Firearm knowledgeable Dopers - opinions on the M1 garand

In My Humble Opinion
1

At it’s root, a pretty simple question really. Do you like them? On a purely pragmatic basis, does this former military rifle have a place in the modern recreational shooter’s arsenal? Are they reliable, accurate, easy to clean and maintain, fun to shoot? What are your experiences with them and would you want to own one?

I have owned an M1 for that last few years and I’ve never even fired it. Following my father’s death, I received it from his estate. According to the terms of my father’s will, I could have completely cleaned out his entire arsenal of 70+ weapons and claimed them as my own purely on my own discretion. His will only identified two weapons that he specifically wanted me to have and one of them was the garand. I’ve debated what to do with it ever since.

There’s some sentimental value of course. It was… Dad’s rifle - and he wanted me to have it. That does mean something to me. At the same time, it’s just sitting in my gun safe and I’m not 100% sure how to load and unload the thing to say nothing of disassembly and cleaning. YouTube videos are helping with this. I’ve had it inspected by a gunsmith and I’m told that it’s in perfect working order and in excellent condition. It’s ready for use if I want to take the time to learn to do it properly.

The little bit of sport hunting that I do is well served by other, much lighter lever rifles in my arsenal. It’s eight rounds of semi-automatic .30-06 is ludicrous overkill for most hunting and recreational purposes although it could be useful for zombie head shots at 500 meters during the inevitable Z War. From a practical perspective, I’m just not sure what value it has for the modern sport shooter. Can you go plinking with a rifle that fires that huge cartridge? It seems pointless to me.

Do I want to invest the time and ammunition expenses involved with teaching myself to safely operate and maintain it? The logical choice would be to sell it to someone who can appreciate it’s military and historical roots. Unfortunately, logic conflicts with… it’s Dad’s rifle.

Thoughts?

2

???
My dad, and most of his family and friends, considered .30-06 to be the standard caliber for deer hunting. Although they generally preferred the bolt-action model from World War I.

3

Yeah but who needs eight founds for that? If you use more than two when deer hunting I don’t want to be anywhere nearby when you start blazing away.

4

How many does your lever-action carry that you wrote you use hunting? The bolt I use—based off the '06 cartridge, ironically—carries five. I don’t use all of them either. The '06 is fine for pretty much all North American game, though there are better choices in many circumstances. If you want to deer hunt with it, you’ll be trodding a well-worn path. 150 and 165 grain .308 bullets have taken a quarry pit’s full of deer over the years. And since you mention short range hunting, you won’t have to deal with the annoyance of sticking an optic on it.

The Garand used to be what you used if you wanted to do HighPower bullseye shooting. The AR has supplanted it, for many reasons, but you could certainly have a competitive time shooting a Garand.

Reading what you wrote though, it sounds like you aren’t interested, so why not give/sell it to someone who’ll use it and like it?

5

IMHO - keep it, unless you’re short of gun safe space. Most collectors (or children of collectors) always have a gun safe queen or two.
In my case, it’s an inherited .308 from my grand-father-in-law which is made from a lathed-down German machine gun barrel he got in WW2. I also had it checked for mechanical safety and it’s good-to-go, but I’d never use it, even though it has a nice piece of glass, since I’m a target shooter/plinker.
My wife and I inherited it since we are the only ones in the current generation that shoot at all, and my father-in-law is out of space in his gun safe as he tends to collect black powder rifles which he enjoys shooting.
Anyway, back to the Garand. It is a solid, workmanlike weapon, but IMHO it doesn’t do anything in general use that a different weapon doesn’t do as well or better. A bolt is going to be more accurate, a lever action is going to be easier to use in the bush, etc.
So save it, and perhaps someone in the next generation will appreciate it (and your father) the way he would have wanted.

6

Waves happily! I have my father’s Gerand and it means a lot to me. He forgot to turn it in when he was discharged after his time in Korea.

The M1 Garand is an example of a properly designed and built gun. It works. Drop it in the mud and try to shoot it wet? It works. Forget to clean it for a year? It works. Run out of ammo and use it to beat someone to death? It works. Add a bayonet and it is a pretty good spear because of all the weight on the back end.

They were also designed to be used by draftees who had never seen a gun before, much less break one down and put it back together. Its actually a pretty intuitive system.

Does it have a place in a recreational shooter’s arsenal? No. Its heavy, ammo is expensive and not welcome at indoor ranges. While my dad did shoot deer with it several times, he stopped using it for hunting because it tore up too much meat.

According to Max Brooks, the M1 Garand really is the gun you want to survive the apocalypse.

Was your dad a Marine? Dad was and I also married one, so we know younger Marines and they all drool over my Gerand. Not because they want to shoot it, but because they want to own a piece of Marine Corp history.

I’m leaving mine to my sister’s granddaughter the Marine. Not because she wants to shoot it…

I do think you should shoot it at least once before making the decision, but what ever you do…good luck!

7

I love my Garand, but yeah, it’s an Apocalypse gun. I shoot mine every few years, just to maintain my proficiency. The rifle works perfectly. I’m not worried about the price of ammo. I bought 1000 rounds about 15 years ago and haven’t made a dent in the box yet.

8

Forgot to mention that my Garand is a “tanker” which is much better for the Apocalypse.

9

A particular rifle having a certain number of rounds to be loaded into its magazine does not commit the shooter to firing that number of rounds. Even then, aftermarket M1 clips are available that can hold either 2 or 5 rounds. A standard M1 clip must be loaded with 8 rounds in order to be loaded into the rifle.

Your same logic would also apply to bolt-action rifles, as many of them have a five-round magazine.

I own an M1 myself and it is one of my favorite rifles. Its main flaw by modern standards is weight, but that does help make it easier to shoot and handle recoil.

10

Fair point but at the same time, it’s also correct that a lever or bolt action enforces a certain amount of fire discipline. Knowing that with a semi-automatic’s capacity to instantly have a fresh round on tap and ready to fire once you release the trigger makes it much more likely that round will be used. For most sport hunting applications, IMHO, that second round is almost certainly just going to be wasted. I’ll either achieve a lethal hit on the first shot or I’ll miss my opportunity entirely.

As you note, the M1 is a heavy rifle. I also consider it somewhat bulky and unwieldy while admitting that more experience with the weapon would probably compensate for this. It’s difficult for me to envision a sport hunting scenario where that eight round magazine capacity would prove to be enough of an advantage to outweigh the weight and bulk of the rifle in the field. It’s literally been decades since I went deer hunting but I took every one of them with a single shot rifle. Light, quick to handle, reliable as the dawn, kicked like mule and completely unforgiving - it worked for me.

Of course all this only matters to sport hunting. Paper targets very rarely get spooked by the first missed shot so for target/recreational shooting, fire away.

No but he was a +30 year member of the National Guard.

11

Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) sells surplus M1s on their website. The low end ones go for $650 last time I looked. Nicer ones go for much more when they are available. And that’s not often. My BiL bought one last year and the serial # indicates it was built in mid 1943. Who know where it’s been I wonder.

A desirable piece of history.

12

You have a lot of preconceptions about the Garand that I don’t think are merited. It does not destroy meat more than most other commonly used medium game cartridges, just like any other '06. Or .308, .270, you get the idea. Smack Bambi right in the front shoulder, instead of behind it, and yeah, a lot of that shoulder is going to have to be written off. But that’s true for most other cartridges that can be relied upon to break that shoulder and get into the vitals.

It is a heavy rifle. I would not want to carry it while chasing elk up and down several ridges in a major drainage. Or Western deer hunting that is often similar. Sitting in a stand, OTOH, who cares? The weight is nice for softening an '06’s solid thump when firing. Plenty of people ‘plink’ with Moisins, and that’s basically a Russian '06. Mostly. Whatever.

I’ve already written I think you should sell it. The only caveat is, I’ve read plenty of older people regretting getting rid of family heirlooms that they didn’t want, way back when. Selling your Pop’s rifle is a bell you can’t unring. If you’ve got room in your safe, why not keep it?

13

I said nothing about destroying meat. JaneDoe42 made that comment.

14

Fair enough. The comment about lever or bolts somehow instilling more fire discipline than a semi was about as unfounded. I thought the post was already getting long.

FWIW, my father wanted a Ruger #1 falling block single shot for the longest time, for many of the reasons you mentioned. ‘I only need one shot to take my game’ kind of humble bragging. And you’re right about the ammo capacity going to waste for most medium game hunting. (Texas hog hunters, yes, I know you’re different.) I usually only loaded 3 cartridges in the 5-shot rifle I used—recoil and soft lead bullet noses don’t mix.

I forget, do you have any family or close friends that you’d like to see own the rifle eventually?

15

I have several cousins that have eyed it with great interest but I have no strong motivation to see to it that any specific one of them gets it.

To be fair, you have a very valid point about not being able to “unring the bell” after selling the rifle. It’s absolutely worth considering before taking lasting actions.

A big part of my problem and the point of this thread is that I just don’t know what I should do with this rifle. It seems ‘wrong’ to just leave it in my gun safe, unused, not even knowing enough about it to safely use it if I needed to. I have two ‘correct’ options IMHO, sell it or build myself up to at least a basic level of competence with it.

One ‘good’ reason I have for keeping it is the fact that it is my only high powered/long ranged rifle. My .22 Marlin and my .30 Carbine are great plinkers and I’ve taken many a rabbit with them but they don’t have a whole lot of thump behind them. My .357 Henry lever is stronger but I still wouldn’t expect much beyond 150 meters out of it. Keeping the garand and learning to use it gives me options. Since I already own it, why not explore those options? How best to go about that and how much time, effort and money should I invest in the attempt? Eh, all opinions are welcomed.

16

How much to devote to that is entirely up to you. It’s a semiautomatic centerfire rifle. You already own a centerfire semiautomatic rifle (and I wouldn’t sell short how much thump a .30 Carbine has, though it wouldn’t be my first choice for deer hunting). The manual of arms is not terribly different, and Garand thumb is easy to avoid via this technique. In addition, load the clip with your right hand blocking the operating rod, and your right thumb pushing the loaded clip into the magazine, and you avoid the possibility all together.

The main point is: it’s not all that different than what you already own.

If you chose to get into longer range target shooting, an accurized Garand is certainly adequate for the purpose. You’ll need to find an outdoor range, but then, you likely needed that anyway. The ranges I go to won’t let you fire centerfire rifles in them, though I’ve never tried using a pistol-caliber carbine in them.

Good luck, whichever you choose to do, and have fun.

17

A friend of a friend owns an M1 that he got from his dad. He’d bring it up to my friend’s land up north and we’d target shoot our kids’ old toys that they had grown out of. Good times. It’s a ton of fun to shoot targets with, but wear ear protection if you do, that sucker’s loud!

18

I looked recently. They’re mostly sold out. They’re also available from other sellers and the ones available have gone up in price. Pretty much every military rifle has.

Recently a stock of M1 carbines (completely different firearm) was found and is being sold. I remember my uncle buying one for $75 years ago. These are going for quite a bit more.

19

It is probably the most important rifle in US history. Patton declared, "In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised”. It’s wonderful to shoot with that big spring making a distinct sound that carries through your cheek every time you fire. And every 8 rounds, “PRANGGGG”, the clip springs into the air and you roll onto your side and do the reload drill. We shoot it out to 600 yards with no silly telescopic sights - just the impeccably designed adjustable peep sight.

The only tricky thing is disassembly. Although it comes completely apart with no tools you end up with a tabletop full of parts when done! 55 of them although many remain assembled in groups. You do need the manual for it. Easy to find online.

20

I own a Garand. I find the clips a bit annoying, but otherwise it’s a fun rifle to shoot.

One thing you need to be aware of. The Garand fires a .30-06 round, but the standard .30-06 back in 1940 wasn’t quite the same as the standard .30-06 that you can buy at ye ol local sporting goods store today. Modern rounds are quite a bit hotter, and the Garand’s gas piston/op-rod system isn’t designed for those higher pressures. If you fire modern .30-06 rounds out of an unmodified Garand, you’ll likely end up breaking the rifle as it puts too much pressure on the gas system and the op-rod, etc.

There are two ways to handle this. You can either modify the ammo or you can modify the rifle.

For modified ammo, a lot of folks used to shoot old surplus ammo which is getting hard to find, but you can buy modern .30-06 rounds that are specifically made for the M1 Garand. I buy mine from Midway, but they seem to be currently out of stock on all of theirs (ammo shortages and high prices are a bit of a pain in the backside at the moment, and this applies to pretty much all ammo right now).

To modify the rifle, you need to modify the gas port to reduce the gas pressure going back to the op-rod. There are two types of modifications that I have seen. One is a different type of gas plug that increases the area of the gas cylinder to reduce the gas pressure. The other is a vented gas port. Both work. You just need to be aware that the vented gas port does vent gas every time you shoot (that’s how it reduces the pressure).

As for whether or not you should keep it, that’s your decision. Personally, since it was your father’s, I recommend keeping it.

I’m not a hunter, partly because no one except me in my family would eat anything that I killed, and partly because I’ve got better things to do at 5 am than go freeze my ass off in the woods. So all of my shooting is done at a range. I personally have a lot of fun putting holes in paper targets. I shoot everything from old muskets up to WWII era rifles. The only rifle I haven’t brought to the range is a WWII Type 99 Arisaka (with a mostly intact mum), and that’s only because I can’t find ammo for the stupid thing. Most of the other folks at the range are shooting modern hunting rifles, but no one ever gives me grief for shooting older weapons. Sometimes someone will even come over and ask me exactly what it is I’m shooting. With iron sights and old eyes, I’m definitely not ever going to win any shooting competitions, but I have fun. And that’s all that matters.

When you load the clips, make sure that if you have the bullets facing the front of the gun, the top-most round is on the right side of the clip.

If you have new clips (my rifle didn’t come with any) they can be a bit difficult to load until they break in.

The clips are a bit annoying, but once you get used to them, you have to keep in mind that you are loading 8 rounds at once, so while it’s a bit fiddly, it’s also very fast to load. If you want to save your ammo costs, really take your time and aim, because you can load and empty a Garand very quickly if you want to. After all, that is what it was designed to do.

Meh. If you look at a Garand, it’s basically a bolt-action rifle. It just has an extra gas piston and some push rods that automatically operate the bolt for you. Pull back slowly on the charging handle while watching what the bolt does and you’ll see what I mean. The op-rod first rotates the bolt, just like in a bolt-action rifle, and then pushes the bolt back, again just like a bolt-action rifle. Instead of your hand operating the bolt, you have the gas piston / op-rod rotating and pushing it back and a spring pushing it forward and locking it back into place, but otherwise it’s a bolt-action. The bolt rotates, the bolt goes back, the bolt goes forward again, and the bolt rotates back into the locked position.

Moisins?

But yeah, most folks in that era settled at something around .30 for their standard rifle cartridge. The Russian 7.62x54R is pretty close to the .30-06, except that the Russian is rimmed. The .30-06 is a slightly hotter round, but the Mosin-Nagant made up for it by using a slightly longer barrel so that you ended up with roughly the same velocity once the round left the barrel. For those who aren’t aware, 7.62mm is exactly .30 inches, just in case you were wondering why they settled on an oddball number like 7.62. The German 8mm Mauser round (technically 7.92x57) is also very similar in size and performance. I shoot all three. There really isn’t a huge difference betwen them.

As for the weight, I agree. I used to own a lighter .30-06 hunting rifle and, being lighter, it kicked a lot worse. The Garand’s weight does help with the recoil.

Yeah, the gas system has a lot of parts. Watch some videos.

I personally don’t disassemble and clean mine after every use. It’s a Garand. You can get it pretty dirty and it’s still going to work just fine.

My muskets are the only weapons that I clean religiously. Black powder contains sulfur, so if you don’t completely clean the musket the powder will absorb moisture out of the air and will make sulfuric acid out of it, which will completely ruin the barrel of your musket.

If you shoot old surplus ammo out of WWII era weapons, the powder/primer used in some of those rounds is also corrosive. That’s another reason why I shoot modern ammo out of my Garand. If you decide to shoot old surplus ammo, make sure to clean your Garand (or Mosin, K98, etc) thoroughly after shooting it.