Interview
John Garand on US Weapons Development (Video)
Thanks to a tip from Big Al last week, we found a couple minutes of video of John Garand talking about the development of US small arms. It was buried in an episode of “The […]
United States
bullpup
T31: John Garand’s Bullpup
The light rifle program was instituted in late 1945 to develop a new infantry rifle using the T65 cartridge (which would go on to be adopted as the 7.62x51mm NATO-standard). Initially the project involved just […]
Book review
Book Review: A Revolution in Arms
When I cracked open Joseph Bilby’s 2006 book A Revolution in Arms: A History of the First Repeating Rifles, I was hoping for a history of the development of repeating rifles, and didn’t quite get […]
Semiauto Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Garand’s Garand
With all the discussion this week of replacements for the M1, I feel obligated to post this very cool photo of John Cantius Garand and the business end of his rifle.
Prototype
Earle Harvey’s T25: Replacement for the Garand
During the late years of WWII, the US military worked diligently on a replacement for the M1 Garand rifle, which was designated the T20. This was basically an M1, with the addition of a trigger […]
Book review
Book Review: The Great Rifle Controversy
Here’s a question: considering that by 1945 John Garand had developed working prototypes of the T20 rifle (basically an M1 with a select-fire trigger mechanism and a 20-round box magazine), why did it take the […]
Commentary
Historical What-If
I happened to catch a show on the History Channel the other day about a group of archaeologists doing a forensic reconstruction of Custer’s annihilation at the Little Bighorn. One of the things they determined […]
Accessories
Hythe Gun Camera
Training aircraft gunners has always been a task requiring some creativity, as it requires a lot more than just a paper target for an infantryman to blast away at. In the very early years of […]
Semiauto Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Legislators
Photo from the May 1940 weapons testing at Fort Belvoir. From left to right, Senator Lundeen (MN, Farmer-Labor) with a Johnson rifle, Rep. Snyder (PA, Democrat) with an M1928A1 Thompson, and Senator Thomas (OK, Democrat) […]
Book review
Book Review: Johnson Rifles and Machine Guns
Most folks are aware of the M1941 Johnson semiauto rifle, which competed valiantly but unsuccessfully withthe M1 Garand for the position of standard US service rifle during WWII. What most people aren’t as familiar with […]