Thursday, January 3, 2013

Don't forget the Garand.

Garand Assembly, 1942.
As Herschel Smith points out, in a critique of this New York Times editorial: "We’ve Always Had Access To Military Firearms."
But the best sentence of the commentary is this one: “But now anyone can own these guns, and millions are in civilian hands.” The editorial staff should do their history homework, or maybe read a little bit. The M1 Carbine used a high capacity magazine with a low to moderate recoil cartridge. And it has been around and used by the military since 1942, and used by the civilian population since right after World War II. I recently purchased one myself, a new rifle from Auto Ordnance
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We (American citizens) have always had access to military firearms. The ready availability of firearms isn’t new. Neither, for that matter, is acts of terror against school children (see Bath School Disaster). What is new is American fascists blaming firearms owners for such events.
Doug Rink has some "More thoughts on mind blowing December gun sales," pointing out that puts into perspective the almost three million background checks, by pointing out that we built just over 4 million M-1 Garands during all of World War II.
Of course the Civilian Marksmanship Program is still the best and cheapest source of M-1 Garands today. I have been told that the CMP store racks in the Anniston, Alabama store are half empty, despite the constant effort of their twenty or so armorers to receive, tear down, inspect and rebuild the Garands there. CMP also continues to be a major source for .30-06 ammo.
We should find out later today if the Garand is one of the weapons that DiFi will attempt to ban by name or characteristic. In any case, it remains an effective battle rifle. So if you can't find an evil black rifle, or one of the M-14 clones, you might want to give the Garand a try.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried to get a jump on getting a copy of the bill yesterday. Her office told me that it will be introduced the 22nd. She may still do it today, but if you believe her staff, she's waiting for Biden's commission and has already forgotten her promise to introduce the legislation on the first day.

So, we may still have to wait to find out if she wants to ban Garands, etc. Frankly, I hope her ban proposal is frighteningly overbroad so that it will wake up some of the fudds and collectors.

Anonymous said...

I dumped all the pissant carbine cal. wepons years ago when I realized there major weakness, the mags. Without a steady and regular re-supply of magazines you M-1a,M-4 AR-15 or AK is dead in the water. Same problem with all of the "hi cap" pistols. AND. Fan boys the AR IS NOT a "battle rifle" Its a CARBINE. The Mauser, The garand,The M-1903 and the Nagant are battle rifes. The AR and The AK are carbines.

Anonymous said...

CMP won't just sell a Garand to anyone who sends them a check. IIRC you must first pass a federal background check (no gunshow loophole here), show evidence of participation in marksmanship training or competition (I think DD-214 still works), and belong to a CMP affiliated club.

You're on your own with the background check. But a great way to meet the other two requirements is to go to an Appleseed shoot.

www.appleseedinfo.org

Anonymous said...

If you can afford ammo at $1 a round or higher, then I say go for it! No reason it can't fight on a modern battlefield. There seems to be a debate amongst enthusiasts about surplus vs modern ammunition, something about the powder and burn rate bending the op rod.

Anonymous said...

Conceal carry permit works as proof of training with the CMP, joining Garand Collectors Assn for 25 bucks a year counts as membership in affiliated club.

Dakota said...

The M 1 Garand "is" the best rifle I have ever fired ..... period!! Yes it has flaws, and we all know them..... but..... if I had to choose any rifle for accuracy and dependability I would pick the Garand. I love that rifle and it shoots like a dream.

Toastrider said...

I'm surprised nobody's tried to reverse engineer a copy of the Garand, though.

Allen said...

garands are really good for people that plan to get in and out of trucks regularly, as there is no magazine to hang up on anything. they're a bit too long for cars (unless you find a "tanker" that actually works).

tom said...

They'll put them in the "sniper weapon" bill they are plotting next.

****Disciple****, I have some normal ones and a McCann hotrod in .338WinMag (He also did some in .458WinMag. Lots of rounds down range and at game and no bent op-rod. Op-rod and gas tube are some of the pieces that are original, as opposed to all the new work to make it a .338Winnie. Of course, McCann wouldn't do conversions on anything but Original Springers, Winchesters, and sometimes, after inspection, Harrington and Richardsons, but if you got one built by a non-firearms factory, you should be collecting it, not shooting it, anyway. Only complaint anybody has had about running a Garand shooting .338 with a number of original components have been elk and hogs.

You can blow up anything if you load it wrong but the Garand is arguably the strongest battle rifle issued during WW II. Tie between Garand and Arisaka, MAYBE, when Japs were still able to get/make good steel. If there was an easy way to un-ugly an Arisaka, there would be a lot more of them as sporters today.

Anonymous said...

Toastrider: during the war, the Japanese made prototypes of a Garand copy in 7.7x58mm, and it loaded using Arisaka stripper clips, two clips for a total ten rounds. Their designation was "Type 4." The weapon was never mass produced and few examples are extant today.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/japanese-type-4-garand-copy/