Much like history, in that everything before 1776 was a mistake, all firearms development before 1922 and after 1936 is a mistake. What firearm am I talking about you may ask? Why, the development and adoption of the M1 Garand of course…
If you aren’t familiar with the M1 Garand by now, you’re probably a filthy communist. While I did mention the development and adoption in the introductory paragraph, I’m not going into depth on the subject. This is just a sparknotes summary of, objectively, the best rifle ever invented. I don’t need to remind you of General George S. Patton’s “greatest battle implement ever devised” quote, but I will anyways because screw you and your P.O.S. rifle, and the quote really butters my biscuits.
Anyways, back to the summary. John C. Garand started development of a series of rifles in 1922, starting with the M1922 pattern rifle, and would eventually lead up to the pattern that was adopted in 1936. Leading up to that point, and even after adoption, development continued with rifles like the 1924 pattern primer-actuated Garand, or the post adoption muzzle gas-trap Garand, somewhat like the German G41. Towards the end of its service life, the M1 was even fitted with experimental external box magazines and selector switches. Frankly, if you need more than 8 rounds, you suck. And if you can’t handle a full auto rifle in .30-06, you just aren’t a man. That’s why I believe the M14 is a joke and this whole “intermediate cartridge” mumbo-jumbo is just a fad.
The original Garand rifles were chambered for the anemic .276 Pedersen, but leading up to the adoption of the M1, the military requested the rifles to be produced in .30-06 (idk how Mr. Garand didn’t see that one coming. He’s big dumb) because we had stock piles of it from the prior world war and resupplying/ trying to distribute 2 different types of primary small arms ammunition in war time is a logistical nightmare. Plus, I’m pretty sure that we stuck with .30-06 because anything less than .3 inches in diameter is for weak men and Europeans.
So with all of that being said, let’s go over the pros and cons.
Pros:
1. It’s a rifle chambered in .30-06
2. A Canadian designed America’s rifle, because he loved America more. Suck it Canada.
3. The ping of a ejecting en-bloc clip is one of the most satisfying things in existence. Probably better than sex (not that I know anyways).
4. It upholds the timeless American tradition of blasting commies and nazis alike.
Cons:
1. It was designed by a Candian.
2. There are no other cons, everything bad you’ve heard about the M1 is just fudd lore.
Contact the author: Nick@AVArmsTX.com