Why did the USA go semi-auto when others did not?

[Lee Enfield]

EVERYBODY was trying to develop one, but it was extremely difficult and expensive. In addition, everybody thought you could not build one in a full-size caliber unless it weighed more than 10 1/2 pounds, too heavy for the average soldier. The French fielded the St. Etienne in 1917 and it weighed about 11 pounds. Even the vaunted Germans couldn't do it before the war. Some efforts bogged down because the traditionalists worried that the soldier would "waste ammunition" and couldn't be supplied fast enough.

That world-wide search demonstrates the genius of JCG, who did what nobody else could do. Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, the equivalent of breaking the sound barrier... an amazing feat that made world headlines. Sure, now it's routine, so everybody thinks it's easy, no big deal. But it wasn't until Bannister proved it could be done.

Yes and we can't forget that the Garand while "adopted" @1936 functionally did not exist until 1941, and was not a truelu viable weapon until almost 1943.

In England the No4 rifle was "perfected" during trials from @1930-34 and then the design was allowed to languish while various self loader systems were explored. The first production no4 enfields were manufactured in 1941.

Really a major reason for the M1 making the grade was the significant lag time between the rest of the world and the US entering the war. Everyone pretty much knew it was coming, but the longer it could be delayed the better.

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