The M1 Garand in
Cyberspace
The Internet is a treasure trove of information on collecting,
gunsmithing and shooting the M1 rifle.
by Bill Shadish
No discussion of the Garand rifle is complete without General
George S. Patton Jr.'s famous quote; "In my opinion, the M1
Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised." If
fact, while many rifles have been produced by many countries, the
M1 was certainly one of the most respected in its time.
Germans using 5-shot, bolt action K98s, facing U.S. GIs armed
with the 8 shot semi-automatic M1 Garand, found themselves at
their first real tactical disadvantage in the fields of France
and the mountains of Tunisia and Italy. The M1 provided at least
some tactical advantage to U.S. troops, who were otherwise facing
a very experienced foe. This article takes you through some of
that history and also shows were to find technical information
about the M1 and its associated parts.
M1 Rifle, Caliber .30,
Information
Major Sites
The M1 Rifle Information Place
http://www.shreve.net/~tea/
If you want information about the M1 Rifle, this is definitely
the place to start! This site is simply loaded with technical
information, such as M1 Garand serial number lists by month and
year, including post war codes. You will find sighting and
trigger adjustment data for the M1 here.
Also, and of immense interest, this site includes the full text
and graphics of the actual army field service manuals that deal
with the M1 Rifle. Two that you will want to take a look at are
the Garand Training Manual (TM9-1275) ... found at
http://www.shreve.net/~tea/tm9-1275.htm and the Department of the
Army Field Manual (FM 23-5) found at
http://www.shreve.net/~tea/m1.htm. These two web pages alone will
save you from spending $10-$30 dollars for those manuals at a gun
show.
U.S. Army Rifles of the Twentieth Century
http://www.wwa.com/~dvelleux/armyrifl.html
This site contains information about all of the modern U.S.
service rifles, including the M1892, M1903, M1917, M1 Rifle, M1
Carbine, M14 & M16. The graphics on the site are not uniform
and sometimes color is used for color's sake. This is a frames
based site which (often in my opinion) fails to present itself in
the way intended. But beyond this site's ergonomics issues, there
is a good variety of information on the M1 and its siblings.
Shown in the accompanying graphic is the page on the history of
development, leading up to the M1 Rifles' adoption and it ongoing
development afterwards.
History of M1 Rifle Development.
A neat feature of this site is that a lot of sections of the text
are nicely cross referenced with the actual physical source (as
in book, etc) where the information was drawn from. Besides
providing a refreshingly honest approach, this also points you to
the places where you can head for more detailed investigation, if
so desired. Two other nice points about this site is the
excellent flow of technical discussion together with historical
perspective, it is just "right" how this is done. Also,
the site's historical pages take advantage of the help-file like
hypertext model in a well done way. You can get more information
about distinct points easily--and it's where you would hope to
expect to find it.
The site contains a good selection of links, but they are not
necessarily related directly to the M1 rifle. They are more
geared to other sites providing World War II information about
the battles and activities that surrounded the war itself.
Caution: Don't have your PC's sound turned up very much when
browsing this site. You will hear what I mean with this one.
THE M1 GARAND AND M1 CARBINE COLLECTOR'S PAGE
http://www.buffnet.net/~straitnr/m-1.html
M1 Collector's Page
Winner of the site with the longest title ... this page has
several interesting spins on the information it provides. One is
a description of why our M1 Rifle is called a Garand (See the
section describing Canadian John C. Garand's development of an
action operated by the primer! when fired). There is also facts
about different M1 variations, ranging from the M1 Tanker to the
M1C and M1D sniper models.
The Fulton Armory
http://www.fulton-armory.com/
Fulton Armory
Fulton Armory is a highly respected gunsmithing and parts firm,
that specializes in rebuilding and customizing U.S. Service field
rifles. This site probably has the most dynamic data updates of
any of the ones covered in this article. Information about
legislative updates, online anti-firearms polls, FAQs on many
topics and of course, plenty of data on replacing parts of M1
Garands either to restore them to service level or for
competition shooting performance enhancements.
Some other topics included on the Fulton pages include:
* Can I build my own M1 Garand from a receiver and a parts kit?
* 1943 Rock Island Armory Ordnance Field Service Base Shop Data
Manual on how to dismantle an M1.
* A FAQ on understanding Headspacing and Headspacing gauges
* Instructions for you to follow to obtain a service M1 Garand
from the CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) for $400!
* How to attach the Model of 1907 Sling to the Rifle
* On the Greek .30-'06 surplus ammo now on the market
* What's better in an M1 Garand: .308 Winchester or .30-'06?
* Targeting the M1 Garand rifle
* How do I sight-in my M1A/M14-type rifle?
* The Truth about Welded Receivers!
* Why you want a two-stage trigger!
* M1 Gas Cylinders: Should I tighten the Gas Cylinder Lock Screw
with a Breaker Bar?
* The History of M1 Garand Bayonets by Robert Gibson
* Everything you wanted to know about M1 Garand operating rods
but were afraid to ask!
Fulton is also a spot on the Web where Scott Duff, an
acknowledged wealth of M1 information, hangs out. There's a lot
more content than shown above and it is certainly a place that
you will want to visit.
The REC.GUNS FAQ
http://www.recguns.com/OutIIId2b.html
As in most cases when searching for firearms information, this is
definitely a site to keep bookmarked. Beyond the standard fare of
historical and assembly/disassembly instructions, you will find a
large quantity of surrounding links that make the trip here worth
while.
REC.GUNS
Some of the detailed information on REC.GUNS includes:
* Brief History & Field Stripping M-1 Garand - What to Look
For
* Instruction Sheet for Purchase from DCM
* How to Get an M-1 Garand through the DCM Program
* T26 "Tanker" Garand
* Changes to the Civilian Marksmanship Program
* Garand Home Page
ADDITIONAL SITES
The following are smaller sites, usually with a specific piece of
information of interest. They are shown with only an overall
rating for each site.
The M1 Garand and M1 Carbine References Page
http://www.buffnet.net/~straitnr/biblio.html
Part of THE M1 GARAND AND M1 CARBINE COLLECTOR'S PAGE site, this
is a good one pager, with a nice list of reference books on the
M1 Rifle.
Exploded Parts Diagrams
The following pages contain online (and downloadable)
exploded-parts graphics for the M1.
Marstar (replacement parts for the M1 and other military
rifles)
http://www.marstar.ca/m1garandb.html
Marstar Exploded Parts Diagram.
Chestnut Ridge Supply Gun Parts
http://chestnutridge.com/products.htm
The following quote from this page is the sort of stuff that
draws me to a site ("All of our parts are original military
parts, and in excellent to new condition"). Chestnut's site
provides little in the way of content, but it is a parts supplier
worthy of your online consideration when you need it. They do
provide parts diagrams for individual components of the M1, and
they have a fairly extensive set of links to other pages as well.
Point to this page for their full M1 parts diagram
(http://chestnutridge.com/gpic.htm).
Shooter's Report Feature - How To Enhance Reliability and
Accuracy
http://www.avalon.net/~middlecoast/riflesmo.htm
A simple one pager on fine tuning the AR-15 and the M1 Garand.
Sites are rated for content and presentation using a 1 (needs
some help) to 5 (pretty darn slick) bullet rating scheme. We
break down the web page into the following categories:
information content (related to our topic,
accessibility (how often the site is available),
graphics (how good are the graphics),
load times (is the page quick to load?),
how many useful links to other sites that can be found here,
how free of annoying marketing ads is the site,
and how frequently is the data on the site updated.
We will also include an overall rating for each site.
Since the internet is dynamic and web site addresses change
frequently, the rating information will be kept on a web site;
where any required changes can be regularly updated. See
http://www.fo.com/sgn.htm for more.
BIO
As always, if you run into new (I know about most of the current
ones!) firearms-oriented sites that you would like to have
discussed, let me know, using the contact information below.
Bill Shadish is a principal partner with the Fundamental Objects
software development company (http://www.fo.com) and is an active
participant in several online firearms-related forums. Bill
created and runs the Gun Safe Survey and FAQ at
http://www.fo.com/survey/safe.htm. He also set up the Curio and
Relics pricing page at http://www.fo.com/cr-stuff.htm. Contact
him directly at bills@fo.com.
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