John Garand's Garand

That it is, John.

Back in the 80's I saw an ad in Shotgun News for an M1941 Johnson rifle which supposedly owned by the inventor, Melvin Johnson. I was sorely tempted, as the price, I thought, was very reasonable if they could produce documentation. Wish I had at least looked into it closer.

Regards,
hm
 
Interesting...you gotta love the Garand. Anyone out there who has not had the pleasure of firing one owes it to themselves to do it. I had a buddy show up one day in my shop with an M1. It was all polish blued and had the stock finished in some kind of gloss clear. The rifle was beautiful, the bolt was chrome plated. He purchased it from the widow of one of the old guard 3rd Infantry Division soldiers at Ft. Meyers. He had documentation and photos that it was one of the rifles that fired the volleys at Kennedy's funeral. I have been after him to sell it for years.
 
We have an early 50’s H & R Garand, in great shape. The Son has the highest interest in milsurps. It is a lot of rifle, I’ll say that.

The newest acquisition has been a Remington 1917 Rifle, another with a storied past.
 
Originally Posted By: hm1996That it is, John.

Back in the 80's I saw an ad in Shotgun News for an M1941 Johnson rifle which supposedly owned by the inventor, Melvin Johnson. I was sorely tempted, as the price, I thought, was very reasonable if they could produce documentation. Wish I had at least looked into it closer.
Regards,
hm

When I got out of the Army in '74, there was also an ad in
Shotgun News for "new" sniper Garands still in cosmoline. The
scopes came with the rifles. The price of $750 back then was
more than I felt I could afford. It would have been GREAT to
get two, clean one up to use and left the other untouched. I
shudder to think what they would be worth today!
 
Originally Posted By: DannoBooneOriginally Posted By: hm1996That it is, John.

Back in the 80's I saw an ad in Shotgun News for an M1941 Johnson rifle which supposedly owned by the inventor, Melvin Johnson. I was sorely tempted, as the price, I thought, was very reasonable if they could produce documentation. Wish I had at least looked into it closer.
Regards,
hm

When I got out of the Army in '74, there was also an ad in
Shotgun News for "new" sniper Garands still in cosmoline. The
scopes came with the rifles. The price of $750 back then was
more than I felt I could afford. It would have been GREAT to
get two, clean one up to use and left the other untouched. I
shudder to think what they would be worth today!

Boy that would have been something to have.
 
I remember when I was a kid back in the early 60's the local Army Surplus store in Tulsa Oklahoma selling Garands and M1 carbines. I rode my bicycle there at least once a week to slowly rotate the turntable they were mounted on and gaze at them with awe. Just spellbound I was.

Even though I finally got to shoot some of both later on in life I never have owned one- or any other military weapon for that matter. Sure would like to have one now. I would still gaze at it with awe I imagine but at least now I could take it out and shoot it every now and then.
 
When I was in college (mid 90's), one of my profs convinced me to join the local gun range. Although I had absolutely no money and was working multiple part time jobs to make expenses and rent, he convinced me to shoot a CMP match and go through the process to get an M1 Garand. THis was back when you put in and got whatever rifle they pulled off the rack. I starved myself to get the $400 to put in, and I got a good quality, low serial number (~400K) rifle.

I didn't shoot the rifle a ton but enjoyed it off and on over 20 years. I learned early on the danger of factory rounds (early internet days, easy miss), and reloaded very conservative loads for the rifle.

A couple years ago I realized I hadn't had the rifle out in a couple years, and we were having a group shooting event on my home range, so I pulled the Garand out with some of these moderate, tailored handloads. Each charged weighed and double-checked on a second scale because that's the way I rolled at the time with target rifles so the Garand loads got treated that way.

Midway through the second clip I ended up with the stock in my right hand, and the rest of the rifle all over the range. Luckily no injury more than all the hair burned off my left arm and some minor cuts. Best I can tell, metal fatigue in the bolt led to it fracturing and letting go in this 70+ year old rifle.

It was a very depressing experience and I'm still hoping I can re-habilitate the action. My amazing wife went behind my back with a gun freak friend and secured a replacement rifle which I enjoy shooting to this day. Nothing is quite like a Garand.
 
Any of you ever get a chance to visit the Springfield Armory here in Mass.its well worth the trip. Lots of prototypes and historic guns. Its run by the NPS and admission is free. From time to time they open the upper floor by appointment with thousands of battlefield pickups and R&D guns. About a year ago they had on display the M1 from the movie "Jaws".
 
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