Saturday, July 4, 2009

1/6 M1 Garand rifle

July 4th - Independence Day in the US, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

And one of the weapons that have kept the United States of America "And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" was the M1 Garand rifle. The M1 Garand (officially the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1) was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. In 1936, it officially replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the standard service rifle of the United States Armed Forces [source: wiki] and was used heavily by US Forces in World War II to oppose and defeat the Nazis and the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan.

New Ti-Lite M1 Garand - amazing details!

The M1 rifle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic, clip-fed rifle.

The M1 Garand was designed for simple assembly and disassembly to facilitate field maintenance. It can be field stripped (broken down) without tools. Ti-Lite's breakdown of the weapon parts showing bayonet, front hand guard, bolt, rear sight, operating rod, receiver, stock and trigger housing group

Assembled M1 Garand

Movable operating rod

At the time, it was believed that a detachable magazine on a general-issue service rifle would be easily lost by US soldiers (a criticism made of British soldiers and the Lee-Enfield 50 years previously), would render the weapon too susceptible to clogging from dirt and debris (a belief that proved unfounded with the adoption of the M1 Carbine), and that a protruding magazine would complicate existing manual-of-arms drills. As a result, inventor John Pedersen developed an "en bloc" clip system that allowed ammunition to be inserted from above, clip included, into the fixed magazine. While this design provided the requisite flush-mount magazine, the clip system increased the rifle's weight, and prevented it from being fired without a clip, such as while reloading.




The super detailed trigger mechanism of Ti-Lite's M1 Garand


I'd also covered 1/6 Multiple Grenade Launchers HERE

Next: The M1 Garand used by drill teams and military honor guards.

No comments: