A new love - M1 Garand

[OldSchool]

DynaBlue and I went to PSC for the Service Rifle Match last Saturday, just to shoot the M1 Garand. Darwin and the rest of the shooters were great people, and helped us out a lot!

Why we needed the help, after a lifetime of rifles:
1) Neither of us had ever been involved with any kind of shooting match.
2) Neither of us had shot over 125 yards.
3) Neither of us had ever touched a Garand (we borrowed two from the Club).
4) We had heard all the horror stories about M1's being hard to use (our military kids gave us some great tips before we went).

DynaBlue's father was in the infantry in Europe, one of her uncles was in the Pacific fleet, an uncle of mine was in the Red Ball Express in Europe, and we wanted to see what their rifle was like. (Yeah, I know, truck drivers would have used the M1A, but he actually started the war with the M1903 as well.) Those were just two of many of our family who served at that time and since (including our kids). atriot:

Given all that baggage, we had a ball! (I amazed myself with the score, and the girl who used to be afraid of big guns came away with a new favorite!)
Even though I'm a fanatic for the M94 carbine, we now have the CMP paperwork filled out for those big, heavy, accurate rifles.
All due to that Great Rifle, and the great people who helped us. Thank you so much!

 

[GM.Chief]

Agreed, the M-1 is fun to shoot. If you purchase through CMP, make sure you upgrade to atleast a Service grade. The field grade one's are crappy.

 

[Texas1911]

M1903A3s and M1 Carbines were the armament of choice for the troops in the rear with the gear. Front line troops had an assortment of weapons loadout, mostly consisting of M1 Garands, 1 Squad LMG (M1918A2 BAR), 1 - 2 SMGs (M3 Grease Guns / Thompson SMG), and a few crew served weapons like 60mm Light Mortars and an M1919 Aircooled MG.

The M1 Garand isn't the most accurate rifle in the war, but to me ... it's a beautiful gal, and a rifle that every American should own.

 

[sean gaines]

M1903A3s and M1 Carbines were the armament of choice for the troops in the rear with the gear. Front line troops had an assortment of weapons loadout, mostly consisting of M1 Garands, 1 Squad LMG (M1918A2 BAR), 1 - 2 SMGs (M3 Grease Guns / Thompson SMG), and a few crew served weapons like 60mm Light Mortars and an M1919 Aircooled MG.

The M1 Garand isn't the most accurate rifle in the war, but to me ... it's a beautiful gal, and a rifle that every American should own.

+1, they can be accurized, but they sure do shoot sweet and I like the little cling sound when you fire the last round, how cool is that.

 

[Big country]

I have shot Mosin Nagants of different flavors, Mousers, a .600 nitro (three times and my shoulder was numb but still hurt!) but I have never had the privilege of shooting a Garand or a 1903.

 

[OldSchool]

Service grade vs. Rack grade?

Agreed, the M-1 is fun to shoot. If you purchase through CMP, make sure you upgrade to atleast a Service grade. The field grade one's are crappy.

Thanks, crappy in what way? We're agonizing a lot over this, especially when we discovered that the Service Grades would likely be re-imports (i.e., post-WWII vintage). We understand that we should not expect a great barrel from any of the grades below Collector.

Of course, these might not be our last CMP purchases....

 

[Hawghauler]

Sounds like a fantastic time.