PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF
forward depots. A small number of gas trap rifles saw service during WWII. Te upgrade modification process was ultimately successful, and the vast majority of M1 rifles received the modi- fication long before the war’s end. Consequently, unmodified gas trap Garand rifles are exceptionally rare today and command an enormous premium in the collector’s market.
A number of M1 rifles fell into Japanese hands when besieged U.S. forces at Corregidor Island in the Philippines surrendered. Te Japanese exploited this technical intelligence bonanza and worked hard to reverse-engineer the M1 Garand design for their own use. Tey were only partially successful. Japanese copies of the M1 never progressed much beyond the prototype stage. An example of the Japanese Type 4/Type 5, a copy of the M1 Garand rifle, can be seen in the collection of the National Rifle Associ- ation Museum.
A FINE VINTAGE
A Marine Corps combat instructor fires an M1 Garand during a vintage rifle live-fire competition on Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 2018. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Drake Nickels)
was easily implemented in new production, and modification of existing gas trap rifles could be accomplished at depot level main- tenance facilities. Starting in 1940, all new production of M1 rifles used the new gas port design.
What became of the 50,000 gas trap Garand rifles produced between 1936 and 1940? Priority for distribution for the majority of the early production rifles was to the troops in the field— including U.S. Army forces in the Philippines. For refit of existing gas trap rifles, the plan was to replace the gas trap assembly when the barrel or the gas trap assembly became unserviceable. Rifles within the United States were returned to U.S. depots for modification. Rifles issued to deployed units were modified by
The original design, the “gas trap” Garand, did not work very well.
100 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2021
PROVEN IN BATTLE At the beginning of the WWII, the U.S. Army was commit- ted to replacing its M1903 Springfield rifles with M1 Garand rifles. Te U.S. Marine Corps did not adopt the M1 until 1940, so it began WWII relying primarily on the M1903 Springfield rifle. Photographs of the Guadalcanal campaign show Marines equipped with Springfield rifles. Marine Corps forces did the best they could with what they had, and their success at Guadalca- nal hinged on the ability of U.S. Navy forces to prevent Japanese reinforcement. U.S. Army forces began reinforcing the Marines on Guadalcanal in November 1942, and in December the U.S. XIV Corps assumed responsibility for the operation. As U.S. Army forces flowed in, the Marines observed firsthand the enor- mous increase in firepower that Army forces enjoyed with the M1 Garand. Seeing was believing, and the Marines were finally convinced they needed “some of that.” Reequipping Marine Corps forces with the M1 Garand became a high priority, and the Marines thereafter enjoyed the same firepower advantage that their Soldier brothers brought with them to Guadalcanal.
FROM GOOD TO GREAT Te rest, as they say, is history. Te adoption of the gas port design to the M1 Garand turned a flawed, mediocre weapon into a world beater—literally. Te U.S. had an enormous head start over both its enemies and its allies in its development of the infantryman’s rifle. Tat head start was the result of deliberate and persistent effort over a period of many years, starting imme- diately after the end of WWI. Te path was not a straight one; it was full of dead-end ideas and concepts that were ahead of their time. Still, by the time the original gas trap Garand was selected and fielded, no one else was even close to fielding a full-power,
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