Now this thing is really just a beast of a rifle. It's made of 100 percent american-made steel and walnut
It's forty three and a half inch long with a 24 inch barrel and it weighs in right around 10 pounds
It fires a 30, alt 6 cartridge from an 8-round in block clip
And yes
I did say clip this was important for the military because they'd already been using the thirty-aught-six in the 1903 Springfield
And they had a lot of surplus left over that they wanted to be used in their World War 2 rifles
And also you just can't deny the knock down power of the 3006 cartridge
The primary manufacturer of the m1 garand was Springfield Armory. This one I have here is a Springfield Armory in one grand
manufactured in
1945 now the only other manufacturer that made the m1 garand during World War Two was
Winchester after World War two and going into the Korean War. They were also produced by International Harvester and Harrington & Richardson
Now there were a couple versions of this rifle the standard infantry rifle and then there was also a sniper version
Designated the m1 D and the m1 C now, there were several minor changes to the standard m1 garand over the years
But they can generally be broken down into three groups
the pre-world War two in one brands or the gas trap rifles the World War two rifles and then the post World War two or
Korean error rifles now the pre-world War rifles used a gas trap system that really proved to have a lot of inherent
Weaknesses. So in 1940 they switched to the gas port system, which is what's on this rifle
Because of that the gas trap rifles are very rare and can be extremely valuable to collectors
now the World War two rifles like the one I have here are some of the most sought-after garand these rifles manufactured from
1941 to 1945 are the rifles that fought in the jungles of Pacific the rifles that stormed the beaches of Normandy and
Eventually invaded Germany the men that carried this rifle in World War two were some of the bravest
Toughest men that ever lived and their rifle was the tool that delivered into victory now because of the amazing history of these rifles
The world war 2 grands hold a special place in the heart of gun and through and represent a very important time in American
History now the post-world War rifles include any rifles produced after World War two
including the Korean war-era rifles those rifles were produced from 1950 to
1957 and along with two new manufacturers producing the rifles there were several small
modifications made to the rifles
between world war ii and korea
Some of the most notable are the improved adjustment knob on the rear sight
They got rid of the lock bar system that was on the World War two rifles
Another was a modification to strengthen the operating rod and finally they went to a cheaper to produce
Stamped trigger guard without the loop on the back now a quick note about the trigger guard
They did start producing this stamp trigger guard towards the end of World War two
so there are some late World War two rifles like this one that
Correctly have that stamp trigger guard
But every rifle produced after World War Two would have that stamp trigger guard
Now the post-war rifles tend to be not quite as desirable on the collectors market
but those rifles can be some of the best shooting in ones because their
Components aren't as old and they had gone through all of those small
modifications now other guns that fall alongside this during those times would be the m1 carbine the
Thompson
And of course the sidearm that you would have carried along with this rifle would be the Colt 1911
Now something else that's important to note about these rifles is throughout the life of the m1 garand nearly
all of these rifles went through some type of
RER Sanel program where
After the war or during the war as these guns got beat up or parts broken or barrels worn out
they would get sent back to the armory and they would be taken apart and
Rial fitted with parts from other guns or new parts whether it be parts from different manufacturers or parts from different eras
now because of that almost every m1 garand that you come across is going to have some form of
Mix-matched parts on it. Some of the most common parts to be replaced would be the barrel and the stock
Oftentimes you may see a world war receiver
With a Korean War barrel because of that now a lot of people see that as a negative
But really each of these rifles tells a story every scratch dent and replace part is part of that
Individual rifles history and I think that's pretty cool. For example, this rifle was manufactured in
1945 almost all the components are original and correct for
1945 the receiver the barrel and all the other smaller components are Springfield
1945 and seem to be
Original but at some point during the life of this rifle its stock was replaced after doing a little research
I believe this to be a post-war Harrington & Richardson stock. It shows some definite battlefield use, but it's still in great condition
now the all original all correct rifles are the most desirable but those are very rare and
No matter what configuration
Your rifle happens to be in you can rest assured that you're holding a real piece of American history
now if you guys are interested in learning more about
the individual parts and how to identify them
What all the cartouche is and stamp marks mean I will be doing a video on that
So make sure you stay tuned for that. Now, let's get a closer look at the features of the rifle
Then when gran had a very durable parkerized finish on all of its metal components and as you can see here
It has kind of a gray-green
Look to it
Like I mentioned before it shoots an eighth round in block clip and this clip was really innovative for its time
At the time most rifles, we're still using stripper clips to push the rounds into the gun
this was pretty innovative that you could hold them all together and push that clip down into the internal magazine of the gun and
Once it was fired
The empty clip would shoot out the top
Now to load this all you do is set your clip in there
And what you're going to do is put the butt of your hand up against the back of this charging handle
hold that down and then push the clip in until it clicks and
then release your hand if the operating rod doesn't go forward on its own you just give it a little tap and
Now she's ready to rock and roll. Now. Most of you may have heard of the horror stories of garand thumb
So if you do that incorrectly there is a chance that when that bolt comes forward
It could catch your thumb
If you're not holding back on that charging handle
So make sure when you're loading your clip in that you're putting some rearward pressure on that charging handle
Now if you wanted to remove your clip manually, what you can do is just pull back on the charging handle
Hold it back with your hand and then you can hit this ejector button on the side here and that's going to eject that clip
Just like that
another thing that's really iconic about the m1 garand is
The sound that it makes once that clip comes out
So I'll try to demonstrate that here
And
That's that famous m1. Garand ping that you hear when that clip comes out. You know while we're up here
Let's take a look at this rear sight
The rear sight is fully adjustable for elevation
And windage and you can hear those nice audible clicks every time you turn that knob
Like I mentioned before the rear sight knobs did go through several different
variations over the years each click on these adjustment knobs it equates to one inch at a hundred yards the
rifle does have a
Reciprocating charging handle and operating rod every you fire
Most m1 Garands are going to be outfitted with a black walnuts stock
That's just a beautiful wood later in its production and some that were produced by other countries may have used a birch stock
Then when garand did have a very nice trigger pull as you can see here
there's just a little bit of take-up there and then you hit that wall and
then a very
Smooth break and I will weigh that trigger pull with my Lyman scale so you can see exactly how heavy that trigger pull is
But I can tell you just by feeling it that it is a very nice trigger pull
It does have a bladed front sight with these two fins on the side to protect it. It is also adjustable
You can loosen this screw here and fade. It left or right
There's not much need to do that since the rear sight is already fully adjustable
You may not have to adjust that front sight
It does have a gas port system here
If you have one of those earlier rifles, this is where you would see that gas trap system
The rifle is outfitted with two sling swivels. You can see them here and
here on the buttstock
This swivel up here is actually a stacking swivel so you could stack multiple rifles together
So that's not a sling swivel there on the back here
it does have a steel butt plate with a
Storage compartment here and inside that storage compartment is where they would store their cleaning kit for the rifle
also up here at the front is the
Bayonet lug that's where the bayonet would attach it fits around the end of the barrel and clips into this lug right here
another feature that you'll see here is the safety now the way that works is you just
Push back on that and that's on safe push forward and it's on fire
That is one design flaw that I can see there
Is that when you're on safe to get it off of safe, you have to put your finger inside the trigger guard
But that is what it is and real quick
One of the things that the troops really loved about this rifle is how easy it is to take down
so right here on the back of the trigger guard what you're going to need to do is pull back and down on that and
Then that comes out and then that whole trigger group just comes out right there
Once that's out
All you do is flip it upside down on some of them if it's really tight you may have to give it a little tap
But the stock will come off and that gives you access to all your other components here
Now you can take this down further if you want to but really for a regular field-strip
This is all you have to do and I'll just put it back together here so you can see how that works
You're just going to fit that stock back into place there
It falls right in
and then you drop that trigger group back in and
Pull the trigger guard down until it locks and you can hear that lock there and your rifle is assembled and ready to fire
These rifles are becoming more and more rare as time goes on you can still find them on the market
One of the most popular places to find them is the Civilian Marksmanship program
You can't order it through them and they do tend to have very good prices
the only problem with the CMP is
that it's really look at the draw on what you get and most of their rifles are going to be a lot of
mix-matched parts put together by the
CMP not by the original Arsenal and a lot of their rifles tend to have either brand new or
Sanded and refinished stocks, and that's really just not what I wanted
I wanted a rifle that was just as it was turned in from the war
with all of its dents and dings and character something that really showed the history of the gun not a
Refinished and one that was made to look brand new
So if you're really interested in finding something like that, I definitely recommend checking your local gun shops
You can definitely find these at gun shows all around the country and some places online
Like gun brokers to make sure you check those out but of course everyone has their own priorities
So it really just depends on what you're looking for now in closing guys
The m1 garand was known to be a very reliable rifle it served well in every theater of war
from the frozen forest of Belgium to the deserts of northern Africa and even in the jungles of
Japan and Korea it is robust and durable and the hard-hitting thirty-aught-six
Cartridge makes it extremely powerful
It was the most innovative and effective infantry rifle the world had ever seen and really just a beautiful piece of American history
Like General Patton said I truly believe this was the greatest battle implement ever devised at least until it was replaced in
1959 by the m14 we've gone over a lot of information here guys
But if you're interested in learning more about the m1 garand and its history
I'm gonna put a link to some great reference books in the description below. So make sure you check those out
Those are great books for collectors or really anyone that's interested in learning more about the m1 garand or their specific m1 garand
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I really hope you've enjoyed this video guys and our look at one of the most iconic rifles in American history the m1 garand
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