Review (PDF) The M1 Garand, 1936-1957
New, 6th Edition, revised and expanded with new serial number information, parts descriptions, and photos. The M1 Garand was the battle rifle issued to American forces during World War II and the Korean War. It was the first semiautomatic rifle design to be used by combat forces in any army of the world. It was standardized in 1936 and saw its first combat in the Philippines in December 1941. Few other rifles have developed such a distinguished record as both a battle rifle and a match target rifle. General George Patton called the M1 Garand the greatest battle implement ever devised. The semiautomatic M1 Garand gave the American soldier a distinct firepower advantage over enemy soldiers armed with bolt action rifles that had to be cocked before each shot. During World War II, nearly four million M1 Garands were built at the Springfield National Armory and Winchester Repeating Firearms factories. They were issued in every theater of the war. And hundreds of thousands were issued to French, Belgian, Greek, Italian and Philippine allies as well. During the Cold War years until the early 1960s, the M1 Garand was the mainstay of our small arms support programs to allied and friendly nations. In the last days of World War II, special variations of the M1 Garand, designated the M1C were developed and produced as sniper rifles. More were built during and after the Korean War as the M1D. Also, during the Korean War, the M1 Garand was put back into production at Springfield, and in the factories of two private concerns, bringing the total production to almost 6,000,000. Hundreds of thousands of M1 Garands were issued to soldiers of the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam. Thousands of M1 Garands were manufactured in the 1950s as Match Target rifles and these are also eagerly sought by collectors. After Congress approved the reimportation of certain military rifles for collecting purposes in 1986, it is estimated that nearly half a million of the 1.5 to 2 million M1 Garands shipped overseas to allied and friendly nations were allowed to be reimported. Collector's snapped them up eagerly and began to restore them to original condition. But the M1 Garand had undergone a such continuous process of improvement and upgrading that by the end of production in 1955, hardly a single part remained as it had originally been designed. The collector attempting to restore an M1 Garand to original, as-manufactured condition must first determine when his rifle was manufactured, then which part or parts need replacing. Keep in mind that there were four different manufacturers of the rifle, all of whom also made spare parts. Fortunately, every part of the M1 Garand carries at least one clue to its manufacturer and the date when it was made. Every major part was stamped with a part number; and these part numbers were changed every time the part was redesigned for improvement. Other clues are the type and color of finish, specific machine tool marks, factory codes and so on, all translated in The M1 Garand: 1936 to 1957. With this book in hand, the collector will find it easy to examine his or her rifle and determine which parts must be replaced to return it to its original state. The book also explains how to determine if replacement parts are correct and if they are of original manufacture or are so-called after-market parts of non-military origin. The book also describes in detail, the m1 Garand M1C, M1D,and MC-52 Sniper Rifles and the M1 Garand National Match Rifles.
Paperback: 278 pages
Publisher: North Cape Publications (April 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1882391195
ISBN-13: 978-1882391196
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #235,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #11 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional > Firearms #7758 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering
Beginning as a rank armature interested in collecting a WWII era M1 Garand, I purchased this book to assist me in my quest. With the help of this book, I was able to not only pick out a quality Garand from among the hundreds of pieces of junk out there, but I was able to restore it to "as issued" condition. This is quite simply the premiere resource book on the Garand for anyone looking to collect true collectable military Garands! From the correct rear sight, to the markings on the stock, right on down to which cleaning kit or bayonet was issued with a rifle of a certain series of receiver serial numbers, this book will make you a more savvy investor of the M1 Garand. I've referenced this book so many times that the binding is falling apart! There is even an inventory check-list which allows you to see at a glance, which parts on your rifle are historically "correct", and which needs replacing. Simply put, if you have a Grand and want to restore it to it's original "as issued" condition, or want to educate yourself before heading to the gun show, you could spend months in the library, or just buy this book!
Given the size of this book, anyone expecting it to be a comprehensive encyclopedia of the Garand over the 22 years it details would be disappointed. However, different researchers uncover different facts, and this book adds substantially to what we know. As the folks directly involved the with the creation of the M1 rifle (God bless them) have become fewer and fewer, we need to gather the last bits of first-hand history ofthis remarkable weapon. This book is an essential to anyone seiously interested -- along with only a handful of others. My approach is to buy them ALL in the belief that every book will tell some part of the story. Scott Duff of course, and Jim Thompson and Julian Hatcher and the beautiful book on the Gas Trap from Collectors Grade Publications. And all the TMs and FMs, and if a current-day armorer at the CMP had something to say about the recent crop of Garands passing through their hands, I'd be anxious to read that as well.You can always find something to criticize in a book: this is called "reviewsmanship" and is exemplified by a statement like "it is inexplicable why the author elected to ignore the important modification to the trigger guard occurring made in 19xx." But, when you get into that, you ignore the value that the book does deliver -- in this case plenty -- just to show off that you know something this book didn't happen to mention. Why bother?This is a fine book, with great material and, like any book, some omissions. Read it.
The book is very helpful when looking through a parts bin to find the right part for the serial number you want. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not a complete reference for every bit of info about the Garand but it's enough not to get ripped off from a "oh yeah, that's the right part" dealer. Very handy indeed.
Based upon the editors description I thought I was getting a detailed field book describing specific parts that make up as-designed M1's. Not so. The specific information is sketchy, it includes almost no parts photos, only low quality line drawings. Much detail is left out and few exceptions to the general rules are mentioned. Some of the factual information is suspect ("The round operating rod spring was the same for all manufacturers and did not change during its production life"). Personal experience with CMP issued rifles suggests this is not true. An "OK" book for beginners, serious collecters should search out a copy of the Duff manual.
This book is the first I've bought on the M1 Garand. I purchased it on the recommendation of numerous people I know who are very involved in the hobby of collecting antique service weapons. I am currently using the book to help me get to know a 65 year old M1 that I recently acquired, and find it very informative and well put together. This book is known as one of the standards. Well worth buying.
This is a great book for someone who is a new proud owner of an M1 Garand, and wants to research out their rifle, explore and date their rifle part by part. It has a mixture of photos and drawings. The line drawings are fine, they help highlight the characteristics of the different parts as they changed throughout the years. This books is a complete inventory of all the parts over all the years. It includes, repair tools, slings, bayonets, ammo, rifle stock, stock markings, plus of course every single part in your rifle. It also includes history(background comments) surrounding the parts.Bottomline it's a great reference tool.
This book is a must have for anyone who is trying to restore an M1 Garand or just building one. Each system for the rifle is covered with a breakdown of the parts with the correct drawing and revision number used. The WWII Garands are classified according to manufacturer and serial number run by month and year. Post war Garands are by manufacturer and year. The only thing I would like would be more illustrations of certain parts and the types. There is a lot of history about the Garand and its designer. If you want to make your Garand correct by manufacturer and date of build, this is the book you need.
The M1 Garand, 1936-1957 1936 U.S. Yearbook: 1936 U.S. Yearbook: Interesting original book full of facts and figures from 1936 - Unique birthday present / gift idea! THE M1 GARAND: Classic American Small Arms at War (The American Firepower Series #2) Hubley Die-Cast Toys 1936-1976, Hubley Diecast Pure Pulp: RAILROAD STORIES VOL. 1: TWO COMPLETE ORIGINAL ISSUES FROM THE 1935 & 1936 - OVER 300 PAGES OF STORIES OF THE IRON PIKE (PURE PULP - COMPLETE ORIGINAL MAGAZINES) Vintage Postcards from Vanity Fair: One Hundred Classic Covers, 1913-1936 Canadian 50 Cent Folder #2, 1902-1936 The Grandchildren of Solano López: Frontier and Nation in Paraguay, 1904-1936 The All England Law Reports: Consolidated Tables and Index 1936-2010 Zenith Radio, the Glory Years, 1936-1945: History and Products (Schiffer Book for Collectors) The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922-1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes (Music in the Twentieth Century) Collected Fiction Volume 3 (1931-1936): A Variorum Edition Art as the Cognition of Life: Selected Writings 1911-1936 VINTAGE AUTOMOBILE ADVERTISING 5: 1957-1959: OVER 420 FULL SIZE VINTAGE AUTOMOBILE ADS FROM MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS - LARGE ONE-AD-PER-PAGE FORMAT Nuclear Chemical Engineering (1957) (McGraw-Hill Series in Nuclear Engineering) The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957 The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Algeria 1955-1957 Kwa Heri Means Goodbye: Memories of Kenya 1957-1959 Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957 The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957
