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

[bacarnal]

One point that seems to be missing on this thread is that during a good portion of this time frame was a world wide depression. Leading up to it was, on the allies side, let's not think about war and hope it goes away and on the German/Austrian side, having to pay economically crushing war reparations. The US had started to get the mentality to have a battlefield semi-auto with the Mark I Pederson Device. Despite detractors of a new caliber (MacCarther for one, who was worried about large numbers of .30 cal ammo left over from WW I) and others worried about ammunition expenditures by the common Dog Face or Jar Head, the common Joe LEARNED about firepower in the Trenches, being on the receiving end, and came to embrace it. And those common soldiers became the politicians that would drive that, despite the established and entrenched Generals who "knew" how to win a war. So despite a long and painful teething, we finally ended up with a workable and robust infantry weapon where both our allies and opponents couldn't find the money or mentality. Just several reasons among many that I think we ended up with the M1.

[Bob Seijas]

Good points. The victors in a war usually prepare for more of the same next time, while the losers look for new tactics. After WWI most of the Allies planned for more trench warfare and heavy fixed artillery. That included long range rifle marksmanship and heavy calibers to reach across the lines. The Germans, however, developed the concept of maneuver that changed warfare forever. In a fluid war, slow 500 yard marksmanship became less important than speed and local fire superiority. Actually, it's surprising that the US military recognized this, the French certainly did not.

[RCS]

While the 276 Pedersen was being considered for the new semi auto rifle, I really doubt that the Browning Model 1917A1 in 30M1 cal and its long range, would have been replaced with the 276 cartridge. Also it seems unlikely that the Model 1918 BAR would have been converted to the 276 cal too. Besides the 276 cartridge, Pedersen also had developed a 256 cartridge.

Todays AR-10/AR-15 series would be an excellent choice for the 276 Pedersen with improved loadings

[Claven2]

As another thought, the US entered WW2 with the M1903 as the most issued rifle by a wide margin, similar to Russia and the Mosin. The US had the resources to deploy a new-design in large numbers well int othe conflict, whereas most other nations could not hope to do so without impacting the delivery of enough rifles to carry on the fight.

[rayg]

The Garand was developed on a shoe string budget and long before there was any thought of a war. The US Military at that time was almost non exsistant as was money to develope new military tools. Credit goes to John Garand to stick with developing the rifle under those circumstances and I'd be willing to bet he donated a lot of his own time, Ray

[Bob Seijas]

I'm sure you're right, rayq... I do know that the first rifle completed was test fired on a Sunday!