Lever Action Garand

I read this post on another web board and wondered if there was any truth to this claim.

If anyone would know, you guys will...

begin quote:

"Seems that when the Garand was being designed, Army Ordnance officers were leery about the gun and hangfires/mis-fires, and that the Springfield could be re-cocked and the round tried again while the Garand, as an semi auto, the questionable round had to be ejected and would expose the shooter to a hangfire unlocked breech situation.

John Garand was informed that unless he could address this problem, the adoption of the M1 was in doubt. So he got to work and redesigned the Garand trigger group to give it a lever action re-cock feature! Try it yourself: with the gun unloaded, the bolt forward and the hammer fired, grab the trigger guard, pull back to unlatch and work it like a lever gun forward and back again, then push up to relatch. You will find the hammer is now re-cocked and ready to retry that mis-fired round again! Neat Huh!!

So spread the word about this nifty feature to other fellow M1 owners and enjoy the look on their faces as they try it for themselves!!"

End quote:

or your trigger group wiull fall on the ground ! Been a long time since I had my Garand .. I will be interested to see what becomes of this tip.

Whilst researching this I came across a book I purchased way back when I had a Garand, called : The Fighting Garand.
Interestingly for misfires and so on it recommends immediate ejection of the round ( p31 ). Kind of the polar opposite of what is taught these days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Whilst researching this I came across a book I purchased way back when I had a Garand, called : The Fighting Garand.

Interestingly for misfires and so on it recommends immediate ejection of the round ( p31 ). Kind of the polar opposite of what is taught these days.

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I think "fighting" might have something to do with the "immediate"! I don't reckon the enemy gives "time out"s for safety...

I think you under estimate the enemy's capacity for chivalry and fairness :) The book is an owners manual more than anything. Makes me pine for the old clunker again.
Actually, it says that when a hangfire goes off it is safer outside the weapon. This may be true unless it went off when it was half out and is the same as firing out of battery.

It is normal if you unlock the trigger guard for it to set the hammer. I think it was just part of the whole rifle as the sear sets when the hammer goes back and would have to for Semi-auto. If you do not hold the trigger housing in place it will pull out but why do this when pulling it and if you fire it with the hammer back and the trigger guard down it will break your hand like a lever action. Rick B

I will have to find the reference but I understand that was a design feature of the Garand to be able to cock it with the trigger guard. For books all I have are two from Duff so it may be in one of those. I dont think it was for "immediate action" in the case of a misfire under combat conditions. There is no way such an operation could be done in haste considering that the original design of the trigger guard included the milled hole to utilize a cleaning rod to initiate take down.

You can shoot it like Chuck Connors.

This info can be found on the SA graphic training aid (large flip chart)

pmclaine is correct, it was a design feature. In the early days of semiauto development, the Army was worried that an autoloader would become useless if it misfired or failed to cock. The ability to cock it by hand like the familiar bolt guns allayed their misplaced fears.

The design is also safer. If you have a misfire, it is safer to re-cock without opening the bolt. The misfired cartridge could be a primer problem with delays.

We were taught that in basic training with the M14.