Original M-1 Garand caliber ?

Char

March 06, 2004 09:41

Anyone remember what the original design caliber was for the M-1? It was something like .267 or .272, but the Army wanted it in .30 so Garand redesigned it.
thanks

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  mrmike08075

  March 06, 2004 09:44

  .276 for the trial rifles and initial design runs. best regards, mike.
  
  What other dungeon is so dark as ones own heart, what jailer so inexorable as ones own mind.

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  Xracer

  March 06, 2004 11:19

  The M1 was originally designed for the .276 Pederson cartridge.
  
  There were several versions of this cartridge. One, the T2 had the same rim and head dimensions as the .30-06. Another, the T2-E1 was modified specificlly for testing in the early M1.
  
  General Douglas MacArthur, who was Army Chief of Staff at the time decided to stick with the .30-06 for a number of reasons:
  
  We had millions of rounds of .30-06 in the supply system at the time (a lot of it left over from WWI).
  
  The squad automatic weapon of the time (the M1918 BAR) and the M1919 Light Machine Gun both used .30-06 and introducing another cartridge would just complicate supply.
  
  And....the .30-06 was a superior cartridge.
  
  One of the few good decisions "Dugout Doug" ever made!
  
  BTW, at the time the changeover from .276 to .30-06 was made, my father was a young draftsman working for John C. Garand at the Springfield Armory and did some of the tool design drawings.

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