9 Jul 20 Garand Picture of the Day

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In the late summer of 1951 Springfield Armory rechambered two M1 Garands in the new British .280/30 (7mm) intermediate cartridge. The two M1s, originally chambered in .30-06, had been produced by the Armory in 1942 and 1944. The chamber and barrel were changed to .280 calibre and the rifles’ gas port was enlarged to .150in in order to siphon off more gas.

Following discussions with US Ordnance in 1948-49 the British Armaments Design Department, responsible for the .280 round’s development, decided to increase the round’s velocity and projectile weight, with a 30gr. of propellent and a 140gr. projectile. Another change was made to the round’s case using the T65E3′s case head and rim dimensions to enable conversion of existing American weapons and simplify future production by eliminating the need to retool extractor production to new dimensions. This was done in the hope it would made the cartridge more acceptable to US Ordnance.

The at least one rechambered M1 had a chamber that fitted the T65E3 and .280/30 cartridges but a .280 bore. This can be seen roughly painted onto the stock of one rifle (pictured above) while the other rifle simply had ‘British .280’ painted onto the butt in yellow paint. This may indicate a different type of conversion or perhaps simply the same conversion carried out by different engineers.

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Historical Firearms - .280/30 M1 Garand In the late summer of 1951...